2003 Stanley Cup Final
Teams 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Games New Jersey Devils  3 3 2 0 6 2 3 4 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim  0 0 3 1 3 5 0 3
Location: East Rutherford, NJ (Continental Airlines Arena) (1,2,5,7) Anaheim, CA (Arrowhead Pond) (3,4,6) Format: Best-of-seven Coaches: New Jersey: Pat Burns Anaheim: Mike Babcock Captains: New Jersey: Scott Stevens Anaheim: Paul Kariya Referees: Dan Marouelli (1,3,4,6,7) Brad Watson (1,4,6) Bill McCreary (2,3,5,7) Paul Devorski (2,5) Dates: May 27-June 9, 2003 MVP: Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Anaheim Series-winning goal: Michael Rupp (2:22, second, G7) Networks: ABC (Games 3-7), CBC, ESPN (Games 1-2), RDS, NASN Announcers: (CBC) Bob Cole, Harry Neale (ESPN/ABC) Gary Thorne, Bill Clement, John Davidson
< 2002 Stanley Cup Finals 2004 >

The 2003 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven playoff series that determined the champion of the National Hockey League (NHL) for the 2002-03 season. As a culmination of the 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs, the second-seeded Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils defeated the seventh-seeded Western Conference champion Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in seven games and were awarded the Stanley Cup. It was New Jersey's first appearance since 2001 and third in four years. It was Anaheim's first-ever appearance. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks in seven games to win their third Stanley Cup in less than a decade.

The Devils win was the last in a series of wins they, along with the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings established in the era from 1995 to 2003, as the three teams won a combined eight of nine Stanley Cups during that time. The Devils won in 1995, followed by the Avalanche in 1996, then the Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. After the Dallas Stars won in 1999, the four-year cycle repeated as the Devils started it again in 2000, followed by Colorado in 2001 and Detroit in 2002.

[edit] Paths to the Final

The New Jersey Devils were in the finals for their fourth time after defeating the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning in five games, and beating the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games. Strong goaltending from Martin Brodeur, and strong defense from captain Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer led the way.

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim entered their first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history after upsetting two heavily favored teams: sweeping the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Detroit Red Wings, defeating the Dallas Stars in six games, plus sweeping the upstart Minnesota Wild in the Western Conference Finals thanks to the stellar goaltending of Jean-Sebastien Giguere, only allowing one goal during the entire series. Backing up Giguere were players such as Paul Kariya, Petr Sykora, Adam Oates, plus Rob Niedermayer, brother of then-Devils star defenceman Scott Niedermayer. This series was memorable for two brothers on different teams competing for the same prize.

[edit] The series

[edit] Game one

Martin Brodeur kept the Ducks off the score board while the Devils players continually dominated the Ducks. The Devils shut out Anaheim 3-0.

[edit] Game two

Like in Game one, Brodeur kept the Ducks off the scoreboard and shut out the Ducks 3-0.

[edit] Game three

Game three was remembered for the clumsy mistake from Martin Brodeur when he accidentally dropped his stick when the puck came to him, the puck deflected off his fallen stick and into the net to give the Ducks a lucky break and a 2–1 lead. The Devils would later tie the game, but lose in overtime. Over the mistake with his stick, Brodeur later claimed, "It was just one of those once in a lifetime things."

[edit] Game four

Game four had no scoring throughout regulation and was a battle between goaltenders Brodeur and Giguere. But Anaheim again came out on top in overtime, winning 1–0 and tying the series.

[edit] Game five

Game five, at the Meadowlands saw a continual battle for the first half the game. With the game tied 3–3 in the second period, the Devils took the lead with a deflection goal by Jay Pandolfo that was initially waved off by referees due to a kicking motion dispute with the skates, but replays showed there was no distinct kicking motion from the skates, thus the goal counted. This would prove to deflate the Ducks for the rest of the game, as Jamie Langenbrunner scored two more goals for the Devils to give New Jersey a 6–3 win and a 3–2 series lead.

[edit] Game six

With New Jersey looking to clinch the series, game six at Anaheim saw the Mighty Ducks return the favor of game five to the Devils with complete dominance throughout the game. Quite possibly the most remembered moment of the entire series came when the Ducks were winning 3–1 in the second period. Ducks captain Paul Kariya didn't see Scott Stevens coming after he passed the puck and was leveled by the Devils captain in a hit similar to the check that knocked out Eric Lindros during the 2000 playoffs and caused Lindros to miss the next season. Kariya was lying motionless for a few minutes, then was escorted to the locker room. Kariya unexpectedly returned to the bench minutes later. About eleven minutes after the hit, fired a slap shot that found the back of the net. The crowd at the Arrowhead Pond erupted then. This helped the Ducks win the game 5–2 and now put the Ducks within one game of clinching.

[edit] Game seven

Game seven on New Jersey home ice saw the Devils once more completely dominate the Ducks. The game winning goal was scored by Michael Rupp. Rupp became the first player in Stanley Cup history to have his first playoff goal be the Stanley Cup winning goal. Jeff Friesen dominated his former teammates with two goals. The 3–0 win gave the Devils their third Stanley Cup victory as Anaheim could not complete their Cinderella run. However, the Mighty Ducks wouldn't leave empty handed; for his stellar play throughout the playoffs and finals, Jean-Sebastien Giguere for the Ducks was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs. He became only the fifth player, and fourth goaltender, in NHL history to have won the trophy as a member of the losing team. Many were surprised by the Conn Smythe trophy being awarded to the losing team. However, many experts felt that the Devils votes were distributed among many players who had played well in the series.

This was only the third time in NHL history and the first time since 1965 that the home team won all the games in the finals.

[edit] New Jersey Devils 2003 Stanley Cup champions

Roster

Stanley Cup engraving

• Marcel Pronovost won his 8 Stanley Cups - 5 as Player with Detroit in 1950, 1952, 1954–55, and Toronto in 1967, as well as 3 championships as a scout for New Jersey in 1995, 2000, and 2003. He set the record for years between first and last Stanley Cup wins with 53 years.
• Christian Berglund played 38 games for New Jersey. His name was left off the cup, because he was sent to the minors, before the trading deadline.
• Jeff Friesen was first player engaved on the Stanley Cup with full middle name JEFF DARYL FRIESEN. Some players in the past had their middle initial included along with their first name on the Stanley cup. 2003 New Jersey included 9 other players who were listed with a middle initial.

[edit] Won all three Stanley Cups with New Jersey

Martin Brodeur, Sergei Brylin, Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens (5 players), Bobby Carpenter Jr. (1 player-non player), Lou Lamoriello, Larry Robinson, Jacques Caron, Claude Carrie, David Conte, Milt Fisher, Dan Labraaten, Marcel Provonost, Mike Vasalani, Peter McMullen (left cup in 2003) (10 Non-players).

[edit] See also

• 2002–03 NHL season
• 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs

[edit] References

• Diamond, Dan (2008). Total Stanley Cup. Dan Diamond & Associates, Inc.. http://www.stanleycupplayoffs2008.com/assets/pdfs/totalstanleycup2008.pdf. 
• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. p. 12, 50. ISBN 1–55168–261–3.