On June 11th 2012, Simon Gagne joined the elite club of Stanley Cup winning players as a member of the Los Angeles Kings.
A concussion on December 26th 2011 caused Simon to miss the last 47 regular season games and the Kings' first 16 Playoff games, but he slowly worked his way back to full fitness once again, even though the chance of playing again in 2011/12 was looking slim; was not fully cleared for practice until after Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
42 regular season games is what is required to have name your name etched onto the Holy Grail, or, playing just one minute in the Stanley Cup Finals. By Game 3 of the Cup Finals against New Jersey, he was ready, and Sutter put him on the 4th line.
Despite being given limited ice time, he created opportunities and looked sharp (including a breakaway saved by Brodeur and a beautiful saucer pass to Trevor Lewis on a 2-on-1 that were both inches away from goals in Game 4). Some doubted Coach Darryl Sutter's decision to drop 4th liner, Richardson, by inserting Gagne on the left-wing in Game 3 but he stayed in the line-up, right up to the final buzzer of Game 6.
Although Gagne finished pointless in the 4 games he suited up for, he did what was asked of him and completed an amazing journey.
In his 12th possible Stanley Cup of his career, he proudly wore his #12 jersey, lifting Lord Stanley high into the air in 2012.
(Source: LA Kings Insider, Rich Hammond)
(Source: LA Kings Insider, Rich Hammond)
(Source: Le-Soleil, Carl Tardif)
(Source: NHL.com Staff Writer, Tal Pinchevsky)
The Cup arrived at Jean-Lesage Airport at 6.30am and after brunch with his family in Lac-Beauport, organised was a public event at the Le Relais ski resort just a few miles north of the city where Gagne was escorted by local police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police to the Gulf de la Faune resort where he kicked off his annual golf tournament with the Cup serving as the guest of honour. The tournament has raised $600,000 over the years to various cancer charities for children.
After five hours of golf, the plan was for the Cup to be unveiled to the public at 4.30pm at the ski resort where locals were expected to line up and see it. By collecting VIP passes distributed around town throughout the week, 110 lucky locals won an opportunity to be photographed with Gagne and the Cup.
(Source: Québec Hebdo)
(Source: NHL.com Staff Writer, Tal Pinchevsky)