Doughty delivers final’s defining goal
By Ryan Pyette, The London Free Press – There’s no doubt what the defining goal of this Stanley Cup final is to date.
It’s the early Game 2 dash by Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty, the 22-year-old Londoner who sliced through a bunch of Devils and whipped a shot past legendary goalie Martin Brodeur in New Jersey.
Long after this series is forgotten, that’s the goal that will be dusted off from the Cup archives and replayed over and over.
Dave Barr, Doughty’s former OHL head coach in Guelph, got a really good view of it. He’s now a New Jersey assistant coach – Devils bench boss Peter DeBoer’s eye-in-the-sky during games.
“I was going to send Dave a text, but I think I’m going to wait until after the series is over,” said Jason Brooks, the Listowel native and former London Knight who ran the Storm’s defence when Doughty played in Guelph.
Brooks, now a Niagara IceDogs assistant coach, has seen that kind of spectacular goal from Doughty before. In fact, so have Dale and Mark Hunter, whose Knights were beaten by a highlight-reel rush from the London native in a March 9, 2008 game in Guelph — with just 16 seconds left in the third period.
“Drew jumps up in the play like that a lot more now with L.A. than he did with us,” Brooks said. “We had a pretty defensive system in Guelph. I think the biggest thing is I probably played him 40 minutes that game against London and he was still able to grab the puck and do what he did.
“He’s a special player and I’m so proud of him. He cares about the game, he cares about his teammates and his family. He’s just a great person to be around and it’s nice to see the success he’s enjoying.”
