Pats Alumnus Stephenson Wins Stanley Cup With Vegas
Regina, Sask. – Regina Pats alumnus Chandler Stephenson and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers in five games on Tuesday night to become 2023 Stanley Cup Champions.
Vegas won the Cup in its sixth season, becoming the second-fastest team to a championship in the expansion era (since 1967-68) behind the Edmonton Oilers (five, 1983-84).
It’s Stephenson’s second Stanley Cup, as he won his first as a member of the Washington Capitals in 2018, where they beat the Vegas Golden Knights in five games. That made Stephenson just the second member of the 2017-18 Washington championship team to win another Cup since then. He joins Andre Burakovsky, who won his second title with the Colorado Avalanche just a season ago.
The Saskatoon, Sask. product was acquired by Vegas in a trade with the Capitals on Dec. 2, 2019 and produced 20 points (10G-10A) in 22 games in the playoffs with three game-winning-goals, finishing T-6th in playoff scoring and playoff goals.
In the 2022-23 regular season, the 29-year-old posted his second straight 60-plus point season with Vegas, scoring a career-best 65 points (16G-49A) in 81 games. Now in his fourth season with the Golden Knights, Stephenson has played in 420 regular season NHL contests, recording 219 points (73G-146A). Vegas finished first in the Pacific Division, going 51-22-9-4 with 111 points.
Stephenson will get another memorable day with the Cup. In 2018, he took it to the city of Humboldt to honour and pay tribute to the fallen Broncos team.
The 5-foot-11, 190 lb. forward played for the Pats from 2010-2014, producing 89 points (30G-59A) in his final season (2013-14).
