A proud time for Blades

Although the title of champions once again eluded the Florida Everblades this hockey season, seven former members of Southwest Florida's ECHL franchise — Keith Aucoin, Brad Church, Craig Kowalski, Chad LaRose, Lee Ruff, Damian Surma and Briane Thompson — got to drink in the experience of winning a cup in two different leagues.

LaRose and Aucoin, both rookie forwards, and Kowalski, a rookie goaltender, joined in the Carolina Hurricanes' Stanley Cup celebration Monday night after the Hurricanes clinched hockey's ultimate prize with a 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C.

It was the first championship for Florida's parent organization, with LaRose, 24, playing an integral role as a fourth-line winger. After sitting out Games 2, 4, 5 and 6, he was back on the ice Monday and will become the first Everblade to have his name inscribed on Lord Stanley's Cup.

Kowalski was the practice goalie and emergency backup behind rookie and Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward — who was LaRose's roommate — and veteran Martin Gerber. Aucoin, 27, was on the practice roster.

Kowalski and Aucoin both got to participate in the on-ice celebration.

"I finally got to hold the Cup near the end and it was an unbelievable feeling," said Aucoin, who earned his first NHL call-up in January and picked up one assist in seven games. "I'm not really sure how much it weighed but I just didn't want to drop it, that was my first thought. For sure, it's something I will never forget and it put a great cap on a dream season for me. It hasn't really kicked in yet."

Courtesy of the Raleigh News and Observer

Former Florida Everblade Chad LaRose celebrates his moment with the Stanley Cup after the Carolina Hurricanes won the trophy with a Game 7 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night in Raleigh, N.C.

Aucoin's link to the Everblades was more tenuous than LaRose's and Kowalski's, having only suited up for one game under head coach Gerry Fleming and team president/general manager Craig Brush in 2001-02. Kowalski played his entire rookie season (2004-05) with Florida and the first 18 games of this season. The 25-year-old, who, like LaRose, hails from Michigan, was called up to the American Hockey League's Lowell Lock Monsters in December.

LaRose scored 35 points (16 goals, 19 assists) in 41 games for the Everblades during his first professional season of 2003-04 and helped them reach their first Kelly Cup Finals that year. Florida lost in five games to the Idaho Steelheads, and on the national television broadcast of Monday night's game, a fan was seen waving a "Go Steelheads" sign.

LaRose had 13 points (1 goal, 12 assists) in 49 regular-season games and one assist during the playoffs for Carolina.

"It feels good to be part of the organization today and you feel like a winner," Brush said. "Chad's a true product of the organization, having played for Compuware when he was a kid, then for the Plymouth Whalers (in the Ontario Hockey League), for us and finally for Lowell. When they mentioned that on the air, it was a proud moment for us."

Church, however, had to wait a lot longer to win his first professional championship than the three years it took for Kowalski and LaRose, seven more years to be exact. But the 10-year wait was well worth it for the 29-year-old father of two boys, and he was able to share in the glory with Ruff, Surma and Thompson when the United Hockey League's Kalamazoo Wings finished off the Danbury Trashers on May 27 with a 4-3 overtime win to capture the Colonial Cup.

"When it happened I was on the bench and my feet didn't touch the ground," said Church, who, along with Surma, helped the Everblades reach the 2005 Kelly Cup Finals, where they lost to the Trenton Titans in six games. "We scored the goal at the end and my feet left the floor and hit the ice, I don't think I even touched the boards. It was unbelievable, a great feeling and a long time coming."

Lucas Drake's goal 1:42 into overtime is what sent the Wings bench into a frenzy. Surma was sitting next to Church, almost as it should have been. The two developed a bond as linemates last season with Florida, and when the ECHL doors were closed to them over the summer, they headed to the UHL together, first to Missouri.

Associated Press

Carolina Hurricanes, from left to right, Chad LaRose, Joseph Vasicek, David Gove and Niclas Wallin have some fun in front of the net during the team’s practice in Edmonton, Alberta last week.

Church, who was one of Florida's assistant captains last year, was lured by River Otters head coach Kevin Kaminski and signed as a player/assistant coach, setting him up for what he knows will be his future career. He succeeded in recruiting two more members of last year's Everblades team along with Surma, defensemen Tim O'Connell and Jared Newman, but things went south with the franchise before the midway point of the season.

The River Otters were in last place, Newman's fourth concussion ended his career, and with ownership looking to cut expenses, Church was released in early January, leaving him at a crossroads.

"I had a good conversation with Kalamazoo and we had just played against them a few weeks earlier and I knew they had a real good team and they were real deep," Church said. "They just had a lot of good things going on, and obviously with my hunger for a championship, I felt this would be a good spot to get to and try to achieve that."

The Wings traded for Surma, Missouri's leading scorer at the time, a few days later, and with a couple of weeks left in the season, they added Thompson, another veteran who had just finished playing in Italy.

Thompson, 32, was Florida's captain in 2001-02. The 30-year-old Ruff, an Everblade for the last month of the 2001-02 season and all of 2002-03, won a championship the year before in the Central Hockey League with the Colorado Eagles.

With a championship in hand, Church is retiring to pursue his coaching career. He is hoping to land another assistant coach's job during the offseason.

"I'm going to go out on top and hang up the skates," Church said. "Damian and I also talked to some of the guys from the Everblades — Reggie Berg and Kris Vernarsky called me right away. Gerry, (associate coach) Jason (Nobili) and Mr. Brush congratulated me. They say that you learn how to win championships by losing, and I think through my experiences in Florida and in Reading (Pa.) I learned a lot and it paid off."

One team Church won't be seeking employment with is Danbury. The Trashers were disbanded by the UHL in the midst of a federal investigation looking into mafia ties within the organization.

As for LaRose, Aucoin and Kowalski, being able to celebrate with Lord Stanley's Cup will be a memory that will last forever.

"Now we've just got to do the same thing here," Brush said.