Thirteen is supposed to be an unlucky number. But for Chris Pronger, it was more like a lucky charm.
For Pronger, 13 was the number of times it took before the Anaheim Ducks’ defenseman finally got to hoist the most prestigious trophy in all of sports, the Stanley Cup.
That’s 13 training camps. Thirteen Octobers of wondering if this was going to be the year. Thirteen trade deadlines where he paced back and forth, unaware of which of his teammates were staying or going. The soon-to-be 33-year-old admitted it took some time to come to the realization that his name would, indeed, be etched on Lord Stanley’s Cup.
“It took a while,” Pronger said. “Obviously, you’re doing the party thing and enjoying the time with the Cup. It doesn’t really set in for a while. You have your day with the Cup, and it starts kind of setting in that; ‘You know what? My name is going to on here.’
”The ramifications of winning it, and how big a deal it is, you start to kind of look at the history and all the players that are on it,” Pronger said. “It starts hitting you then that you’re in a select group of people that have had the honor of winning the Cup and having their names put on that trophy. It’s pretty special.”
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