Stanley Cup Heroes, Part 7: Getting Giggy with it

You probably immediately noticed the guy holding the trophy who looks dead inside. Well, that is Jean-Sébastien Giguère (JS Giguère). By the end of this, you will understand why he has that look. But first, some background. Giguère was one of the final draft picks of the Hartford Whalers before they moved to Carolina. Specifically, the 13th overall pick in the 1995 draft. Although the first goalie off the board, he wasn’t the top projected goalie, with future analyst Martin Biron ahead of him. Still, Hartford had high hopes for him and he eventually played for the Whalers in 1997, their final season. The Whalers moved to Carolina, Giguère bounced around a bit and eventually found himself on the Ducks. He finally broke out in 2002-03 and received some Vezina votes. His emergence gave Ducks’ fans hope. The Anaheim Ducks, despite being so young, are one of the more successful NHL teams, especially in the playoffs. They rank 5th all-time in playoff winning percentage. That is ahead of the Penguins, Islanders and Avalanche, who each have multiple Stanley Cups. However, heading into their 10th season, the Mighty Ducks (as they were called at the time) only had 1 playoff series win to their name and an 4-11 playoff record to their name. Entering the 2003 playoffs, they would have to face the defending champs, the Detroit Red Wings, in round 1. In Giguère’s first ever playoff game, game 1 against a stacked Red Wings team, he stopped 63 of 64 shots and helped the Ducks win in triple overtime. It’s one of the greatest playoff debuts in NHL history, but it didn’t stop there. Throughout the rest of the series, Giguère had an insane .953 save percentage. As you might have guessed, the Ducks used this incredible performance to upset the Red Wings in a 4-game sweep. Giguère put up a .965 save percentage in his first ever playoff series. Not bad. His side was far from over. The Ducks would face the Dallas Stars in round 2. While not as scary on paper as the Red Wings, the Stars had actually finished with a better regular season record and dominated the Pacific division that Anaheim was a part of. Giguerre started it with a 60 save performance in the 5th longest game in NHL history where Anaheim won in the 5th overtime in game 1. After that, Giguère helped Anaheim win in 6. His magnum opus was in the conference finals against the scrappy Minnesota Wild. In 4 games, Giguère allowed just 1 goal for a cumulative save percentage of .992! The Wild didn’t score a goal on Giguère for the first 3 games and 4 minutes of game 4. It is a mythical performance we will likely never see again. The Ducks faced the Devils in the Cup Final and outside of a very human performance in game 6, Giguère continued his brilliance, only to fall in 7. For his efforts, Giguère became the 5th player to win the Conn Smythe winner as playoff MVP despite being on the losing team. So next time you see that dead look in Giguère’s eyes, just remember he missed out on the Cup by 1 game. You can also take solace in the fact he won the Stanley Cup with the Ducks just 4 years later.