Rick Dudley is a hockey lifer, having played, coached or worked in the front office for an NHL or pro team every season since 1969-70.
When he won his first Stanley Cup on June 24, at the urging of Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito, one of the team’s consultants grabbed Dudley during the on-ice celebrations.
“He dragged me over there,” Dudley, a Lewiston resident, told GNN Sports.
Zito then passed the Cup to Dudley, a senior advisor to the GM, and he raised hockey’s most cherished prize above his head in front of a national television audience.
The 75-year-old said he received 1,000 text messages.
“People saying, ‘You look good holding that Cup,’” he said.
Following the festivities, Dudley and Les Jackson, another senior advisor, went to a downstairs office in Amerant Bank Arena.
“He had a beer and I had a glass of wine,” Dudley said. “We just looked at each other and said, ‘We did it.’ ”
Dudley, who played for the Buffalo Sabres and later coached them, has won championships at different levels of hockey and in other sports – he was also a lacrosse star – throughout his career.
The Cup, however, had always eluded him. He came the closest as a player in 1975, when the Sabres lost in the final to the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.
When he finally won it, he said he simply felt “a sense of satisfaction.”
“I don’t know how to describe that,” he said. “I don’t get giddy. Like, I’ve won championships before. I’ve never been a guy who gets giddy and rolls around and dances and boogies.”
Dudley, who has lived in Lewiston for 20 years, might leave that to others on Tuesday when he enjoys his day with the Cup at Griffon Brewery and Gastropub on 118 S. Water St., Lewiston.
“It’s just been home for a long time now,” he said. “It just seemed like the right place to do it.”
The festivities start at 5 p.m. Dudley said everyone is welcome to come.
As the Panthers rose to prominence, Dudley told the owners he would bring the Cup there if they won.
Last season, the Panthers lost in the final to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.
“This year, I said the same thing, ‘I’ll bring it right here if we win it,’ and we did,” he said.
Dudley wouldn’t have won it without Zito, who hired him shortly after he took over as GM in 2020.
“This was special because I’m coming to the end of the road,” Dudley said. “This was probably my best chance to do it, and so it’s kind of nice. And I think that’s what Billy was doing. He didn’t want me to leave the game without getting a Cup, and he seemed happier for me than he was for himself. He’s a really decent human being.”