Two Michiganians and two Michigan college hockey products have etched their names into hockey immortality.
The Carolina Hurricanes clinched the Stanley Cup in Game 6 with a 3-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday. Taylor Hall scored the clinching goal 3:47 into the game and former Western Michigan standout Brandon Bussi posted a 22-save shutout.
Alongside Bussi, Ypsilanti native Jalen Chatfield and head coach Rod Brind’Amour, who played college hockey at Michigan State, also won the Stanley Cup. Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky, who has been with the organization since 2014, also hails from Port Huron.
Bussi hadn’t played in the Stanley Cup playoffs when Brind’Amour put him in net for starter Frederik Andersen during the second period of Game 3 facing a 4-0 deficit. The Hurricanes lost that game in double overtime despite an improbable comeback, then Bussi rattled off three straight wins including the Cup-clinching shutout. He made 81 saves on 87 shots in the series, good for a .931 save percentage and 1.60 goals against average.
In the celebration of Carolina’s win, Bussi thanked Brind’Amour for giving him a chance.
“I just thanked him for believing in me,” Bussi told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. “You know, it’s a long journey to get to the NHL. It was a little weird, and I kind of got thrusted in there in a way, but he believed in me. He gave me that shot, so I’ll always be forever grateful.”
In front of Bussi, teammate Chatfield played a significant part on Carolina’s blue line. Chatfield played AAA hockey in Metro Detroit for Compuware, the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies and Belle Tire. He played his junior hockey across the river for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, where he won the Memorial Cup in 2017. He also won the Calder Cup, the AHL championship, in 2022.
Brind’Amour became only the seventh player to hoist the Stanley Cup as a player and a coach when his team won Sunday night — he captained the Hurricanes to the 2006 Stanley Cup. The Ottawa native has been Carolina’s head coach since 2018, and in the subsequent years the Hurricanes held a 378-182-56 (.659) regular-season record, with Brind’Amour winning the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in 2021.
However, a 63-45 (.583) playoff record, with Eastern Conference Finals losses in 2019, 2023 and 2025, left a bitter playoff taste for the Hurricanes — now, turned sweet.
“It’s sticking with it,” Brind’Amour said shortly before lifting the Stanley Cup for the second time in his career. “We knew what we had here, and I did for sure, and the guys believed in it. That’s the thing, it’s all about leadership.”
Twelve Michigan State hockey alumni have won the Stanley Cup in school history.
The architect behind Carolina’s Stanley Cup was GM Tulsky. With degrees from Harvard and UC-Berkeley, Tulsky’s background as a scientist informed his approach to hockey, which started as a blogger in the 2010s while he worked in nanotechnology. He is known for his use of data and analytics, which influenced the NHL before he earned his first hockey operations jobs with Nashville in 2012 and Carolina in 2014.
cearegood@detroitnews.com
@ConnorEaregood
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: MSU’s Brind’Amour, WMU’s Bussi win Stanley Cup with Carolina Hurricanes
Reporting by Connor Earegood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Connor Earegood, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
