The Carolina Hurricanes have won the Stanley Cup with the help of goalie Brandon Bussi. Bussi, a 27-year-old from Long Island, was not an unknown quantity for the Hurricanes because he played in nearly half their games this season, winning 31 of his 39 starts to help Carolina earn the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

From Journeyman to Champion

Before the past several months, he was on track for the career of a journeyman. Going undrafted, he spent several years in the Boston Bruins’ farm system with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL and Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League.

Injuries to Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov thrust him into an important role for a top contender. Bussi was even more needed in the final. He entered at the second intermission in Game 3 with the Hurricanes down 4-0. He stopped all 18 shots to allow a stirring comeback, and the only goal he allowed was the Golden Knights’ winner in double overtime when the puck took a bad bounce off the end boards behind him and Bussi inadvertently kicked it in.

Hurricanes fans in Las Vegas chanted “Buss-i! Buss-i!” on the way to his third career shutout. A journeyman no more, Bussi is now a Stanley Cup champion. So is Andersen.

Original reporting: KSAT Sports (San Antonio) — read the source article.