LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Sports reporter Tina Nguyen sits down with VGK & Stanley Cup champion head coach Bruce Cassidy. Cassidy shares what it's like to achieve a lifelong dream, his day with the Stanley Cup, and the defending their Stanley Cup title this season.
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TINA NGUYEN: Bruce, a back-to-back chant at the Stanley Cup parade. No pressure.
BRUCE CASSIDY: It's okay. We don't mind the pressure. We're in it to win every year. I think the organization has proven that since day one. It doesn't bother me at all. We just got to remember how we got here, the process, and that starts today, to do it all over again.
NGUYEN: Why can this group be up to the task to repeat?
CASSIDY: They know what it takes. We've got, basically, pretty much with the exception of Reilly Smith, Phil Kessel, a couple of guys that we're obviously going to miss, a majority of the group is back. They've been through it. They understand what it takes. It doesn't mean it's going to work out that way but as I said, we all put the work in last year to get to where we needed to be. That's why I feel we can do it. We're not aging out. Eventually, in pro sports, as you get older you lose a bit of that. We're not at that level yet. We've got a lot of good years left.
NGUYEN: What did you learn about this group of guys last season?
CASSIDY: They know how to win. They can do what it takes to win. They can sacrifice for the good of the crest. That's what I learned mostly. I learned they can play at crunch time. They don't get rattled. We're not that team that's always up here but we can certainly get to that level. We never sank so low that we couldn't climb out of it either. I think it's a real professional group that has belief in each other.
NGUYEN: June 13, the night you guys won it all, what was that like to hoist the cup for the first time?
CASSIDY: There's a lot that goes into it. It's an unbelievable feeling. There's a lot of different emotions, I think, for everybody. For me, it had been a long year moving my family across the country starting in a new spot so there's a little bit of relief that we finally got here and it was all worth it. Yet, then you look back and it's something you wanted to do your whole life. There's that part of it, all the blood, sweat, and tears you put into it, all the people around you that helped you get there, the people right beside there that have helped you get there in the moment. There's people like my brother who have been there my whole life, my parents that weren't around to see it, my kids that were there supporting me so there were a lot of mixed emotions.
NGUYEN: What was it like to share that moment on the ice with your family?
CASSIDY: Well, there's about three or four pieces of winning that I look back on. On the ice is the immediate one, the first one. They're right there. You're looking around. Where are they? You want them on the ice. You want them touching the cup. You're hoisting the cup at home so there's still 19,000 people still in the building so that's pretty cool as well. The on the ice moment is the best because that's the immediate sort of emotion like we did it. I love you guys. All of that stuff sounds corny but it's true.
NGUYEN: You mentioned wanting to accomplish something like this. Was it everything you dreamed of?
CASSIDY: I think it was. I think it was. I'm getting older so I was dreaming since I was seven or eight years old. I think you can still dream in your 50s and I did about winning it. It's just a different dream. When I was young, I dreamed about winning it like Marchessault, scoring a goal. Now, as you get out of playing, your dream as a coach, it's a little bit different but I think the feeling is still the same. Then, I said the other pieces go along with it like the parade and the banner lifting and the ring ceremony and the cup day.
NGUYEN: Speaking about your cup day, what did you do with it?
CASSIDY: We had an early morning trip over to, we spend the summer in Cape Cod so we took it to Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. We launched a charity in the morning, just outside of Boston. My daughter, Shannon, unfortunately, lost one of her best friends in a boating accident. We launched the Cassidy Murray Foundation, Linda, Dave, and Adam. Linda and Dave were Cassidy's parents. They discussed with Julie that they wanted her memory to live on in different ways. That's what we did in the morning. We raised some awareness. We were able to raise some money and had a lot of people from that area come out and get pictures with the cup, especially kids. The rest of the day was spent in the cape where we live. We opened it up to the public. We had some private time with our families. Then, we had a nice dinner that night that was about 60-70 people, hockey people, neighbors, people there along the way. I thought it was a fantastic day. We had great weather. We were able to get it out into the public as well so that a lot of young kids could get their picture taken with it, young aspiring hockey players, or just people that love the game. It worked out to be a really great day.
NGUYEN: What was it like to share that with the Murray family?
CASSIDY: It's an emotional day for different reasons but it was great to see smiles on their faces because it's tough. They're starting a foundation that wants to help people that go through that sort of trauma, the grief therapy, and also give some educational opportunities to young girls that can't provide it themselves. They're doing a good job trying to raise money and keep their daughter's image alive through her foundation and we're trying to do our part to help them with that, which like I said, is very gratifying in the end but also, there's a level of sadness because their daughter isn't around to enjoy all this but we're doing our best to keep her memory alive.
NGUYEN: As you head into this season, you return a core group of your guys. You do come in with a bit of a target on your back. People are going to want to prove themselves against this team. What do you do to help this group focus on the task at hand?
CASSIDY: We're going to be open and honest about what's in front of us. How did we get here from this time last year to Stanley Cup Champions? We didn't just wake up Stanley Cup Champions. There's a process involved. There's a lot of work in training camp, a lot of sacrifice for guys. We're a team. We were four lines, six defensemen. We used five goalies. It was one for all and all for one. It wasn't about one guy. We will talk about that part of the process from last year and what's in front of us this year. We know we have the ability to win. We just proved it. Now, we've got to go out and do it with teams using us as a measuring stick game, as you said. Every game, we're going to get teams' best, especially early on. Other coaches will say that. This is what a championship team looks like. Let's go out and get it done against them. There aren't going to be a lot of easy nights for the Vegas Golden Knights early and I think that's okay. Like I said, we have a professional group. We have a group that loves challenges and I think we're still in that age bracket where we can handle those challenges but we've got to go on the ice and do it.
NGUYEN: With the way things ended in Boston to you coming here and starting over with a new organization and winning the Stanley Cup, what kind of perspective has winning given you?
CASSIDY: Well, it's very gratifying, first of all, to win anywhere. I would have loved to have done it at every stop I've been at. It happened to happen in Vegas, a year out from Boston where we happen to have a summer home where we brought the cup. There was a little bit of irony in all of that and also, just a certain level of happiness. As I said, I would have been happy to have done it everywhere. I'm really excited to do it in Vegas because of how close they've been. The fan base has been behind this team from day one. There's still a bit of newness to the team. You have the Misfits story and I was very happy for them. This turned out to be a perfect first spot and a nice transition from the East Coast to the West Coast so all those things worked out really well. Like I said, I'm very grateful, appreciative, proud to have done it here.
NGUYEN: Stanley Cup parade, what do you think you'll remember most from it?
CASSIDY: The crowds, the fact is was Las Vegas Boulevard. It was at night, in the evening. And then, the onstage performance, William Karlsson, for me, for a guy that's very quiet, to see him come out and have a few laughs, I thought it was great. Just seeing the guys, the families, everyone having a good time. It was just a nice evening. The fan support, giving back to them. I think the parade, guys had a great time. I think that's giving back to your fans, the interaction with the players. The trophy is there. I thought it was a terrific moment and glad the Knights' fans came out and supported the group and we were able to give back.
NGUYEN: Lastly, what will it take to continue the success here?
CASSIDY: I know it's going to sound but it's a lot of the same as how we finished. Hopefully, the messaging for us is okay, we've got to pick up from Game 5 of the final versus Florida and keep going from there. We have to keep building our game like we did all of last year because we're going to have to be even better because, like I said, teams are going to come after you. There's a lot of things that go into winning a championship. Your on-ice performance is, obviously, the most important but there's a certain amount of health. There's a certain amount of how do you get through the resiliency factor of losing people to injury or what may happen along the way, not assuming and taking it for granted that it's going to happen all over again. As I said, we have a professional group. Alec Martinez has won multiple cups. Alex Pietrangelo has won multiple cups. Barbashev, Stephenson, so we've got guys that have done it in different places and understand that it's not automatic.
NGUYEN: Does it give you a level of comfort going into the season that you have guys that have won multiple cups?
CASSIDY: It does. It does. There's guys we can lean on and during the season, we'll be able to communicate with and say what did you guys do x number of years ago to get over this hump because there's always hurdles. There always is so it would be good to have their opinions as respected veteran guys.
NGUYEN: Congratulations Bruce. Good luck this season and they can't kick you out of the club
CASSIDY: That's right Tina. Thank you.