"And After 22 Years..."

Pat Salvas looks back on the 2001 Stanley Cup team that claimed victory 22 years ago tonight.

Photo by B Bennett/Getty Images

“And after 22 years… RAYMOND BOURQUE!”

Those words were uttered 22 years ago tonight by the incomparable Gary Thorne following Colorado’s 3-1 Game 7 victory against New Jersey to win the franchise’s second Stanley Cup. It’s been 22 years since Ray Bourque’s 22-year career came to an end in the most satisfying fashion possible.

It seems almost incomprehensible that that moment is so far away. We’re as close to the end of Bourque’s career as he was to the start of it that night: June 9, 2001.

As we come up on one year since last season’s team claimed victory, I’ve been thinking longingly of that ’01 group and what it meant to me as a 15-year-old high school freshman that season.

If you know me — whether that is here, through my occasional writing, or in real life.