Mailbag #57: Aaron Ward
When did you know the 2005-06 team was special? Any fun Rod Brind'Amour stories?
(Please Note: Some questions have been edited for clarity.)
How do you look back upon your time as a Hurricane? - Anonymous via DM
I got here in 2001 via trade, and I knew absolutely nothing about North Carolina. I was like 'this is awesome'. I started to get the feeling that this could be home and then you establish some roots away from the rink.
Being a part of the hockey team is great, but being a part of the whole (Raleigh) environment, it grows on you. It becomes who you are.
Most guys that stick around say this, but you feel like you're a part of growing the game here. Not in a hokey way. Not like how we used to be criticized in 2000 and 2001, when people used to call us "Mayberry." It's not growth in that way. It's growth in terms of expanding into the community. Not just from the fan base perspective, but when you think of big teams in big cities, businesses want to be a part of it. We all coexist and we're all working together for the same purpose - and that's having a successful team in a successful city. We all want to enjoy ourselves around a common cause, whether it be the team on the ice, or as a team in the community. All of those things started to grow.
Do you recall a specific moment or situation where he knew the '06 team was special? - @LikeFiftyNinjas / @iTweetThings67
I don't know if there was an exact situation, but more a series of moments.
Peter Laviolette came in toward the end of the 2003-04 season and we had no idea who he was. You don't really get a litmus test for what your coach is all about. He came in and started pushing our boundaries. What I mean by that is that he got us into uncomfortable situations in life.
You're brought up in this sport to be one way. To take care of what you're supposed to take care of properly, be good by the book, and success will come. He kind of forced us to look outside of ourselves and look around the locker room through a series of experiences.
The first one I recall is that he forced us all to watch football together on a Monday night. He didn't clarify until later that together meant not just the players, but we're bringing our wives, and oh by the way, the coaches are coming. Management is coming too.
We were all in this room, and for a bit we were almost resenting it. We don't want to be with these people that you're always with at the rink on a Monday night, you wanted to be living your life. But then after a while, you started to see how the tiered level in an organization started to vanish. Everyone became more comfortable being around Jim Rutherford, everyone felt comfortable communicating with your assistant coaches. The players had a rapport that was different than any other team that you'd had.
So whether it was that moment of getting together for the first time, or Peter Laviolette giving Chad LaRose a camera to walk around with and take pictures with for an idea he had. His goal for the end of the season was to put together a commemorative video, something reflective of the journey we went through. We were a motley crew to start the season.
The final moment for me, and it may sound trivial, but we were going through a three-game skid as a team. We landed in Atlanta and Rod Brind'Amour made an announcement. The team was going out together, to the bar, as a group. The term for that in this world is called a "slump buster." Roddy didn't call it that though. Everyone just showed up and Roddy went. He normally didn't go. So at that moment, we were feeling like 'oh man, even he's evolving a bit.' It was outside of his comfort zone, outside of his day-to-day. He was trying to take charge and change something. It was a moment when we really needed it and it really felt like we were all in. Now I'm not highlighting drinking, I'm highlighting guys doing things that weren't normally within their character.
Any cool/fun Rod Brind'Amour stories specifically from the 2006 playoffs? - @josh\_holdner98
The story I like to tell isn't from those playoffs, it's a series of steps from over that season.
I was 33 that season, in essence, I was on the back nine of my career. And I ended up having the best season of my life in hockey.
One of the reasons was the coaching staff, the other was how I was challenged by a veteran player to be better, in a way that wasn't obvious. What I mean by that is every single practice, Roddy and I lined up against each other. It had usually been Justin Williams or Erik Cole. But we challenged each other in every drill, to the point where it got really competitive. Sometimes combative. But there wasn't a single two-on-one drill over the course of the season that I didn't make it my point to try and ruin his success. I wanted to win.
Then I realized that everything I was doing in practice because I was being challenged by my captain, translated into success in games. My conditioning was there, my confidence was good, my awareness, everything.
Rod Brind'Amour always has good practice habits. What you come to realize at the end of the season is that those things, I don't know whether it was through osmosis, or what, they managed to instill themselves into a lot more guys in that locker room. It was a key reason why we were successful.
So, my favorite Rod Brind'Amour story, is that he made a 33-year-old defenseman find that he had more in him. And at that stage in someone's career, it takes a lot for someone to do something different, and take different steps. He did that for me.
How do you remember your goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals? - @mrutherford1106https://twitter.com/mrutherford1106/status/1640412239441043456
I remember the goal, of course, but the thing I remember is that at the start of the game, I was so jumpy. I struggled to even hold a cup of coffee pre-game without shaking. It was that level of intensity.
So when I got out for that shift, I kept trying to jump down, and be aggressive and offensive. I slid down and thought I was going to have a chance to get a puck on net before the play came up the boards. I started to retreat, but I was actually lucky that the puck wasn't dropped off, because as it was coming out of the zone, I was in the perfect spot for when the puck was thrown off the back of the net and to the top of the circle. It was the perfect position to let it go.
I remember just being absolutely mentally drowned out. It was almost like an overload of senses when I scored. I had my internal reaction, the reaction of my teammates, and the sound in the building. I can remember that it was deafening. It wasn't just the horn, it wasn't just the fan base, it was teammates screaming because of the euphoric feeling because we had just broken out of the blue. That goal got us to relax. It got us ahead of Edmonton. It was an overwhelming feeling of all of these emotions and sensations.
Best prank that you heard or saw during the Stanley Cup season? - @OneTrueZach
So, Niclas Wallin used to take my shoelaces. I could never figure out who would do it. He would take them out of my shoes and then they would magically wind up in my pocket.
Eventually, I found out, but I didn't let him know that.
We rolled into Atlanta for a game and we got into the hotel. I had set it up so that way Nicky got pulled aside by I think it was (Vice President of Communications & Team Services) Mike Sundheim. I got him to hold him up, so then I took Nicky's hotel key and I went and put cellophane across his toilet bowl.
I wasn't present for when he eventually did have to pee and it ricochetted all over his bathroom, but I did hear about it. He knew immediately it was me.
Not a member of Twitter? We're always happy to take questions at [email protected] as well!
Canes Mailbags are powered by Segra.
Worth A Click:
Canes Clinch Fifth Consecutive Playoff Berth
CanesCast Episode 245: Ahead By A Century
How The Canes Push Forward Without Svechnikov
Stadium Series Economic Impact Announced
2022-23 Single Game Tickets
NHL Standings
March Schedule
Learn More About Season Ticket Memberships For The 2023-24 Season
