LAS VEGAS -- Brian Kilrea was Bruce Cassidy's coach with the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League when the smooth-skating defenseman hoisted the Memorial Cup in 1984.
Thirty-nine years later he watched Cassidy, now the coach of the Vegas Golden Knights, lift another championship trophy over his head, this one being the Stanley Cup, hockey's Holy Grail.
"I'm so proud of him," Kilrea, the winningest coach in Canadian Hockey League history, said in a phone interview from Ottawa on Thursday. "What a great job he did. You can see how much his players respect him by the way they played for him.
"I was watching on TV Tuesday when they beat [the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5] to win the Cup. I was cheering for him. It's so well deserved.
"He's one of the best coaches around, and he showed it."
Kilrea would know.
No coach in CHL history has been behind the bench for more victories than Kilrea (1,194), who retired in 2009. In the process he won the Memorial Cup twice with the 67's and was named OHL Coach of the Year five times.
In 1982 Cassidy joined the 67's and made an instant impression, accruing 111 points (25 goals, 86 assists) in 70 games. For Kilrea, the young Ottawa native was a prime example of a kid who let his play do his talking.
"I think he said something to me on the opening day of training camp and then the final day of the season," the 88-year-old said with a chuckle. "You didn't really need to talk to him. He knew the game and he listened. He was a talent.
"Now you look at the way he's constantly talking to his players. He's come a long way since then."
He flourished under Kilrea in his first two seasons, scoring 206 points in 137 games (52 goals, 154 assists) while helping Ottawa win the 1984 Memorial Cup.
The Chicago Blackhawks selected Cassidy in the first round (No. 18) of the 1984 NHL Draft, but the offseason would quickly sour for the then-19-year-old when he tore the ACL in his left knee in a recreational ball hockey game. He ended up being limited to 36 games and 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in his NHL career.
His fourth knee surgery finally convinced him to retire as a player while in the minor leagues with Indianapolis of the International Hockey League in 1996 and step behind the bench. He coached Jacksonville (ECHL), Indianapolis, Trenton (ECHL) and Grand Rapids (American Hockey League) over the next six years.
Cassidy eventually landed the job coaching Providence, the Boston Bruins AHL affiliate, in 2008. He was promoted to Bruins coach in 2016, replacing Claude Julien, who led Boston to the Stanley Cup in 2011.
He was fired on June 7, 2022, after going 245-108-46 with the Bruins and helping them reach the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, where Boston lost to the St. Louis Blues in seven games. He was hired by the Golden Knights one week later and helped them win the title in his first season in Vegas.
When informed of Kilrea's comments, Cassidy was touched.
"Great to hear from 'Killer'!" he said via text Thursday.
The two men haven't seen each other in five years, but that hasn't stopped Cassidy from appreciating Kilrea's coaching influence.
"He would always try to accentuate a player's strength," Cassidy said in a 2019 interview with NHL.com. "I was an offensive defenseman and he gave me a lot of authority to do what I did best.
"[Kilrea] also taught me: Be honest with your players. He taught me a lot in the way that I coach."
Lessons that helped Cassidy become a Stanley Cup winner.
"He knew what buttons to push and when to push them," Kilrea said. "And now he's a champion."
