Hainsey Brings the Cup Home TO BOLTON
BOLTON, CT – On a steamy summer morning hockey fans waited patiently to get a picture taken with hockey’s silver chalice, the Stanley Cup. For the Holy Grail of Hockey, it was the second public appearance in Connecticut in the last 24 hours and the fourth time in the Constitution State over the past five years.
The Bolton Ice Palace is tucked away off, just off Route 384 at the beginning of Route 6. Stanley Cup Champion Ron Hainsey started his life in hockey with the ECHO (Eastern Connecticut Hockey) program at the age of four in the shadow of the NHL when the Hartford Whalers were still in town.
“This is terrific,” the 36-year-old Hainsey said of the Penguins June 11 game 6 six victory over Nashville to capture their second Cup in a row. “Guys have won it two or three times and then go hide in a cabin or something. (For me), coming from here it was always a part of the game plan (to have it at Bolton Ice Palace) once we pulled this sucker off.”
The arena, which opened in 1974, has been noted as one of the coldest in Connecticut. Choate being a close second. It’s also the dimmest, but the lights were freshly lit with LED lighting and comfortable temps for all the fans and personnel awaiting the event.
Hainsey got the Cup from Farmington native, and former Avon Old Farms player, Nick Bonino who displayed it at the basketball gym at AOF Sunday morning.
“They bring it right to you drop it at the house,” Hainsey said while wearing his Penguins white home jersey. “I think Bonino had it into the late evening hours (last night).”
Hainsey’s baptism of hockey came very early at age four when a simple pamphlet paved the way.
“We had season tickets to the Whalers. We always took Ronnie,” said a very proud mother, Kerry Hainsey. “He would come home sliding around the kitchen floor, and one day, we got the ‘Learn-to-Skate’ pamphlet that came in the mail, and my husband took him over, and he took to it very quickly.”
His first trophy came with a great one liner. 
“I remember the coach saying it was the first time we have ever given a trophy to a player still in nursery school.”
Hainsey would graduate from ECHO and move on to the late Gary Dineen’s program at the Enfield Twin Rinks. Dineen is credited by many as the coach who started junior hockey in Connecticut.
“I did a lot there, but obviously this is where I started…my hometown,” Hainsey said. He went on to play in the US National Development program and then two years at UMASS-Lowell in Hockey East followed. Hainey turned pro after being drafted in the first round, thirteenth overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2000.
The rink’s Owner/General Manager is no stranger to the hockey community. He’s former Whaler, Bob Crawford. He also runs rinks in Bolton, Cromwell, and Simsbury. The Belleville, Ontario native relished this moment.
“This is hockey in its purest form. A true small town and (Hainsey’s) family has been extraordinarily gracious and wanted the kids to be the center of the event and the entire ECHO programs which cover like 20 towns. (They’re) All small places that have made this place their hockey home. When I grew up, it was the Hulls-Bobby and Dennis, and few forget Brett was born in Belleville. Andrew Shaw and my brother Marc won it with Colorado.
“We had at it at the kitchen table for breakfast one morning before taking it to the center of town where 10,000 of our closest friends came, which before today was the only time I have ever seen the Cup in person. All the security and staff people here (inside) and outside are ECHO people. They care greatly about (Hainsey) and this program. They are volunteering their time. They didn’t have to be asked. It’s a special moment for this town, and you feel the pride in this building.” Crawford said.
Hainsey’s father Marty decked out in his Penguins championship t-shirt, and dark shades was in awe of the whole scene.
The elder Hainsey is still pinching himself over all of it.
“Everyday since he was drafted, playing (in the NHL), it’s just amazing to consider it all.”
Speaking about the lunar eclipse this past Monday, inspired Hainsey’s agent, Matt Keator, to make an excellent observation. “He wins a Stanley Cup as often as there is a lunar eclipse.”
There is another number significant in Hainsey’s capturing a title. He played 907 NHL games without a playoff appearance breaking him of a streak reminiscent of the late Ernie Banks (Chicago Cubs), who played his entire Hall-of-Fame career without ever making a World Series appearance.
“We have been having fun. We’re having hats made up with 907 (on them),” Keator, who played prep school hockey at Pomfret and college hockey at Trinity College, said with a smirk. “I walked onto the ice (after they won) and he goes. ‘Dude, I’m one-for-one in the playoffs.’ That’s vintage Ronnie.”
Keator has known Hainsey since he was 15-years-old. He executed a two year, $6 million dollar deal for Hainsey with a rising Stanley Cup seeking Toronto Maple Leafs team. It will allow Hainsey to play in possibly over 1,000 regular season NHL games.
Bonino has also left the Penguins. He departs for the team the Pens beat for the title. Bonino signed a four-year, $16.4 deal with the Predators.
Hansey’s fortunes changed when he was moved by a childhood hero, former Whaler great, and the current GM of Carolina, Ron Francis, to Pittsburgh. The Pens GM is Jim Rutherford, a former Hartford/Carolina GM who also played AHL hockey in New Haven.
“I knew he would get traded because that’s what Carolina does when contracts are up. I really thought Pittsburgh,” Kerry Hainsey said with a laugh. “I remember those times at the Hartford Civic Center (nee XL Center) and the irony is the guy he cheered for, Ronnie Francis, trades him to Pittsburgh.”
The move to Pittsburgh was perfect for Hainsey, but not an easy one.
“When he got traded from Carolina, there were a lot of mixed emotions. His first was the outdoor game (at Heinz Field against the Flyers),” his wife Hayley said as she and their three children passed out signed pictures to fans. “We loved the team he played for and also where we were living, but going to a team like Pittsburgh, how could you be upset, right? Great team, great players, great guys. It obviously turned out for the best for us.”
Hainsey’s last playoff appearance came in the AHL with the Hamilton Bulldogs against the Rochester Americans in a four game sweep. One of his Hamilton teammates was with him in Pittsburgh, Trevor Daley. Before winning the Cup in the NHL, Hainsey’s deepest playoff experience was also in Hamilton. It came during the 2002-03 season when the Bulldogs were the top team in the AHL but lost to the Houston Aeros in seven games.
To the strains of John Mellencamp’s song, “Small Town,” reverberating off the ceiling, Hainsey didn’t disappoint those who were unable to enter because of time constraints. He brought Lord Stanley to them to see it and thank them all for waiting in line for quite some time.
Hainsey’s realization of his dream just shows that anyone’s hockey odyssey from a small town can happen.
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