Rob Scuderi now has company on the list of Long Island hockey players to win the Stanley Cup
Rob Scuderi of the Los Angeles Kings celebrates with the Stanley Cup in the locker room after defeating the New Jersey Devils in Game 6 in 2012. Credit: Getty Images/Dave Sandford
Rob Scuderi welcomes the company.
“It’s a cool footnote to be the first player from Long Island to win a Stanley Cup,” the former NHL defenseman, who grew up in Bethpage and now lives in Garden City, told Newsday. “But watching, it’s even better to share it. It’s nice to have a guy from the area also achieve hockey’s ultimate prize.”
That would be Hurricanes goalie Brandon Bussi of Sound Beach, who became the second Long Islander to lift the Cup on June 14.
Rob Scuderi of the Los Angeles Kings hoists the Stanley Cup in 2012 Credit: Getty Images
Scuderi, 47, now a Predators development coach, won the Cup twice, with the Penguins in 2009 and the Kings in 2012. He’s hopeful it won’t be another 14 years before another Long Islander gets the chance.
“It’s too hard to tell, there are too many factors,” Scuderi said. “But the fact that we have more and more players participating at the higher levels of hockey, the fact that they’re making it to Division I college, they’re making it to the American Hockey League and to the NHL is nice to see for the area. Because there are a lot of quality players and people here that are trying to do it the right way. It’s nice to see some reward for that.”
Bussi, who turns 28 on Thursday, told Newsday in a separate interview that Scuderi was, “a player that showed us Long Island kids that the dream is possible.”
“Hearing that I’m the second Long Island NHL player to bring the Stanley Cup back is honestly wild to hear and kind of hard to believe because of how much the sport has grown over the last 10, 15 years,” Bussi said. “There’s a handful of guys that are making a real impact in the NHL right now, which is so exciting to see. It’s very cool to know that.”
Scuderi said he has yet to meet Bussi. But their paths just missed crossing as Scuderi got back into hockey after retiring from a 12-season NHL career in 2016.
“Ironically, I almost coached him,” Scuderi said. “He played for the NCDC [National Collegiate Development Conference] Islanders in 2017-18 and he had left the year before I started coaching there.”
Scuderi also was the first NHL player from Long Island to spend his day with the Stanley Cup on the Island – which Bussi said he plans to do this summer – after winning in 2009. In 2012, Scuderi, then living in Massachusetts, took the Cup to Boston.
“In 2009 we did it on the Island,” Scuderi said. “I went down to Long Beach where all the mushrooms are. When I was a kid, my dad’s hockey group used to have their annual picnic down there. We basically had a big party down by the beach. I brought it to the Anchor Camp [for special needs children]. I brought it to Newbridge Arena [in Bellmore], where I played as a child, and signed some autographs and had some stuff set up. It was a very enjoyable day. I do believe you’re sharing it with the community that you come from.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
