- Eric Robinson took his Stanley Cup day back to Hollydell Ice Arena in South Jersey
- He handed the trophy to Guy Gaudreau, the coach who taught him and Johnny to skate
- Read below for the video and what Robinson said about Coach Guy
Eric Robinson’s day with the Stanley Cup ended up at the rink where his hockey life started.
The Carolina forward brought the trophy to Hollydell Ice Arena in Sewell, New Jersey, on Thursday and put it in the hands of Guy Gaudreau, the man who taught him to skate. They raised it together on the sheet Hollydell renamed the Gaudreau Rink after Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau were killed by an alleged drunk driver in August 2024.
As we noted when the photo went around, Guy had passed on lifting the Cup before this, hoping his first time would come with Johnny:
Asked about the handoff to his old coach, Robinson called it bittersweet. He said the moment came with “a lot of mixed emotions,” per Sam Carchidi of The Hockey News.
He kept circling back to the group of kids who grew up on that ice.
“I mentioned my friend group, and (Guy) taught us all how to skate. (It) was definitely an emotional moment, but really cool to share that with Coach Guy.”
Watch Robinson bring the Gaudreau family in for pictures in the video below:
Both Gaudreau brothers came up alongside Robinson at Hollydell, then at Gloucester Catholic. Their group still calls itself the Hollydell Boys. Robinson later spent a season with Johnny in Columbus.
Several hundred people turned up Thursday, with the line wrapped around the building. Robinson explained why he picked this rink over anywhere else he could have taken it.
“I think it’s important to give back to the community and for me, that kind of meant taking it somewhere that means something to me. This is where it all started.”
His older brother Buddy, also a former NHL player, got his turn with it too:
Robinson, a 31-year-old from Bellmawr, put up eight points (three goals, five assists) in the playoffs, a career high, as Carolina ended a 20-year wait and beat Vegas in six games. He is the first player from the seven-county South Jersey area to get his name on the Cup, and he is one of several Hurricanes who have taken it home this summer.
Guy talked about what it took to get the thing into that building in the first place.
“It’s such a hard trophy to win because you have to go through four rounds of hell.”
There is now a photo of Coach Guy holding the Stanley Cup over the sheet of ice that carries his sons’ names.
