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Archive: Trevor Daley on what he'll do with the Stanley Cup, his mother and celebrating on the ice with a broken ankle

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Former Dallas Stars defenseman Trevor Daley, who won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins, recently joined 1310 The Ticket to talk hockey. Here are some highlights from their interview:

How he'll spend his day with the Stanley Cup

Question: Have you made a decision on how you'll spend your day or two with the Stanley Cup when it's your turn to have it?

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Daley: Yes. That was planned out a long time ago. Many, many years ago that was planned out. I'm going to bring the cup back home to where I grew up and around my neighborhoods that I grew up around playing hockey. I can't wait. Like I said, I've been thinking about that day for a really long time. Now that it's come true it's amazing.

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On him celebrating on the ice with a broken ankle

Question: You broke your ankle in the series before in the Eastern Conference Finals. I was very surprised because after the game was over I was looking for you trying to see how you were going to come down or whatnot. I was surprised, man, to see you in uniform on skates and everything with your broken ankle out there out there celebrating like you had no pain in the world. You weren't dressed the whole game were you?

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Daley: No, no, no. I started getting dressed with 10 minutes left in the game just hoping I wasn't have to get undressed and I wasn't going to get to celebrate. It was nerve-wracking because there was a bunch of us that were in the dressing room getting ready watching the game. We were only up by a goal so we were like, 'If they score we have to run and hide and not the guys see us here.' It was a surreal moment. You know once we got that final goal, the empty net one, we ran out there. We didn't want to miss too much of the celebration. I talked to the doc about a week before Game 5 at home and asked him if we can make it happen if somehow you can get a skate on my foot and let me get out there. He made it happen and I got an X-ray today and everything looked good, so I didn't go that hard.

When he realized he was getting the cup second after Sidney Crosby

Question: When did you realize you were going to get the cup after Sidney Crosby? That had to be the coolest moment ever.

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Daley: Yeah, I'm still dumbfounded by that. When I went out there and I got to congratulate Sid he said to me, 'You're getting this first.' And I was like, 'No I'm not.' And he's like, 'Yeah, you're first with this buddy.' And he just congratulated me and said, 'Hell of a job. We weren't here without ya. You're going to get it first.' That there was more special that talk with him than almost lifting the cup. It was pretty cool.

How his mother is doing

Question: We would be remissed if we didn't ask you for whatever you can tell us about your mother's condition and how she's doing?

Daley: She's battling, she's battling. She's a battler. That disease is a tough disease that we all deal with at some point. She's going to fight to the end. She's hanging in there. I talked to her this morning and she was up and pretty good spirit. She just can't wait to see me. As soon as the parade's done tomorrow I'm going to try to get home as quick as possible.

Question: How did she react to seeing you on the ice hoisting the Stanley Cup?

Daley: She was good. I think my wife actually tried to do it live with her in the arena and watch it. She was pumped, she was excited. She got to see my son out there on the ice with me too so she was really excited about the whole situation. She said before the game she was like, 'It'd be nice if they win this for you tonight so you can come home and see me soon.'

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What was it like to not play in the series?

Question: How heart wrenching was it to watch and not participate in the finals because of the ankle?

Daley: It wasn't fun at all. It was probably harder to watch than it was to play. It was bittersweet, it really was because you work so hard to get to this point and you want to be a part of it. You want to play and you want to contribute. When you can't do that it's disappointing. I tried to make the best of the situation. It was a fun time of the year. Just seeing the guys everyday interact with each other and how excited they are about the opportunities that we have to do this together. You just sit back and think that teammates, they come and go. When you win a cup and you get your name on the cup you're indebted to these guys forever. That was something special we got to talk about yesterday at Mario [Lemieux's]...And how special it is that this is forever now. There's nobody taking this ever away from us. Stanley Cup champs this year and that's never going to leave us. It's a special time.

If he ever thought he'd never win a championship in his career

Question: You broke into the league in 03-04 with Dallas. You spent more than a decade of your life here. You move to Chicago in a trade and it isn't working there. Athletes can read handwriting on walls. At any point this year as you move from Dallas to Chicago and then you request a trade, is there any point that you start asking yourself, 'I wonder if I'm ever going to get a ring?'

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Daley: Yeah. When I went to Chicago this year I thought there was a good chance I'd get a ring playing there. Coming here to Pittsburgh I was hoping just for a second opportunity. When I got to the second opportunity personally I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity I got and kind of run with it. Along with that there was other guys that were getting second opportunities. Our team just started clicking at the right time. You couldn't have better timing. We just found a way every night. If it wasn't Sidney Crosby or Kris Letang or Marc-Andre Fleury it was the young guys [like] a guy like Rusty [forward Bryan Rust]. We just had so many different contributors. I've been around long enough that you need all buy in from every single guy and you need to get your top-end guys have to be the best players. But your bottom six guys have to be your best players too. Everything just came together perfectly. I couldn't be more proud of the situation that we put ourself in.

His playoff beard: Does it stay or does it go?

Question: You going to keep that playoff beard?

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Daley: I shaved it yesterday as soon as I could. I had to get rid of that thing. It was itching. It was all over the place. My wife never talked to me [laughs]. I got rid of it. I got to talk to my wife.