Guy Carbonneau was traded from Montreal to St. Louis in 1994, in a deal which still makes no sense to him and at the time almost convinced him to retire. With the Blues his talents were largely wasted, and he wondered if he might ever make a serious contribution to hockey again.

Five years later he is once again a genuine hero, and his French name which was a household word in Montreal is now proclaimed proudly by fans with a southern drawl.

What a strange journey it has been.

The Stars’ Cup was no less sweet than those Guy won with Les Glorieux. "Winning the first was awesome," he mused. "The second was good. But when you look at my age and the fact of what happened to my dad, this has to rank right up on top."

I missed the first two. I thank my lucky stars—and lucky ghosts—that I got to see this one.

So where will Carbonneau go from here? Well, the road is turning out quite a bit longer than Guy once anticipated…he’s pondering the prospects of playing hockey at 40, and that’s a trip we’d love to see him take.

But for now, this leg of his journey has a couple more scheduled stops: For one thing, the Carbonneau Harley is going to have to go in for a little paint job, to add a third Cup on the fender.

And last stop, the Stanley Cup will make a trip to Sept-Îles…where a son will visit his father bearing in his arms the prize they earned together.