A YUM Publication
No. 7 Vol. 6
JUNE 2025
Remembering the 1995 Stanley Cup Championship with Morristown Coach Bruce Driver By Evan Wechman he New Jersey Devils were recently eliminated from the NHL playoffs, so hockey fans have not had much to get excited about lately. However, thirty years ago, this June, the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals were won by the New Jersey Devils for the first time in their organization’s history. Not only was it a thrilling victory for the team and its fans, but it remains a special memory for Morristown Beard School varsity girls ice hockey head coach Bruce Driver. Though Driver has had great success since his playing days as a coach, looking back on the 30th anniversary of the Stanley Cup championship he helped win is something that will always stay with him. “Belief I would say is the one thing that comes to mind when I look back on that season. Using points as the barometer, we were the 9th ranked team going into the playoffs. This meant we would start each series on the road if the higher seed won while we advanced,” Driver said. “We weren’t expected to win but the belief we had in our coaching staff and ourselves was the key to success. We saw everyone on our roster contribute to win the Stanley Cup. I can really only speak for myself, but I bet if you asked each and every player on the team, they would tell you the same thing, that they believed in themselves, their coaches and their teammates,” Driver added. Though Driver, a standout defenseman for the team, believed in himself and his teammates, winning the cup was a difficult process with many hockey fans skeptical of the Devils’ chances of advancing even past the first round in the 1995 playoffs. They were underdogs even as they met the Boston Bruins in the opening round. According to Driver, the team was starting to build confidence as the playoffs approached. “I’ve always been a believer that you can’t just turn the switch on, and things will go well but we had a few really good practices leading up to the start of the playoffs. The practice the day before we started in Boston was very crisp. That first
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away game was the start of a dominant record on the road in the playoffs.” After the Devils beat Boston and eventually ousted the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Finals, hockey enthusiasts across the nation still doubted their chances of emerging victorious against the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings. Also, Driver was dealing with a torn rib cartilage he suffered against the Flyers. However, the team was well prepared for anything they may face. “There was a lot of talk about the Red Wings sweeping us. This made sense to many as clearly they were the best team in the league all season long and were now in the Stanley Cup Final. Their roster was filled with talented players, and they were well coached. The thing is we had confidence in our style of play and our coaches had us well prepared.,” Driver said. Personally, I felt pretty good going into game 1 of the finals in Detroit but certainly had a little concern wondering how my body would truly feel. Getting through the first period for me was key in testing myself. We played so well in Detroit in the first two games limiting the Red Wings to less than 20 shots per game. After leaving Detroit with a 2-0 lead in the series and now being 10-1 on the road we were ready to take it home. We heard all the noise about Detroit having to figure out how to generate more but for us we just continued to do what we had been doing all playoff long,” he said. The rest is history as the Devils swept the Red Wings in four games. However, because Driver had developed such a strong bond with the organization, a few years after he retired in the late 1990’s he was hired by general manager Lou Lamoriello. Hiis responsibilities were to help build a strong alumni base and participate in developing relationships with youth hockey leagues throughout the state. He has also since worked in forming greater bonds with fans and corporate sponsors. Though Driver stays focused coaching at Morristown Beard School as well as his job with the New Jersey Devils, he will always fondly remember that special season in
1995. “Two moments resonated with me about the night we won the Stanley Cup. The first was seeing one of the toughest players in the league, in tears, on our bench, when we all realized we had won the Cup. Our Captain, Scott Stevens putting his arm around Mike Peluso…you could just feel how much it meant to him and all of us,” Driver said. “And of course, having the opportunity to hoist the Stanley Cup over my head after playing 12 years with the Devils was the pinnacle of my career
in hockey. From the age of three, learning how to skate, playing minor hockey in Toronto, choosing US College hockey at Wisconsin over Major Junior A Hockey in Ontario, amazingly winning two NCAA Championships there, representing Canada in the Olympics, then being given the opportunity to play in the NHL, I know you need a little luck in making it to the NHL. Some are given an opportunity, and some aren’t. I’m one of the lucky ones who was given that opportunity and I was determined to take full advantage of it.