🏒 2026 Stanley Cup Finals: Bussi the Backup Saves the Series 🏒

Every athlete wants to be the best. No matter what level you play at, being the star of your team, and playing every minute of every game is what every player wants.  

But what if all of a sudden, after years of success  you can’t even make it on the team you want?  Would you keep trying or would you give up? What if you made that team, but were not given the chance to play and show your skills? 

Would you get frustrated, lazy, or distracted? Or would you stay focused and be ready when your moment came to step up and help your team when they needed it most. 

Tonight you will hear the story of Brandon Bussi, a hockey goalie who found himself in just this situation while his teammates were playing the biggest games of their lives!

Transcript

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Hello sports fans and welcome to Once Upon a Game. Every athlete wants to be the best. No matter what level you play at, being the star of your team and playing every minute of every game is what every player wants. Sometimes this is an easy goal. Year after year you might be the best and everyone sees it and knows it. But what if all of a sudden, after years of success, you can't even make it onto the team you want? Would you keep trying, or would you give up? What if you made that team but were not given the chance to play and show your skills? Would you get frustrated, lazy, or distracted? Or would you stay focused and be ready when your moment came to step up and help your team when they needed it most? Tonight you will hear the story of Brandon Busie, a hockey goalie who found himself in just this situation while his teammates were playing in the biggest games of their lives. Once upon a game, a hockey goalie named Brandon Busy was sitting at the end of the Carolina Hurricanes bench. It was the same place he had sat for the last two months while his teammates had stormed their way through the Stanley Cup playoffs. Brandon didn't know it yet, but he was about to be called on to change the course of the Stanley Cup Finals. Brandon had taken a long journey just to get to this seat on the bench. He was a rookie, a first-year player, but at 27 years old, he was much older than most players are when they first get into the NHL. Years earlier, Brandon had been the starting goalie on his college team at Western Michigan and played very well. Every year, pro teams get to choose the best new young players to join their team at an event called the NHL Draft. Brandon hoped that a pro team liked him enough to pick him to join their team. Year after year, while he was in college, the draft came and went each spring, but Brandon never got picked. It seemed no NHL team wanted him. Instead of giving up on his NHL dream when his college time was up, Brandon decided to join a minor league team connected with the Boston Bruins. He kept working on his game, hoping to get a call up to play for the Bruins in the NHL. But the call never came. For three years he worked and practiced and played over 100 games in the minors. He was an all-star in the minor league, but his ultimate goal, to play in the NHL, still seemed out of reach. Brandon decided it was time to try his luck with a different team. Before the 2025 season, he tried to join a different NHL team, the Florida Panthers, who were the defending Stanley Cup champions and one of the best teams in the league. But right before the season started, Brandon was told he hadn't made it. He would be going back to the Minors. Or would he? Just days before the season was set to begin, the Carolina Hurricanes backup goalie got hurt. They needed a new one, and fast. They had Brandon join their team before he went to the minors, and on opening night, Brandon Bussey was introduced to the Carolina crowd as their new backup goalie. A week later, Brandon's NHL dream finally came true. He was named as the starting goalie for the Hurricane's third game of the season. He played well in his first game, only giving up one goal, and helped his team win 5-1. As the season went on, Brandon won 10 of his first 11 games. He proved that he belonged in the pros. Brandon ended up playing almost half the Hurricane's regular season games. He won 31 of them and lost only six. But as the NHL playoffs began, Carolinas started the more experienced Frederick Anderson in goal. It was a smart move. The Hurricane stormed through the playoffs, winning their first eight games in a row. They lost only once before reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, where they were set to play against the Vegas Golden Knights. All the while, Brandon Bussey sat on the bench and could only watch his team's success. The first two games of the finals were back and forth battles. In each game, one team took a 2-0 lead, only to see their opponents score the next three goals. Carolina and Vegas split the first two games. Vegas won the first game 5-4 with a goal in the last few minutes. The second game went to overtime, where the Hurricanes were able to score and win four-three. Each team had one win. It was shaping up to be a close, high scoring series, but it takes four wins to raise the Stanley Cup. Would the excitement of games one and two continue into game three? It didn't seem like it. In fact, game three was looking to be a disaster for the Hurricanes. After a scoreless first period, the Golden Knights scored four times in the second, including a hat trick by their newest star player Mitch Marner. As bad as that sounds for Carolina, it could have been worse. Vegas had put two more pucks in the net during the second period, but those goals had been waived off on replay reviews. The Knights were simply slaying the Hurricanes. They led 4-0 as the teams headed to the locker room before the start of the third and final period. Between periods, Carolina's coach, Rod Brindamore, decided to make a change. Brandon was going to play a goal for the third period. After two months of sitting on the bench, he was going into his very first playoff game with his team down by four. Five minutes into the third period, Brandon was faced with a unique challenge. Mitch Marner, the same player who had already scored three times for Vegas that night, was given a penalty shot after he was tripped on a breakaway. If he could score again, it might seal a Vegas victory. Marner started at center ice, scooped the puck onto his stick, and skated in on Brandon. He faked to the right, but Brandon didn't fall for it. Mitch shifted to the left, and Brandon slid across the ice with his pad and glove low and blocked Marner's backhand shot. The save inspired his Carolina teammates and helped quiet the Vegas crowd. About three minutes after Brandon's save, Carolina finally scored. It felt like it would make little difference at first. But then, just 20 seconds after their first goal, Carolina's Taylor Hall tapped the puck past the Vegas goalie and into the net. Suddenly it was four to two. But Carolina was not done. Just 10 seconds after goal number two, there was a faceoff near the Vegas goalie. Carolina's captain, Jordan Stahl, won the puck back to one of his defensemen, who shot it towards the Golden Knights goal. Jordan stuck out his stick and tipped the puck on its way by, just enough for it to fly into the net. Three goals in 39 seconds. Carolina was back in the game. For the next 10 minutes, play continued, with neither team able to score. Brandon made key saves to give his team a chance to tie, but late in the game, Carolina was still down. The Hurricanes started another attack with two minutes left to play. As they did, Brandon sprinted to the Carolina bench to give his team an extra skater. The Hurricanes passed the puck around the zone, then down low by the goal line. The puck was jammed towards the Vegas net. Players piled up, arms and legs and sticks flew in every direction, and the puck ended up in the Vegas net. Carolina had tied it. For the second game in a row, the teams were headed to overtime. The last overtime game had ended quickly. This one would not. Back and forth the teams skated for an entire extra period, but no one could score. Each team had good chances, but both goalies stopped every shot. On to double overtime. The players were tired, and any little bounce of the puck might make all the difference. And it was Vegas who got that bounce. A Golden Knights defenseman took a slap shot from the blue line. The shot missed the net, but it was so hard that the puck bounced off the boards back towards Carolina's goal. As it came out, the puck hit Brandon's skate and bounced into the net behind him. Vegas had won. Their players and fans erupted with joy. They now led the series two games to one. The Hurricanes were disappointed, but determined. They had fought hard and made an incredible comeback but fell just short. The next game would be crucial. Could the Hurricanes tie the series? Or would the Golden Knights take a commanding 3-1 series lead? And perhaps the biggest question of all, who would be the Hurricane starting goalie? Carolina's coach had decided to keep Brandon Bussey in goal for the next game. Would the backup turn starter be able to step in and save the series? The Vegas crowd was ready and rowdy for game four, but the Hurricanes got right to work. Just one minute into the game, they scored to take an early lead. Three minutes after that they scored again to lead two to zero. But as the first three games had shown, two goal leads were never safe in this series. The teams traded the next two goals to make the score three to one Carolina. Vegas scored twice in the second to tie the score at three. Both teams battled back and forth most of the third period. Brandon stopped every shot Vegas could throw his way, and with six minutes to go, Carolina was able to score again and hang on for a four to three win. Brandon had won his first playoff game as a starter, and the series was tied two games to two. Game five back in Carolina would now become the most crucial game in the series. Whoever won this game would be one victory away from clinching the Stanley Cup. Vegas struck first to take a 1-0 lead, but Carolina scored the next four goals. The Knights continued to fire shots at the Carolina goal, but Brandon Bussey kept turning them away. Slap shots, breakaways, rebounds. Brandon stopped them all. By the third period, the Carolina crowd was chanting Bussy Bussy Bussy after each big save. The goalie, who didn't even think he would be in the NHL when the season began, was quickly becoming a fan favorite and team hero. Vegas did manage to get one more goal, but the Hurricanes held on for a 4-2 win. Now the teams and the cup would travel west to Las Vegas for game six. For the Knights, it was now a must-win game in front of their home fans. They were sure to play aggressively from the start. For the third game in a row, Brandon Busy would be called on to defend the Hurricane's net. Would he be able to stop the Golden Knight attack that was sure to come? The game began. Both teams seemed tense. There were hardly any shots on net for the first few minutes of the game. Then, a hurricane player collected a loose puck in front of his own net. He turned and made a long pass to teammate Taylor Hall, who was standing near the Golden Knights blue line. Taylor sprinted in towards the Vegas net and snapped a quick wrist shot that sailed under the goalie's glove and into the goal. 1-0 Carolina. From then on, Brandon Bussey was the star of the show. No matter what the Knights tried, they couldn't get the puck past Brandon. He grabbed a puck out of midair after it bounced off the net, stopped players breaking in all alone, and made rapid fire rebound saves as Vegas players jammed at rebounds in front of the net. The Hurricanes extended their lead in the second period with another goal. And still, late into the third, Brandon held the Knights scoreless. With two minutes left in the game, the Knights were trying furiously to score. They even pulled their own goalie to get an extra skater. They passed and shot the puck furiously around the Carolina zone. Brandon made a save that knocked him backwards. A second Vegas player immediately shot the rebound, but even while he was sitting flat on the ice, Brandon caught it and made the save. The Vegas players could do nothing but shake their heads in disbelief. When the final horn sounded, Carolina had won 3-0. The hurricane players poured onto the ice. Sticks, gloves, and helmets flew everywhere. The Carolina Hurricanes were Stanley Cup champions. The players gathered into a massive circle exchanging hugs, looking almost like the circular storm that is their team logo and name. And at the eye of this hurricane of happiness was Brandon Bussey. His long journey as an ignored collar player traveling through the minors to make a pro team, and then sitting on the bench as a backup throughout most of the playoffs had ended with a shutout to clinch a championship, making him a Carolina legend. So if you ever get discouraged about not making a team or having to sit and watch while others play, remember the story of Brandon Bussey. Your moment to be the hero may be just one play or one game away. The End. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Once Upon a Game. Be sure to subscribe so you are notified about our next True Sports bedtime story. Thank you for listening and dream big.