MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Mike Kelly knows a good story when he sees one.
That's why when the buzzer sounded at the Hershey Centre and his Saint John Sea Dogs were crowned MasterCard Memorial Cup champions, the director of hockey operations went looking for Jacob DeSerres. Upon finding him, Kelly wrapped his arms around him and gave him a bear hug -- more than once.
"I'm thrilled to death for him," Kelly said. "I'm just happy for those kinds of stories. They're so thrilling and they stay with a guy for a lifetime."
DeSerres' story is an unlikely one. After surrendering nine goals in the Brandon Wheat Kings' 9-1 loss to the defending MasterCard Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires in last year's title game, DeSerres was waived through the Western Hockey League.
Kelly saw DeSerres in last year's tournament, including that 9-1 shellacking, and walked away with a good impression of him. When his team had the opportunity to add him, Kelly knew there was a lot to like about the goalie whose most difficult game was in front of a national audience on the biggest stage.
"Let's face it, a 9-1 game, you can't lay that all on the goaltender," Kelly said. "He's answered so many questions in my opinion about his character, about his ability to play in big games and big moments."
As Kelly noted, DeSerres wasn't a passenger along for the Sea Dogs' championship ride. The overage goaltender was perhaps their best player and stopped 34 of 35 shots in the title game. He made countless big stops, like two on Devante Smith-Pelly in tight with the game still within reach for Mississauga.
Fellow overager Michael Kirkpatrick got a good look at both stops on the Majors' sniper and could hardly believe DeSerres found a way to keep the puck out.
"I was just shocked," Kirkpatrick said. "(I wanted to) get that puck out for him because he was holding out the fort like that -- we have to get the puck out for him."
"The whole second period he was standing on his head," captain Mike Thomas added. "When we're not playing good offence, he's tremendous back there for us and vice-versa."
Moments after the win, DeSerres could hardly put into words the feeling he had being on the other side of the Memorial Cup final. But as much as one might expect this year's win to erase the feeling of disappointment from last year, DeSerres still holds onto those painful memories as a reminder.
"Those (memories) will always be there," he said. "Today's a good reminder what it feels like to win. I won't ever forget any of it. It all happened and it all made me what I am today.
"This makes up for everything. This is the greatest thing that could have ever happened to me in my junior career."
Kirkpatrick still remembers a conversation he had with his goalie around Christmas. The team was reeling, and after losing in the league championship series to the Moncton Wildcats the year before, there was a lot of reason for optimism in Saint John.
DeSerres, known reputedly as a confident, upbeat person, stated what would soon become a fact: that this team would capture junior hockey glory.
"He said, 'We have the team to win the Mem Cup,'" Kirkpatrick recalls. "I started believing it right when he said that and we did have the team to win the Mem Cup."
His teammates gave him an early 2-0 lead to work with and from then on, DeSerres made sure they believed with every save. Aside from a pretty, tic-tac-toe passing play finished off by Riley Brace, DeSerres remained unflappable and wouldn't be beat again.
He had a moment of reflection after that goal, re-harnessing that positive energy he felt when he needed to keep his team in an early tournament game against the Owen Sound Attack. He made a promise and yet again, didn't let himself down.
"I told myself that if they're going to beat me, they're going to have to beat me," he said. "I'm not going to give anything to them."
After a magical season capped by a national championship, DeSerres is now hoping a National Hockey League team will give him a contract. He wasn't offered a contract by the Philadelphia Flyers, who had drafted him in the third round in 2008, and can now sign with any team.
If you ask Mike Kelly, there's one fitting conclusion to this epic story of redemption.
"Take him to camp," Kelly said when asked what he would tell an NHL team. "You won't be disappointed. He's a good kid, he's going to give you an honest work ethic. He's not going to cheat you out of anything. He won't embarrass himself, he won't embarrass anybody and at the end of the day, if he keeps going… you'll probably end up signing him."
It's the only way this story could get any better.
