Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos can relate to the Toronto Blue Jays’ elation that followed their American League East-clinching victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday afternoon.
Kypreos, who won a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers in 1994, joined Dean Blundell & Co. Thursday morning to talk about the experience of winning a championship in light of the Blue Jays’ first AL East title in more than 20 years.
“I know exactly what that feels like. It’s surreal,” he said. “That’s your dream since you’re seven years old, to be a part of that. If you haven’t lived it, you’ll always feel like, ‘what would it feel like being in that room?'”
LISTEN: Nick Kypreos on Dean Blundell & Co.
Even more than 20 years later, Kypreos, who played 442 NHL games with four teams, said he still marvels at the thought of his Cup win, which came in a seven-game series against the Vancouver Canucks and brought the Rangers their first championship in 54 years. Now that the Blue Jays have snapped their 22-year playoff drought, their sights are set capturing their first World Series since 1993.
Kypreos likened playing for a championship-caliber team to a game of Plinko.
“To every man, doesn’t matter if you’re [Jose] Bautista, or you’re Kevin Pillar, who started out in the minors a short while ago, you’re sitting there going, ‘thank you for the opportunity,'” he said. “You can’t buy being in the right place at the right time. It’s like a Plinko chip on the Price is Right. It’s just gotta fall.”
Kypreos didn’t take issue with the Blue Jays’ exuberant celebration, which differs from hockey in that hockey players only celebrate the Stanley Cup, not a division win. But he said it’s important to realize the work that awaits.
“It’s a different world for them. They celebrate each one like they’ve won a championship, and maybe they have,” he said. “They won an east division championship. I guess that’s their culture, that’s their world, but for us there’s only one thing: You’re either a Stanley Cup champion or one of the 29 losers”
He did, however, take issue with those who chose to wear goggles during the champagne storm of a celebration.
“Goggles, are you kidding me?” he said.
