Justin Williams, then and now

Winning the Stanley Cup is all about fulfilling the dreams of youth. Justin Williams has already done it once, when he won the Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, and now he’s going for it again with the Kings. As noted a few days ago, Williams played junior hockey under New Jersey coach Peter DeBoer for the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League in the late 1990s. Longtime Whalers director of communications Pete Krupsky passed along the following item about Williams, as well as a great picture from Williams’ junior days. Check it out, along with a more current picture. It’s neat to see how similar Williams’ facial expressions are. Also, DeBoer talked about his junior days with Williams…

DEBOER: “I was actually telling Lou (Lamoriello) that story. I drafted him in the sixth round at a Junior C in, I believe, Cobourg, Ontario, which is outside Belleville. Kid came in and didn’t make our team the first year. We put him down on the tier-two team. He just kept hanging around. You could tell he was a good hockey player, but was about 150 pounds. Had a great heart. Good story. Next year, came back to camp, played for one year for me, was a first-round pick, never saw him again. He stepped right into Philadelphia. Great story of perseverance. Got a lot of time for Justin.”

Whalers alum Justin Williams plays for second Stanley Cup