TAMPA, Fla. — As the Tampa Bay Lightning fought to bring Lord Stanley back home to Tampa Bay, the NHL's "Quest for the Cup" was right alongside them.
Players, coaches, officials were all mic'd up throughout the Finals to tell the story of what it takes to hoist the Stanley Cup.
ABC Action News spoke to the show's Co-Executive Producer David Check on some special moments in Friday night's episode.
"One of the first scenes that we shot, the entire series was with Coach Cooper, poolside, reflecting on last year's journey to become Champions. And because of the fact that they won, we got to come full circle with the entire series and go right back to that pool," says Cheek. "This time, he had some company. Lord Stanley. So I guess that's a spoiler, but you know, so be it."
At times, it's an emotional episode. Pat Maroon and Ryan McDonagh are traveling around Tampa Bay with the Cup in parts of the episode. In one part they stop at a Davis Islands coffee shop and let one of their favorite baristas drink out of the cup, in another, they stop at a house with Lightning flags and learn the families' son, a Bolts fan, passed away last year.
Check says the moment was all organic.
But, then there are moments in the locker room that we've never seen before.
"We were very fortunate because we got to work with a team in the Tampa Bay Lightning, that are very access friendly. And that viewed our crew that was embedded with them as extended family. I mean, Victor Hedman very early on in the series, walks into frame says to our crew, Oh, you guys are here. you're the good luck charm," explains Check.
Episode 7 (the season finale) of "Quest For The Stanley Cup," the behind-the-scenes documentary series chronicling the remaining teams in the 2021 Stanley Cup® Playoffs, will air on Friday, July 16, at 6 p.m. ET, exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S.
