Goal Makes Hull Family History

June 20, 1999 / 6:13 PM EDT / CBS/AP

When he scored the winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals, Brett Hull made some history for his team as well as his family.

Along with giving the Dallas Stars their first NHL championship, Hull realized another distinction: He and his father, Bobby, became the fifth father-son combination to win a Stanley Cup.

Appropriately, the goal that gave the Stars a 2-1 triple-overtime victory against the Buffalo Sabres came on Father's Day, since the contest ended close to 2 a.m. on Sunday.

Brett and Bobby thus joined a pantheon of parents and sons in NHL lore. The others who combined to win Cups (fathers first): Butch and Pierre Bouchard, Lidio and Lee Fogolin, Lester and Muzz Patrick and Lester and Lynn Patrick.

The Hulls have been the most productive. This season Hull joined his dad as the only father-son combinations to each have scored 1,000 points. They have 1,196 regular-season goals between them, not to mention Bobby's 280 additional goals in the World Hockey Association.

Brett's goal capped a storybook season. He changed teams and then had to change his game to fit in with the Stars. Along the way, there were injuries, all the way to the finals.

"I think the story on Brett Hull when the dust settles is going to be an incredible story," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "What this man did to play hockey!"

"He has (a knee injury). He has a torn groin. And he came back and played. He played on one leg and on the last shift (in Game 6) he limped around the ice."

Hull said he was numb after winning the Cup. And it wasn't only because of pain killers.

In the past year, the St. Louis Blues allowed him to become a free agent. He finally left St. Louis after 10 full seasons and part of another.

"Who would have thought that Dallas would have been a team that wanted Brett Hull?" he said. "I thought I was going to end my career in St. Louis."

Hull, who had been the Blues' top scorer and franchise player, came to Dallas with a reputation as a one-way forward. Nobody could find open ice better for a scoring opportunity. No one had a better slap shot from the slot. Hull had 554 goals with Calgary and St. Louis.

But defense? Forget about it.

When Hull came to Dallas, he saw things differently. The Stars were talented and closely knit, with a chance to win the Cup.

So he became a two-way player, and his stats showed it. Hull, who had once scored 86 goals in one season with the Blue, had 32 with Dallas.

Of course, Hull played only 60 games because of injuries, but he was clearly fitting in with the Stars' defense-first philosophy. And he loved his new teammates.

"I never met guys from day one that were closer and cared more for each other," Hull said.

He also liked the management.

"To have (general manager) Bob Gainey and Ken Hitchcock bring me here and fit me in, and to battle great teams in the playoffs like Edmonton, St. Louis, Colorado and Buffalo, this is truly amazing."

No more amazing than Hull coming back to play in the finals after missing a game with a groin injury.

"The left knee and both groins are pretty well finished," Hitchcock said.

But he made it back to the ice for Game 6 and scored the kind of goal typical of the grit the Stars have shown all season. He battled for the puck in front of the net, injuries and all, and finally put it past a prone Dominik Hasek.

"He wanted that puck so bad," Stars teammate Guy Carbonneau said. "It's fun."

Certainly no more than it was for Hull this season.