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When Carolina Hurricanes captain Rod Brind'Amour finally got his hands around the coveted Stanley Cup, he looked at his celebrating teammates and yelled "Who wants it?"

Of course, Brind'Amour knew there was one teammate whose wait to hoist the cherished cup was even longer than him. So after a brief skate in front of the frenzied fans at the RBC Center, Brind'Amour gladly placed the Lord Stanley's mug in the hands of defenceman Glen Wesley.

When the Hurricanes dispatched the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 in Game 7 on Monday evening to capture the franchise's first Stanley Cup, the 37-year-old Wesley played in his 1,480 National Hockey League combined regular season and playoff game. Only seven others in league history have played in more games and went Stanley Cup-less.

"Oh boy," Wesley said. "Roddy told me he was going to give it to me next, but it's an incredible feeling. I guess to wait 18 years and be able to experience it, but it was never about me. I truly believe that.

"It was about every guy in the locker room and it wasn't about one individual."

Wesley of Red Deer, Alta. broke into the league with the Boston Bruins and as a rookie went straight to the 1988 Stanley Cup final, only to lose to the Oilers. A couple springs later, Wesley and the Bruins were dropped again by the Oilers in the final.

It wasn't until 2002 that Wesley found himself back in the championship series with the Hurricanes. But again, he ran into a powerhouse in the Detroit Red Wings.

With a championship finally in his grasp, Wesley was quick to praise his wife Barbara and two children. Before each game, Wesley finds them in the stands and holds up three fingers to symbolize each one of them.

On Monday afternoon, with the big game approaching, Wesley's wife and children quietly gathered at home and watched the movie Rocky as he took his afternoon nap.

"They told me they would come home with a lot of intensity," Wesley said. "I got a chuckle out of that. I give a lot of credit to my wife and my kids for the greatness that they have really supported me throughout this whole year and my whole career."

Wesley also gave a lot of credit to Brind'Amour. The latter made his NHL debut in the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs and quickly exhibited his big-game worth by scoring in his first game.

It wasn't until midway through the 1999-2000 season, when Brind'Amour was traded to the Hurricanes from the Philadelphia Flyers, that the two veterans became teammates.

Even though, Brind'Amour badly slumped in Games 5 and 6 of the final, Wesley believed it was Brind'Amour's leadership that inspired the Hurricanes to one final win.

"After Game 6 Roddy stood up in the locker room," Wesley said. "He said something like that we were glue, we had to stay like glue.

"Nobody wavered or doubted what we were capable of doing. We had meetings all morning long and the trust and the belief that we had in each other was incredible."

Brind'Amour, 35, has played in 1,328 NHL regular season and playoff games.

"Since Game 5 there was a great big lump in my chest," Brind'Amour of Campbell River, B.C. said. "I have just been feeling it.

"When you have so many guys that just deserve it and you just want it so bad, not just for yourself, but for the guy sitting beside you, your Dad and your kids, guys that have been with you and your friends. There's so many people that you are thinking about and pulling for you. It's exhausting really. I just can't be happier for all these people they deserve it."

One of the guys who sits beside Brind'Amour in the Hurricanes dressing room is youngster Eric Staal. He wound the top scorer in the playoffs with nine goals and 28 points in 25 games. At 21 years and eight months, Staal was the second youngest to win the playoff scoring race after Detroit's legendary Gordie Howe, at 21 years, six days, scored the most points in the 1949 playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes eldest statesman, Mark Recchi won his second Stanley Cup. He celebrated his first with the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins and 15 seasons went by before the next one. Only Red Wings defenceman Chris Chelios waited longer when 16 years elapsed between his first with the 1986 Montreal Canadiens and his 2002 Detroit club.

The Hurricanes had a Stanley Cup parade planned for the parking lot at the RBC Center later this afternoon and the only person who was to be celebrating his second consecutive championship was Cory Stillman. He was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and became the first since Claude Lemieux to win back-to-back Stanley Cups with two different clubs. Lemieux played for both the 1995 New Jersey Devils and 1996 Colorado Avalanche.