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Ron Francis thinks not touching the conference trophies is silly

Ron Francis - Wales Trophy

After seeing the Kings and Devils win their conferences we got to watch both Dustin Brown and Zach Parise act as if the Campbell Bowl and Prince of Wales trophies weren’t even there. Former Hurricanes captain and Stanley Cup winner with the Penguins Ron Francis makes like Jerry Seinfeld and wonders what the deal with that is.

Francis tells Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer grabbing the Wales Trophy never bothered him whether his teams won or lost.

“It’s always to me is mindboggling that two teams refuse to touch that conference championship trophy and every year one of them fails to win the Stanley Cup because of some people being superstitious. In Pittsburgh we grabbed it on the ice, we took it in the locker room, we hugged it.

“You have to work incredibly hard to win that. For me, I don’t know why you don’t enjoy it.”

Francis grabbed the trophy when he led the 2002 Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup finals, but having to face off against a Hall-Of-Famer loaded Red Wings team made him look like a jinx in the end. If Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille weren’t enough to make you look bad there was always Dominik Hasek to turn you away (aside: Jeez that team was ridiculous).

Fortunately for Brown and Parise there’s no team of legends waiting to beat them, but chances are someone’s going to feel bad about not picking up their trophy and celebrating.