from Frank Seravalli of TSN,

For Matt Duchene, nearly every spring was like Groundhog Day at his cottage in Haliburton, Ont.

He had more than 700 NHL regular season games under his belt, but just eight Stanley Cup playoff contests over 10 seasons. He never even sniffed the second round before arriving in Columbus.

Most years, Duchene would tune out the playoffs on TV, avoid hockey and focus on fishing. Last year, he changed it up.

“I had a lot of years I didn’t watch anything, but I watched every single playoff game last year. Every. Single. Game,” Duchene said. “I wanted to get as much of a taste for it as I could without being there.”

The only constant was the Stanley Cup clincher. No matter what, Duchene said, he would tune in on the night a team had a chance to hoist the Cup.

“I wanted to see the celebration,” Duchene said. “I wanted to see it front to back.”

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Below, watch a feature Christine Simpson did on Duchene last night.