You can't ask for more of a challenge than putting together an expansion team in a month and a half. After Friday's game, Kelly took time to sign autographs for ScareCrows fans. When he was 16, he was drafted by the Guelph Platers of the Ontario Hockey League, which Kelly said is the best junior league in the world. Kelly's junior experience was invigorating and exciting. He had 26 goals and 32 assists in 1985-86, his second year with Guelph, which won the Memorial Cup that year.
More people have a Stanley Cup ring than a Memorial Cup ring.
We had a lot of depth. Kelly was one of them. So was his best friend, Scott Chiasson, who was the Most Valuable Player in the Memorial Cup tournament. Chiasson went on to star in the NHL but was killed in a car accident last spring after the Carolina Hurricanes were eliminated from the playoffs. Kelly, who was the best man at Chiasson's wedding, attended the funeral.