THE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL LIFE OF THE STANLEY CUP
The most famous trophy in sports has probably led a more interesting life than you have.
THE ULTIMATE AWARD
The Cup, which stands almost a meter (about three feet) tall and weighs 15.5 kilograms (34.5 pounds), has traveled from the tops of mountains to strip clubs and churches. It has served as potato chip bowl and used to store horse feed. It has been aboard motorcycles, traveled to a war zone, and held under Niagara Falls. Why has the Cup led such an adventure-filled life? It’s because of a unique tradition—every player on every championship team gets at least 24 hours to do virtually whatever he wishes with old Stan. Here are some tales from Stanley’s Canadian winners:
• In 1905, one of the very inebriated Ottawa Silver Seven (now the Senators) was dared to drop-kick the Stanley Cup into the city’s Rideau Canal. The only problem was the canal was frozen solid. When the kicker and his partying teammates heard the beloved Cup bounce and skid across the ice, they realized their mistake and wisely decided to go home and sober up. The next day they returned to reclaim a battered and newly dented Stanley.
• In 1907, the Montreal Wanderers came together for a photo shoot and left the Cup behind. The photographer’s mother used it as a flower pot until someone came to collect it a few months later.
• In 1924, the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup and threw it in the trunk of a car before heading to a victory party. On the way, the car got a flat tire so the trophy was taken out to get the spare. They quickly fixed the flat and were on their merry way, except for one thing—they had left the trophy in a snow bank at the side of the road.
• In 1927, after the Ottawa Senators won the Cup, King Clancy used it to hold junk mail, pencils, gum, and cigars.
Vancouver has 1.5 million people and just two bridges.
• In 1964, Red Kelly, a Canadian who played on eight Stanley Cup–winning teams, sat his little son in the Cup, and the boy proceeded to urinate. Kelly laughs every time he sees players drinking from it now.
• In 1979, Guy Lafleur of the Montreal Canadiens placed the trophy in his front yard in Thuro, Quebec, so all the neighbors could see and enjoy it.
• At least two players have allowed the family dog to eat from the polished chalice. In 1980, Clark Gillies fed his dog out of Stanley. Then in 2006, Anaheim Ducks’ Sean O’Donnell gave his dog Buddy, a black lab who had lost one leg to cancer, the chance to dine from the trophy.
• When the Edmonton Oilers took the championship in 1987, the Cup wound up on the runway with an exotic dancer at the Forum Inn, just across from the Northland Coliseum.
• In 1991, Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins found the Cup at the bottom of his swimming pool. It had served as a giant cham¬pagne flute the night before.
• Martin Brodeur, a goalie with the New Jersey Devils, drove around Montreal with it strapped in the passenger seat so all could see it in 1995. In 2000, he took the Cup to the movies and his kids ate popcorn out of it.
• Sylvain Lefebvre, who played with the Colorado Avalanche, baptized his daughter in the Cup in 1996.
• In 1997, Detroit Red Wing Steve Yzerman could not bear to part with the trophy he had worked for 14 years to win. After the Red Wings crushed the Flyers in four games, a sleepless and very joyful Captain Yzerman took a shower with Stanley.
• In 2001, Rob Blake of the Colorado Avalanche took Stanley back to his family’s farm in Simcoe, Ontario. While there, his little brother David hoisted the shiny prize onto the roof of a combine.
• In 2004, when Jay Feaster, general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, wanted a tour of the space shuttle Discovery, he was told to bring the Stanley Cup along in exchange. Throughout the day a long line of NASA employees—quality assurance specialists, technicians, and inquisitive scientists—all waited to pose for photos with the Cup and celebrate the hometown team’s Lightening victory.
Alex Trebek’s first hosting job in the U.S. was for a show called The Wizard of Odds.
• On its way to a charity event in Vancouver in 2010, the Cup was routed to another Canadian city. It was soon discovered that Stanley’s large and unmarked case had not one, but two listed destinations—Vancouver and the trophy’s hometown of Toronto. It was later recovered by an Air Canada employee. As the CBC reported, “For the record, the Stanley Cup made a subsequent trip to California unscathed.”
The Stanley Cup now has a bodyguard and protector who is with it 24 hours a day—except when the winning players have it. The Keeper of the Cup or the Cup Cop keeps a watchful eye on the prize and transports it to various events around the world.
However, there is a caveat: In another odd twist to the Stanley Cup saga is the fact that there is really more than one beloved Cup. So the Cup that the Cup Cop watches over is not, in fact, the original. Until 1970, the winning team was given the original trophy. After that the original Stanley—too brittle to be taken on the road—was put on permanent public retirement in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The winning team today takes home what is known as the Presentation Cup. This accounts for the first two versions. The third Cup, known as the Replica Cup, was created to make appearances when the presentation cup is not available.
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CANADIANS LAUGH IT OFF
Canada is known for producing some great comedians—John Candy, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, The Kids in the Hall, etc. It’s no wonder that the first ever laughing competition was held in Montreal in October 2010. Ten of Quebec’s jolliest residents brought their best guffaws to the Grand Laughing Championship. Filmmaker Allen Nerenberg created the contest, touting the health benefits of laughter: He says it’s good for the heart and the immune system, and relieves stress. Judges at this first laughing event selected Nicole Veillette of Ste-Eustache, Quebec for having the best, most contagious laugh. It is contagious: laughing championships have since been held in the U.S., the UK, France, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Japan. Depending on the competition, top laughers might vie for titles such as “Best Maniacal Laugher,” “Best Alabama Knee Slapper,” and “Most Contagious Belly Laugh.”
Winnie the Pooh was inspired by a bear cub from Canada named Winnipeg.