My three minutes with the Stanley Cup

[reoddai]

Back in February, the Stanley Cup came to town. It was right behind city hall and I was incredibly surprised at the tiny 4-5 person line up. There was a constant stream of people, but they came, saw and then left. I got some really nice photos and the opportunity to touch it.



What I was most excited about was seeing the engraved names of previous Stanley cup winners' names. I knew that they had every player's name on the cup, but I always thought that they would be incredibly tiny. Up close, they're rather large. I decided even before visiting the cup that I wanted some photos of those Stanley Cup players, but that is one shinny cup.

Patrick Roy with the Canadiens:
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...Feb3rd2010.jpg

A mis-spelt 'Jaco' Plante Cup
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...lCanadiens.jpg

Can't leave without a a Gretzky or a Lemieux.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ntonoilers.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ghPenguins.jpg

As I was looking for information about the Stanley Cup to write this article, I stumbled across the fact there there is more than one Stanley Cup. It turns out that there are three Stanley Cups. The original is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. There is a 'replica' which is a stand in for the original when the original has to go places. Finally, there is the "Authenticated" or "Presentation" version. This is the one that is presented nowadays to the Stanley Cup champs and is then hoisted over their heads for the traditional skate around the rink. How do you know which one you're looking at? Unless you're in the Hockey Hall of fame, you aren't looking at the original. The easiest way to tell between the replica and the presentation version is to find Mr. Basil Pocklington in the 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers. If you look at the Edmonton photo I included above, you'll see that Mr. Basil Pocklington's name has been covered with "X"s. That makes this the presentation version that every Stanley Cup champ has hoisted over their head for the past 50+ years. There's only one word for that.

Awesome.

For those die hard hockey collectors, nothing beats an in person meeting with the Stanley cup. I hope to see the cup again in the future as I could see myself collecting photos of the Stanley cup winning teams' names engraved on the cup. You can see the burgeoning gallery here. My next goal will be some of the earlier cup winners and Dryden's rookie year cup. Plus, whatever else I can snap up in my next three minutes with the cup!

[snoozeallday]

thats awesome.

[doniceage]

Nice article you should talk to the silversmith that engraved it. I believe Maple19 talked about this before in the past over the years or someone else who was in touch with the folks that put the names on it. Was some nice history lessons in hearing about this or that. Love the storytelling aspect of someone that spent so much time with the cup. Look forward to more articles in the future.


Don