From one home to another: Montreal repairs Stanley Cup, prepares to send it back to Tampa
Montreal has done a lot of heavy lifting this NHL playoff season.
A star-striking team brought joy to fans when it seemed like everyone was betting against them.
The Habs fought tooth and nail against the strongest, or at least most successful, team in the League.
Even in defeat, the city embraced their players. When the winning team brought their ice-hockey trophy to a summer-state parade and dented it, Montreal was there to make repairs.
But all things, good or bad, must come to an end -- and as of Wednesday, the dinged-up Cup was right as rain, and ready to return to the sunshine state.
“[I’m] ready for my celebration tour,” wrote the official, personified, Stanley Cup on social media Thursday.
The team-who-shall-not-be-named that won the trophy put a sizable dent in the basin of the cup during a raucous celebration party.
It’s unclear exactly how the cup was dented.
“My understanding is one of our players was presenting it to our fans, showing it off, and dropped it,” confessed the winning team’s General Manager Julien Brisebois early this week.
It’s far from the first time the cup has been bruised, and probably not the last – the cup was damaged in 2018 when then the Washington Capitals players did "Cup stands" (think kegstands) after winning the first NHL title in franchise history.
“This thing has been in swimming pools, it’s been drop-kicked, dented, scratched,” said NHL.com columnist Dave Stubbs.
It even has battle wounds from its time in Montreal.
Maurice “‘Rocket’ Richard dropped it on Montreal Forum ice with Guy Lafleur and Jean Beliveau,” said Stubbs. “It gets banged up and that’s all part of the celebration.”
Still, Montreal fans expressed their disappointment with the cup conduct this time around.
“It shows a lack of respect,” one woman told CTV News. “I think we would’ve treated the cup with more respect here in Montreal.”
And that we did. Just days after the Habs lost the cup in Game 5, the trophy will return to the winning team for at least another year.
-- With files from Matt Gilmour and The Associated Press
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