We Visit With the Cup

[March 14, 2006] The Stanley Cup travels the world (see below for one trip and its origins). Every player on a winning team has his name on the Cup - but after a time, bands are removed and placed in the Hockey Hall of Fame for posterity, to make room for new names. Every player on the winning team gets possession for a day in the off season, so it has been golfing (a favorite of hockey players), fishing, and partying quite a bit. The Cup has been to Eagle River - another "ancient" home of Prestons. Craig Ludwig of Eagle River played for the 1986 Montreal Canadiens championship team. (He resided only two doors down from Ituna. Lots of parties. Lots of noise.) We were fortunate enough to run into it at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. (The lighting is very poor. Perhaps this is a Candian thing?)

The Cup in London

[April 20, 2006] Officials with the Hockey Hall of Fame took the Stanley Cup on a tour of London yesterday, giving the trophy (the travelling replica of the original) a bird's eye view of its birthplace from the Eye, the observation wheel built for the Millennium. The original Cup -- the top, swirl-sided fruit bowl part -- was made in 1892 at the request of Lord Stanley of Preston.