This Podcast Is... Uncalled For - Weird Stuff to Happen to the Stanley Cup

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

It's hockey's biggest prize, and strange things have been done to it over the years.  Including learning that, as Guy Carbonneau once said, "the Stanley Cup does not float."

Hi, I'm Mike Chernivsky, and your listen to this podcast is Un Called For. Welcome, everyone. Hope everyone's having a great day. And I want to thank Heather for inspiring today's episode. I actually wanted to talk about all sorts of sports stuff. And not talks down to, but making a little more understanding. for people and

what's to start something like that then to talk about all the weird stuff that's been done to or associated with the Stanley Cup

no I'm not talking about the trendy coffee mug thermos things that have been popping up lately no I'm talking about the championship trophy for the National

Hockey League Lord Stanley's Cup a few things about it before we get into some of the stories is that this

this is just one cup all right one big trophy that they win it every single year in the National Hockey League

but they don't get to keep it they don't prep a new one every single year no it is one trophy that team wins it's the players get day with it it has bodyguards all over the place

all then so yeah and it is at the time of this recording it might not be the case by the time it releases but the time this is recorded is currently held by the Vegas

Golden Knights I kid you not for context the NHL fairly recently expanded adding teams in Las Vegas, of all places, and Seattle. Well, the Vegas team has actually done pretty well for themselves, not only winning the Stanley

Cup, but their first year of existence, they get to the Cup finals, losing to Washington, which is pretty cool. So let's turn our attention to the Wikipedia page, Traditions and Anticotes Associated with the Stanley Cup. There are many traditions and anecdotes associated with the Stanley Cup, the championship trophy of the National Hockey League. Kind of only refer to as simply the Cup, the Grail, Lord Stanley's Cup, Lord Stanley's Mug. Unlike the trophies awarded to the other three major professional sports in the U.S. and Canada, NFL, MLB, NHL. NBA, excuse me, we're talking about the NHL trophy.

a new Stanley Cup is not made annually the champions keep the cup until a new champion is crowned it's also one of two trophies in professional North American sports which has

the name of the winning players teams management club staff engraved on it the other being the Canadian football league's gray cup is at the center of several legends and superstitions.

Maybe the agnodes include the Stanley Cup being mistreated in some way. It is the most traveled championship trophy in the world. Traditions include drinking avid. So it is a cup. At the end of the day, it is just a giant bull. Of course, one of the great traditions is to drink champagne out of it and that was started in 1896. There's an all nice presentation of the cup every year. The team, the captain of the winning team will usually be the first to lift it,

pretty cool they're dark so this and there's another superstition

with the cup that you're not supposed to touch it if you're a player

until you've actually won it all right and they and the players

don't touch other trophies I like the conference trophies yeah no touching

There's always There's always money in the banana stands No touching So yeah So for the next part Let's go to an article on Mental Floss.com By

Sean Hitchinson Hutchinson, excuse me Hutchinson Tiled 22 things you might not know about the Stanley Cup 1. The Stanley Cup is named after Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston

who was the Governor General of Canada in the late 1800s near the turn of the century. So Governor General is still a position

that exists in Canada they're basically the sovereign's oh yeah Canada is still part of the Commonwealth of Nations so they answered to English royalty

there are actually three Stanley Cups so the one we associated with now is called the first one Stanley's original cup from 1890 was awarded until 1970 is now on display in the vault room at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. In 1963, NHL President Clarence Campbell

believed the original cup had become too brittle to give its championship teams of the presentation cup was created and is the well-known trophy awarded today. skeptics can authenticate the presentation cup by noting the Hockey Hall of Fame seal on the bottom. And the file cup is a replica of the

presentation cup which was created in 1993 by Montreal Silversmith Luis Saint Jacques. And he says a stand-in at the Hall of Fame when the presentation cup

isn't available. Like what just said, it's one of a kind. They don't make a new one every single year, unlike Lombardi Trophies or the Lennie O'Brien trophy. And it's always changing because one of the things they do do is the team that wins it. They get their roster and keep herself stamped into the physical cup. more and more teams wanted to be immortalized so the decision was made to put a separate single ring below the original cup that each new winning roster could be etched on it between 1927 and 1947 a new more streamlined and vertical incarnation of the cup was used thanks to the cylindrical shape it was nicknamed the stovepipe

cup but by 1948 the trophy had become too tall to hold or upon display so the shape was changed to the tiered version used today

and those rings are in fact detachable since 1958 eight. Five bands of championship names are engraved. Around the base of the cup

when the rings become full, the oldest band is removed and preserved in Lord Stanley's fault at the great S.O. Hall in the Hockey Hall fame. A blank replacement band is then put in its place to be filled with

the champion with the names of the next champions if all the rings in the archive were added to the current

of Stanley Cup it would be six feet tall six foot three actually which is taller than me

actually six one at the NHL has official engravers put each name into the cup so that's a pretty cool right and it's not always perfect because they do screw up from time to time and no we're only human so they give a few examples of names

being misspelled on the cup like the 1980-A-1 New York Islanders spelled on the cup I-L-A-N-D-E-R-S missing an S the 1971-1-2 Boston Bruins

with Boston being spelled B-Q-S-T-Q-N right and corrections have been made from time to time when 96 champion in color

afflianch Adam Dead Marsh one of my favorite players spelled dead March and it should be D-E-A-D-M-R-S-H

it was spelled D-A-D-M-A-R-C-H on the cup It was stamped out Corrected to be publicly stated How heartbroken it was about the About the air And Sometimes the winning teams don't play by the rules

The NHO will allow no more than 52 names On each year's winning team To be engraved with the assumption That the people included are affiliated with Or I played with that club during the finals but Peter Parklington

the former Edmonton Oilers owner perhaps best known for trading away Wayne

Gretzky insisted his father be one of the names listed on the A3, A4 Oilers

despite the fact that his father as an official affiliate with the team the league had the engraver strike out the father's name with a bunch of exes right

there can be extenuating circumstances so when the Detroit Red Wings won in 98 the team asked that Vladimir Konstantino have his name being engraved even though he didn't play that year the reason is pretty tragic for those who don't know

before that season he got to a pretty serious car wreck and was paralyzed there are also a couple instances where no names were inscribed at all like when the cup wasn't awarded in 1990 due to the flu pandemic or in

2004-2005 because the entire season was locked out right some people make multiple appearances on the Stanley Cup

which makes sense if you're putting new names on it every single year right uh oh this here's some uh there's an interesting one one fan tried to steal a cup but not for the reason you'd expect so Montreal fans are so possessive of the cup that during the 1962 playoffs when the cup was on display at chicago

stadium for the defending champion black hawks uh habs fan Ken Kylinder attempted to take the cup and walk right at the door with it. When the police officer caught in question and Kallender responded, I want to take it back

where it belongs to Montreal. Which brings up a great question. Which team has won the Stanley Cup the most? It is, in fact, Montreal 24 times. Stanley Cup isn't only for men So that's Q and some people are superstitious about it

So we talked about this just a minute ago Various players are wary of the cup if they haven't won it yet And steer clear if they're still in contention In fact, some players from the conference championship teams won't even touch the respective Western Conference trophies so that they don't jinx their team's chances at winning Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup has a chaperone.

The Stanley Cup is always associated by at least one representative the Hockey Hall of Fame, dubbed the Keeper of the Cup. The current keeper has held the position since its 1991 and even maintains a Twitter account to update followers on where the cup goes from day to day. Way back when the cup was donated by Lord Stanley. He mandated that two trustees must always be appointed to care for the cup and sure it was kept in proper condition. a tradition

that still holds to this day so that's pretty cool the cup belongs to the players for one day I now are starting to again to some weird stuff so the NHL allows each championship team

100 off-season days with the cup accompanied by the keeper of course to do with it as they wish it was the 94-95 New Jersey Devils who formalize the tradition by giving each player one personal day with the Cup

during the off-season. In fact, since the O'3 season, the Hall of Fame has been keeping journals of the Cup's travels with each winning team. Some players use their day

with the trophy for peaceful reflection. Others have gone a bit wild. Now we're getting into some of good stuff. The Stanley Cup has gone swimming at least three times. Following the 91 victory over the Minnesota North Stars, the Pittsburgh Penguins legend, Mario Lemieux,

hosted the team at his house. When Lemieux wasn't looking, Penguins' winger Phil Bork decided he wanted to see if the cup could float. and threw it the trophy into the swimming pool it didn't float

and immediately sink straight to the bottom two years later the cup was also found in the bottom of Montreal Canadiens goaltender Patrick Waas pool and

2002 Red Wings goaltender Dominic Hasek attempted to swim with the cup the keeper and if he demanded Hasek

dry off the trophy and give it back this cutting god sure it is a lot of personal day the Stanley Cup does not float the Stanley Cup once spent all night

in an Ottawa Canal this is no 5 when the Ottawa Hockey Club now known as the Ottawa Senators won the cup in 1905. The members of the Silver 7 had a little too much fun celebrating

and had a pay after team banquet. So not so sober players brought the trophy as I allegedly decided to test their accuracy by kicking the cup into the Redo Canal in Ottawa.

Once successful, they went on their drunken way and forgot all about it until their teammates realized the next day the trophy was missing. This cop was retreated and given to a player named Harry Smith, the most responsible man on the team for safekeeping. 1924, the Montreal Canadiens. Forgot it on the side of the road. When the members of the 1924 haves got a flat tire on the way to a victory banquet at owner Leo Dundonard's house These are Canadians, some of them speak French, all right?

They had to remove the cup from the truck of the car and go get the spare tire, the players eager to celebrate the wind quickly changed the tire and made their way to the party but while the traditional time came to drink champagne from the cup it was nowhere to be found they had left it on the side

of the road they hopped in their car sped back to the place where it changed the flat and found the cup in the snowbank right where they had left This was not the first time Montreal hockey team

I forgot the children have been baptized in the cup which has started with the Colorado avalanche 1996 the defenseman Sylvian Lefevre used his personal day with the cup to have his daughter baptized in the cup.

A similar thing happened recently in the New Heights podcast with Jason Kelsey putting his youngest child in the Stanley Cup. So that's cool. As we're poorly seen its fair share of vice the Edmonton dollars were forced to be recommended in the

80s between 1984 and 1990 the team won five Stanley Cups and were led by two hockey greats, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier Legend added after their 87

win, Messier brought the cups to an Edmonton strip club and says the trophy on the main stage. One of the dancers at the club then reportedly incorporated the cup

into her risque routine. This is a new one on me. We won the cup again in 94 with the New York Rangers Messier and his teammates brought the trophy to another strip club. All right. So make it rain with the

Bigger rain. with the Stanley Cup. It might hold a curse. When Metsier and the Rangers won in 94, it ended a record 54-year championship drafts for the Rangers. Fans believe that the curse might have been brought on because the Rangers disrespected the Cup. Well, what,

what explains Toronto's Long Cup tracks I think they're about to go As long if not longer Unless they win it this year Of course

I think No Canadian team has won it since 94 The last time Montreal won it in the 90s And the cup has gone to war in

2007 to boost morale for a Canadian and American troops serving in the Middle East the cup was flown into an active war zone in Afghanistan for a meeting greet so

wow just wow yeah adventures going back to the Wikipedia yeah so we've got players do with the cup on that ooh misadventures misadventures so

so we talked about you got the cup being kicked into the canal 1906 weeks after members of the Montreal Wanderers left it at a photographer's studio and the photographer's mother used the cup to plant flowers

in 1907 Kenora Thistles team manager threatened to throw the cup into the lake of the woods in a dispute over the altrupleity of two players a couple of being left on the side of the road

in 1914 the mortgage on Madison Square Garden was paid the management publicly celebrated by burning the mortgage in the cup and this is what's caused that curse that they

just talked about in the article in 1957 Maurice Reckett Richard chipped both of his front teeth while drinking from the Stanley Cup we have that

story of the fan that tried to steal it and 1962 Toronto Maple Leaves win it a darn party

after the win the cup was dropped on a bonfire and badly damaged and it was prepared at the team's expense 1964

Red Kelly at the Toronto Maple Leaves posed with a photo for father with his son sitting in the cup so he did so this must have been the initial Jason Kelsey moment only to find that the child had urinated

so so the first instance of the Stanley Cup being used as a toilet Kelly was quarter years later saying that it had always since made him laugh to see other players drinking out

the cup the presentation trophy we talked about we have an instance of an islander's player filling the cup with dog food we have another

islanders player I mean he slept with the cup and others have two the strip Club the throwing in

the pool the Stanley Cup does not float noted Geig Harmonol the Montreal

captains after the Montreal Canadiens Cup went in 93 so 93 so last time a Canadian team

has won this members of the team apparently signed their names on the inside of the cup with a sharp object. Lovely. Oh, this is a good one. After the parade in their honor

in 94, members of the New York Rangers, including Mike Richter, took the cup to McSorley's old ale house, locks the doors, and for 45 minutes, allowed the patrons to hoist it about their heads and drink make solar least dark and light

out of it and the New York Post reported the next day at the cup was taken back by the league for repairs to its base and later several rangers took the cup to

Belmont Park filled it with oats and let Kentucky derby winner go for gin eat out of it so that's pretty cool 99 tell stars Part of us at Craig Ludwig's

house, which he shared with Pinterra drummer Vinnie Paul. At the party Ye Carbone though We heard him earlier time about the cup does not float allegedly attempted to throw the cup from the upstairs deck

into the house's crown royal shapes pool the cup caught the lip of the pool producing a large dents one of the keepers cups

stated that this had never happened before what happened one of the players was posing with it next to the pool when someone pushed him in the water and went in with him it was in water maybe two seconds good part

Oh my God. 99 and 03, the cup mates a trip to Joe Newendikes alma mater, Cornell, both times visiting a local college bar. In 2003, Martine Brojure, one of the best goals of all time. A popcorn out of the cup had butter, stains, and salts damage. for the next eight days before Jamie Lingenbrunner

cleaned it 0.03 the cup was slated to make its first ever visit to Slovakia was left behind in Canada was on the next flat out Toronto oh my god

in 04 The Keeper of the Cuff board a plane for Fort St. John, British Columbia, to deliver it to Tampa Bay Lightning's Head Scout, Jake Gertzen, apologies. However, Air Canada officials at Vancouver International Airport removed it before our takeoff because of weight restrictions. The Cups spent the night in the luggage area. seven hour fifty miles away and it was flown to Fort St. John the next day 07

a photo shoot on the set of the NBC TV series heroes had showed a couple of actors goofing off with the cup even worshipping and flogging and liking the cup Oh, my God.

Oh, gray one right here. Also in May of 2007, the Cup, made it to a set of ABC's Boston Legal. In the episode, Duck and Carver, Danny Crane, played by William Shatner, who is himself Canadian. Pulled some strange to get his hands on the cup for a day. while alone, he takes up to the office where he decides to engrave his name on it,

noting at, they'll never notice. It's got so many dings on it already. He took it to his house office patio where he decides to drink scotch out of it. After it, they take turns drinking out of it. Cuff, Danny sets on the back knee ledge

with preparation taking photos with it back until he knocks it over. I will leave a significant dang ha

oh uh uh uh, uh, Osef and Anaheim wins it Their captain Scott Niedemeyer Breits to the

set of Jim Rome And went on a set One of the producers Hoisted and posts with the cup Which pissed off a bunch of Canadians Don Cherry called it the program to defend the producer's saying

his belief that he did not disrespect the cup at all. Oh man 2008 this is a good one. Two thousand eight deaf leopards Joe Elliott

placed the cup upside down on a pedestal on stage Journal of their NHL face off rocks segments at the Fox Theater in Detroit. Red Wings defensemen

Chris Chilius claims the musician discurs the cup on purpose. We should point out that Deaf Lepard is a British band in most soccer trophies in England.

The Cup is the the cup portion is the base that was Elliot's shortly after the ensign an Arkham Deaf Leppard's

website appeared with Elliot claiming that every other sports cup he had ever seen below before it was smaller at the base at the top so he thought this cup was no difference

oh man some of the some of good stuff I'm just going to leave you to let's do one more article so this is

Bleacher reports probably going to go over the same shit all over again by fair You're interested Stanley Cup 16 craziest things ever done with the Stanley Cup

by Matthew Fairburn on bleacher report.com I'll just summarize so Messier taking it to

strip clubs okay we all right talked about that the stars tossed it out I just talked about

that and a geek carbono no This one I didn't touch on, but Chris Draper's child uses the cup as a diaper. So another example of the static cup he uses a toilet. This one was actually the guy's daughter taking a shit in the... took a shit in the Stanley Cup.

uh kentucky dairy we went yeah we heard that uh lemuel wad took it swimming it doesn't float uh uh red kelly we i touched on the first season rocket richard uh see the uh dogs it's uh cup hanging overseas oh this this is one I'm going to have to read this one, so it's tough to believe that the Stanley Cup did not leave North America until 1996, but took that long before a European-born

player used his day with the cup to bring it back home. When the avalanche won it all in 96, Peter Forsberg from Sweden became the first to bring Lord Stanley's hardware overseas.

See if the baptism. we just talked about the cup being in Boston Legal the cup as a soccer ball we talked about it with the 05 Ottawa team the cup being left behind

a celebratory bonfire the cup goes Hollywood the Stanley Cup is seen its fair share of Hollywood Luke Robitai took it to the Hollywood sign

is rent a ride at Universal Studios Hollywood and participate in the

Rose Bowl parade in 08 after Anahe claims Raki's

top prize and of course paying off the mortgage so yeah

lots of crazy shit has been done to that trophy and I guarantee

you that more crazy shit is going to happen to that that trophy. Just, just, wow.

Just fucking wow. And that's going to do for this edition of the podcast. We'll talk to you next time. This podcast is on call for. This is hosted, produced, and edited by myself, Mike Chernevsky. It was never won the Stanley Cup, by the way. Opening music is Iron Bacon by Kevin McCladden,comptech.com.

Licensed under Creative Commons by attribution 4.0 license. And our outro music for this episode is Break Points by Nadia. Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 International License. and you can find it at freemusicarchive.org. If you are in the United States or Canada, you can call us at 816-832-5-1-60. Leave your message or question for us, and if we like it, we will play it on the podcast. Please support the podcast and purchase our exclusive uncalled for merchandise. t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, stickers, and so much more. Go to www.comfacepress.com slash

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