Lifestyle: Lord Stanley’s Travel Log
Posted on 07. Aug, 2011 by Zoë Hayden in Zoë Hayden
We might be tempted to think of a summer after a Stanley Cup win as an ongoing four-month series of parties and celebrations – and we’re absolutely right.
As eager as the winning team might be to get back on the ice and capture it all over again, it’s not likely that those players tackle their summer workouts with any great lingering sense of disappointment. The members of a Cup-winning team wake up every morning knowing that their names are going to be immortalized in silver, and while that does not prevent new goals and challenges from being set, it must be a somewhat comforting thought. And thus comes each man’s own day with Stanley, some cautiously supervised quality time with the greatest trophy in all of sports.
The Boston Bruins this summer seem like kids in a candy store. It wasn’t predicted that they would win with any amount of certainty. It was by no means a foregone conclusion. Even the city of Boston’s most dedicated, sensibly optimistic hockey fans didn’t look at the playoffs unfolding in May and think, “Gee, the Bruins are definitely going all the way this year.” The absurdity and shock that came with their upset of the Vancouver Canucks is still evident on their faces.
The Cup made it to Trenčín, Slovakia, about 75 miles outside of Bratislava, on July 22, with Zdeno Chára. Trenčín is ancient, famous for its castle which possibly dates from the 9th century or earlier – no one really knows. In the shadow of Trenčín Castle is the decidedly more modern event center called Panorama Club, where Chára completed signings followed by a private party with Lord Stanley, accompanied by the James Norris Memorial Trophy, which the Bruins captain won in 2010. Another reminder of (much more recent) past eras in Trenčín was the 9-meter well that Chára dug with his father at the age of 17 at his childhood home, which was the Cup’s next stop. The day ended not at the bottom of a well, however, but atop the castle, where Chára fired a cannon and fireworks were set off following a long celebration in the town square with more fans. Trenčín has been the proud host to the Stanley Cup for four years running, which is a rare occurrence for any mid-sized eastern European city. Previous hometown heroes were Chára’s countrymen Tomáš Kopecký, Miroslav Šatan, and Marián Hossa.
Brampton, Ontario would seem a more likely location for the Stanley Cup, being in Toronto’s backyard, and Tyler Seguin brought it there July 31st. The 19-year-old had a little bit of everything planned. His day started at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and progressed to waiting fans at Chinguacousy Park in Brampton. Seguin was quoted in The Globe and Mail saying that he didn’t know how many people would show up – he certainly could not have guessed several thousand. After progressing through that crowd with the Cup in tow, he brought it to his neighborhood rink, the Westwood Arena in Etobicoke. There, he shared it with scores of youth hockey players including members of his former organization in the GTHL, the Toronto Nationals, where he played not so long ago prior to moving on to the OHL in the 2008 draft. A pig roast was underway afterwards, exclusively for family and friends. Seguin followed it up with a night out at Embassy Nightclub in Toronto, where the Cup met its partners in crime, champagne and vodka, and Seguin shared space with even more friends and fans. The event wasn’t private, in fact it was advertised publicly to anyone who wanted to drop by and have a few with Stan.
Daniel Paille’s day with the Cup a few days previous, on July 27th, began not in his hometown of Welland, but aboard the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls with his family. Paille’s day was remarkable in the sense that he was not the team captain or teenaged star, but a fourth-line grinder, who became the first person with any connection to Welland, by birth or junior hockey, to bring the Cup there. His teammate Nathan Horton was born there too, but celebrated with the Cup in Dunnville, where he grew up. Welland had waited its entire life for Stanley and Paille delivered, not only receiving a key to the city from Mayor Barry Sharpe, but having the date named in his honor. July 27 will forever officially be Daniel Paille day in Welland, but it didn’t take the Stanley Cup for them to remember him. His jersey from bantam level with the Welland Minor Hockey Association has long been retired and is on display at Welland Arena. His victory outstripped Canadian pride in the Finals – natives of Welland were rooting for him, not for the Canucks. His name was chanted in the streets as he raised the Cup from a Camaro convertible alongside his wife, Dana
The Stanley Cup may still have a lot of ground to cover, but so far, its days with the Bruins have been as unexpected as they are celebratory. The opportunity to grace a venerable Slovak castle with its presence for the fourth year running was just as sweet as the Cup’s first celebration in a hockey-crazed southern Ontario town, or its party under the lights in a popular Toronto nightclub. Veterans, rookies, and leaders alike all get the same opportunity to bask in the glory of sports’ greatest trophy with their family and friends, not to mention thousands upon thousands of fans, who show up just to glimpse the trophy in its most natural habitat – not in the Hockey Hall of Fame on display, but in the hands of the people who love it most.