The Misadventures of Lord Stanley

The National Hockey League begins their post season tonight. In honour of this momentous occasion, I'm going to share with you some of the wackier, publicly known misadventures that the Stanley Cup has been on.

It's hard to believe that it's survived the following abuses:

• A member of the 1905 Ottawa Silver Seven tried to see if he could drop kick the Cup across the Rideau Canal. The attempt failed, and the Cup was not retrieved until the next day; luckily the river was still frozen over.
• Weeks after members of the 1906 Montreal Wanderers left it at a photographer's studio, officials learned that the photographer's mother was using the Cup to plant geraniums.
• Members of the 1924 Canadiens, en route to celebrate their win at owner Leo Dandurand's home, left it by a roadside after repairing a flat tire. The Cup was recovered exactly where they left it.
• In 1925, Lynn and Muzz Patrick, the sons of Victoria Cougars manager-coach Lester Patrick, discovered the Cup in the basement of their home, and scratched their names on it with a nail. In 1940, their names would be properly engraved on it as members of the New York Rangers. They also urinated in the Cup with teammates.
• During the 1940-41 season, the mortgage on the Madison Square Garden was paid. The management publicly celebrated by burning the mortgage in the Cup. Some fans claimed that this act "desecrated" the Cup, leading to the alleged Curse of 1940, which "caused" the Rangers to wait 54 years for another win.
• New York Islanders' Bryan Trottier admitted to sleeping with the Cup (as have, apparently, dozens of players).
• Clark Gillies used it as a food dish for his dog.
• In 1988, the Edmonton Oilers' Mark Messier took it to a strip club and let fans drink out of it. It wound up slightly bent in various places for unknown reasons. It was repaired at a local automotive shop, and shipped back to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
• The 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins and 1993 Montreal Canadiens decided to test its buoyancy by tossing it into Mario Lemieux's and Patrick Roy's respective pools ("The Stanley Cup" - noted then-Canadiens captain Guy Carbonneau - "does not float.").
• After the parade in their honor, members of the New York Rangers took the cup to McSorley's Old Ale House, locked the doors, and for 45 minutes allowed the patrons to hoist it above their heads and drink McSorley's Dark and Light out of it. The New York Post reported the next day that the cup was taken back by the league for "repairs".
• Several New York Rangers took the Cup to Belmont Park, filled it with oats, and let Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin eat out of it.
• The Dallas Stars' Guy Carbonneau dropped the Cup into musician Vinnie Paul's pool, resulting in a dent at its base.
• In 2003, the Cup was slated to make its first-ever visit to Slovakia with New Jersey Devils' Jiří Bicek, but was left behind in Canada; it was on the next flight out of Toronto.
• On August 22, 2004, Walter Neubrand, keeper of the Cup, boarded a plane to Fort St. John, British Columbia to deliver it to Tampa Bay Lightning head scout Jake Goertzen. However, Air Canada officials at Vancouver International Airport removed it before takeoff because of weight restrictions. The Cup spent the night in the luggage area, 750 miles (1200 kilometres) away. It was flown to Fort St. John the following day.

Hopefully the Cup officials learned their lesson, and started to fly WestJet instead.

Currently playing: Sniff'n the Tears - Driver's Seat
Now entering my eighth Cola free day!