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Stanley Cup: Flower pot, beer stein, urinal...

Trophy has rich and storied past, but Penner took good care of it

By: Ed Tait

Posted: 08/18/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

L.A. Kings forward Dustin Penner carts the Stanley Cup into the Southland Mall in his hometown of Winkler on Friday. (JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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WINKLER -- The Stanley Cup has been to a lot of exotic places, partied hard and experienced more than even the craziest frat boys might in a thousand lifetimes.

It's been to mountaintops and travelled on planes, trains and automobiles. It's been lovingly caressed, and also forgotten or abused.

Some examples, fit for print:

-- The Ottawa Silver Seven tried -- and failed -- to kick it across the Rideau Canal in 1905;

-- The New York Rangers of 1940 were said to have accidentally lit the trophy ablaze and then relieved themselves on it to douse the fire

-- In 1907 the Montreal Wanderers had their photo taken with the cup, but left it at the home of the photographer whose mother then planted geraniums in it;

-- Mark Messier had a dent in it repaired in an autobody shop and let patrons at a strip club slurp beer out of it;

-- Mark Recchi slept with it;

-- and Sylvain Lefebvre had his child christened in it.

And Dustin Penner? His tale isn't so lurid. But it is good.

He began the day flying with Art Paetkau -- "He's a friend of the family who runs Arty's Air here so if you need crop dusting..." -- from Winkler to Yorkton, Sask. to pick up the Cup from teammate Jarret Stoll.

"Otherwise," Penner explained, "the keeper of the Cup (one of the men who accompanies the trophy at all times) would have had to have driven from Yorkton to Regina, flown to Winnipeg and then rented a car to get out here."

So, making the most of his day, Penner then visited his grandmother with the Cup and played golf with 12 relatives and friends -- and Stanley -- before arriving at the mall in the afternoon.

The rest of his day would be just Dustin, Stanley and some close family and friends.

"The way they do the whole Cup thing... everybody gets a day with it and you get to do team events with it" said Penner. "To be able to plan your whole day and have Walt, one of the cup keepers, follow you around... it's really prestigious to be able to do what we do with it.

"Just being able to take it out in LA... we didn't think there were that many fans but everybody gravitates to it. It's the oldest trophy in the world, it's the best trophy and it brings out people from a lot of different backgrounds who want to come see it.

"Jimmy Kimmel (the whole team appeared on the ABC late-night talk show after winning) was pretty cool. We also went to Dodger Stadium and put the cup on the mound and had the Angels on one side and the Dodgers on the other and we were in the middle."

Penner's return to Winkler also brought back a flood of childhood memories, the stuff that can't always be captured with a snapshot or a video.

"You get nostalgic coming back," Penner said. "I haven't been back here in two years and driving down the same roads, seeing the same people and seeing the same things in the house I grew up in... to be able to step back and know I'm here again with the Stanley Cup is surreal."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 18, 2012 C2

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