THE STANLEY CUP IS WHERE???

I just watched something on the CBS channel Sunday Morning program on the Stanley Cup which triggered a long past forgotten memory.

For those not in the know, the Stanley Cup is professional hockey's ultimate trophy. This week it's up for grabs between the Anaheim Ducks and the Ottawa Senators. The Sunday morning show featured this very old and famous cup.

I grew up in Montreal with the Canadians hocky team, who have won the trophy more than any other team in hockey history. From 1955 to 1959, we were lucky enough to have the trophy live in Montreal. It's a huge trophy and one which has an interesting history. It's the only professional trophy which each championship team player can take home for 24 hours to do whatever they want and because of this, there are pictures of the Stanley cup on mountains, at Graceland, in Russia (since the fall of Communism, hockey players hail from Russia too). Many players take it to hospitals to that kids can touch the cup and have their pictures taken. All in all, this professional trophy has probably been to more interesting places than most of us.

This brings me to my memory. My dad was a Leutenant (pronounced Leftenant in Canada) in the Montreal Fire Department. His fire station was less than a mile from the Montreal Forum where the Canadians played hockey in those days.

The morning after they won the Stanley Cup at the end of the 1958-1959 season, just as I was getting ready for school, the phone rang. I remember my mom saying into the phone "The Stanley Cup is Where??" It was sitting on my dad's desk at the station.

Apparently, after the game and the award presentation, some of the players decided to take the Stanley Cup out to meet it's most loyal fans. Of course, the nearest place was the tavern (Montreal word for bar) closest to the Forum where the hardiest fans celebrated after the winning game. Of course, it's assumed that the players received the gratitude of the fans with free drinks and when the tavern closed down, everyone walked outside to parade the cup down St. Catherine Street (most famous street in Montreal)in the direction of Dad's station.

In the morning, two of Montreal's finest policemen found the cup sitting on the corner of St. Catherine and Guy Street. Apparently in their enthusiasm (Montreal word for drunkeness) the trophy was put down while everyone hugged and celebrated, then everyone went their own way and left the trophy on the corner. Fortunately while it was still a little dark out, the two officers patrolling spotted it before someone decided to keep the trophy as a souveneer, and realized the safest place to protect it until the team could be notified was the fire station down a half block.

My dad called my mom as soon as the celebration of actually having the Stanley Cup in the fire station died down. At 10:00 the team managers were notified and rushed over to reclaim it. It didn't make the papers because the year before the cup was left at a photographer's studio for 4 weeks until someone remembered and picked it up. I am guessing the hockey team didn't want any more publicity on how the Canadians misplace the cup.

On this Sunday morning show, Bill Geist one of the reporters was given the opportunity to spend time with the trophy. He decided to travel around New York city with it, along with the bodyguard which now accompanies it since that famous day in 1959). Watching ordinary New Yorkers clustered around the cup just to touch it, triggered this long forgotten memory of my childhood. Sometimes just watching TV brings back the fondest memories.