The Stanley Cup is the biggest and best prize in all of professional sports. Here are some of the craziest things that have ever been done with it.
The Stanley Cup is without question the greatest trophy in sports. It should come as no surprise that players like to party a little after they win it. As a rule, each player from the Stanley Cup winning team gets a 24-hour date with Lord Stanley’s Cup itself to do with what they please.
We’ve all seen pictures, heard stories or perhaps been a part of one of the celebrations. Some players choose to bring the Cup to their hometowns to see their families, to their high schools or to a wide array of gentlemen’s establishments.
No matter who has the Cup, the rules associated with it are basically only “don’t lose it” and “don’t break it.” Despite essentially having carte blanche to do anything else, some players have broken these two rules, as well.
The Stanley Cup now travels with a full-time keeper, currently Philip Pritchard. The Cup is more than 125 years old, stands three feet high and weighs in at a surprisingly light 35 pounds. It’s Pritchard’s job to make sure all of this remains intact.
The Cup didn’t always have a keeper, though. It’s actually quite incredible that it is still in pristine condition based on the places it’s been and the beating it has taken over the years.
Here are the 25 strangest, grossest, craziest and wildest things done with and to the NHL’s Stanley Cup.
25. Mark Messier’s Edmonton strip clubs
There isn’t much to do in Edmonton, Alberta. When the Oilers started winning Stanley Cup after Stanley Cup in the Wayne Gretzky/Mark Messier years, there was one viable option that made the players, as well as some dancers just trying to pay their way through college, really happy.
After winning the Cup, the Oilers players crossed the street from the stadium to the nearby strip club, the Forum Inn. Unfortunately, we could not track down any of the Forum Inn’s workers from the time, but I’m sure they have some stories.
Messier and the Stanley Cup had a troubled, some may say abusive relationship. In comparing stories, it often got dinged up while in his presence, which was on a whopping total of six occasions.
Thankfully for Messier, he had friends in local body shops, where he would bring the Cup for dent repairs (seemingly every time he won a Cup). While we can’t see the Cup holder at time being too happy to make his almost-annual visit to Messier’s house, it’s also hard not to give the super star his allotted time with the trophy.
Messier collected 1887 points in his storied career and he’s a first ballot hall-of-famer who won six Stanley Cups with two teams (The Edmonton Oilers and the New York Rangers). Messier is an all-time great and he probably earned the right to enjoy his time with the Cup a little too much.
More on Messier later, but first let’s dive into some history.