25 most insane things people have ever done with the Stanley Cup

18. The Canadiens have car troubles

This infamous and somewhat debated story about a group of Montreal Canadiens players leaving the Stanley Cup on the side of the road has been confirmed. Bill Westwick, son of Harry Westwick who played for the Ottawa Silver Seven team that allegedly tried to kick the Cup over the Rideau Canal in Ottawa (more on that later), wrote about the incidents in a column for the Ottawa Journal.

In 1924, there was a story going around that several Montreal Canadiens players left the Cup on the side of the road when they had to stop to change a flat tire. The story was clarified by Bill Roche in The Hockey Book in 1953, then further confirmed by Westwick’s knowledge.

Canadiens owner Leo Dandurand and three players, George Vezina, Sylvio Mantha and Sprague Cleghorn left a party in Dandurand’s Ford Model T with the Cup when the vehicle stalled on a hill.

"“Cleghorn, who had been jealously carrying the hard-won Stanley Cup in his lap, deposited it on the curb at the roadside before he joined us in shoving the car up the hill,” Dandurand told Roche. “When we reached the top, we hopped back into the car and resumed our hockey chatter as we got going again.” When they got to the house, Dandurand’s wife asked where the Cup was. “We realized that Cleghorn had left it on the side of the road,” Dandurand said. “Sprague and I drove hurriedly back to the spot almost an hour after we had pushed the car up the hill. There was the Cup, in all its shining majesty, still sitting on the curb of the busy street!”"

Through rumors, Roche and Westwick, the story seemed to match all accounts. Thankfully, the roads were a little less busy in 1924 and Dandurand’s wife had enough sense to know something kind of important was missing when the guys returned home.