15 Craziest Places the Stanley Cup Has Been

Adrift in the Rideau Canal

In 1905, the Ottawa Hockey Club won the Cup for the seventh time in a row, and they were feeling pretty good about themselves. The whole team gathered on the banks of the Rideau Canal to have some drinks and celebrate their supremacy. On a dare, one player actually drop-kicked the Cup right into the river. Realizing what they’d done, the team fled the scene. Thankfully, the canal had frozen over earlier that week so once the players sobered up they were able to carefully creep across the ice and recover the (slightly dented) trophy.

Kicked to the Curb

In 1924, the victorious Montreal Canadiens were on their way to a party at the home of team owner Leo Dandurand. They were already pretty sloshed, so when they stopped the car to change a flat tire, they accidentally left the Stanley Cup sitting on a snowbank by the side of the road. When they got to the party, they realized their error and hauled ass back to the site, where the cup was thankfully still resting peacefully.

Engraved Upon in the Basement

It’s not quite known why Canadian hockey legend Lester Patrick was keeping the Stanley Cup in a cardboard box in his basement in 1925. Maybe he just forgot it was down there. But when his teenage sons Lynn and Muzz found it, they did what came naturally: found a hammer and a nail and tried to carve their names on it. Fortunately, nobody got in trouble for this act of vandalism, and both boys would grow up to play on the Cup-winning New York Rangers in 1940.

A Horse Stall

Hockey players do enjoy other pastimes in the offseason. Case in point: Ed Olczyk of the New York Rangers was really into horse racing. So into it, in fact, that he took the Cup to Belmont Park in 1994, where he met legendary horse trainer Nick Zito and fed Kentucky Derby winner Go For Gin some oats out of it. Alas, it didn’t help the horse out, as he came in second in the Belmont Stakes. We're not sure how much money Olczyk had on the race.

A Dog Bowl

Not all of the Cup’s holders have treated it with the same amount of respect, as we’ve seen here, but we don’t think anybody was quite as insulting to it as New York Islander Clark Gillies. When his team triumphed in 1980, Gillies took the Stanley Cup home and let his dog eat out of it. When asked to explain himself, Gillies simply said, “Why not? He’s a nice dog!”

In the Shower

People do a lot of weird stuff with the Cup, but as far as we know only one player has ever decided to take a shower with the damn thing. When Steve Yzerman led the Detroit Red Wings to a victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in 1997 for the first Cup win of his career, he felt pretty damn good about himself. So good, in fact, that he didn’t even sleep the night after the victory. The next day, though, he took a very special postgame shower, stripping down to his birthday suit and lathering up with Lord Stanley's Cup in there with him.

Grand Theft Cup

In 1962, the Montreal Canadiens were playing against the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks in the semifinals of the Cup series. When it looked like the Canadiens were going to lose the game, devoted fan Kenneth Kilander decided to take matters into his own hands. The Hawks displayed the Cup in a glass case in the stadium, so Kilander bribed a security guard $250 to look the other way, picked the lock and nonchalantly carried it out to his car, telling onlookers that he was “taking it back to Montreal, where it belongs.” Needless to say, he didn’t get far.

The Howard Stern Show

A lot of people talk about “disrespecting the Cup” with all of these wacky adventures, but one outing was probably the most disrespectful of all. When Claude Lemieux of the Jersey Devils had possession of the cup in 1995, he decided to bring it onto "The Howard Stern Show" for an appearance. Of course, things quickly got out of hand as the Wack Pack interacted with the precious trophy, climaxing with Jackie Martling taking a dump in the bowl. The whole stunt was faked for radio, thankfully, but people were horrified.

A Baptism

For some players, hockey isn’t just a sport; it’s a religion. When the Colorado Avalanche won the cup in 1996, defenseman Sylvain Lefebre used it as the baptismal fount for his daughter, Alexanne. As far as we know, that was the first and only time the Cup has been filled with holy water. (Typically, hockey players fill it with stronger stuff) 10 years later, Carolina Hurricanes player Andrew Hutchinson wanted to do the same thing with his newborn son, but the Cup was held up in transit.

Off of a Pantera Party Rooftop

Legendary power-metal band Pantera wrote a fight song for the Dallas Stars in 1999, and because metal is the best music ever, the Stars obviously won the Cup that year. The band naturally wanted to help celebrate, so they threw an epic party at drummer Vinnie Paul’s house. During the rager, center Guy Carbonneau climbed up to the roof holding the Cup and attempted to toss it into Paul’s swimming pool. He missed, it landed on the concrete, and the humiliated Stars had to return it to the NHL for repairs.

Theo Fleury’s and Sidney Crosby's Bed

One of the smallest yet most violent players of his generation, Theo Fleury lived for hockey, scoring over 1,000 goals during his long career. Fleury won the Stanley Cup only once—in 1989 with the Calgary Flames—and it was one of his professional high points. When he brought the silver chalice home for his 24 hours with it, he made his wife Veronica sleep on the couch so he could have the Cup in bed with him. Recently, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby (pictured) did the same thing.

A Strip Club

Mark Messier is one of those dudes who has won the Stanley Cup more times than he can count, so it’s only natural that he’s been a little more casual with it than other guys. So casual, in fact, that he took the Cup out for a night of partying at the strip club. Messier won with the Edmonton Oilers in 1987 and took it to the Forum Inn, where he let fans drink champagne out of it as strippers did their thing. The cup suffered numerous dents and may have contracted some diseases during that demented evening.

A Baby's Potty

One of the ultimate indignities ever suffered by the Stanley Cup happened in 2008 when the Detroit Red Wings won it all. No, the Red Wings winning again wasn’t the insult; it was when center Kris Draper took it home to spend his day with it. For a photo op, he placed his newborn daughter Kamryn into the cup of Stanley, and she promptly proceeded to take a greasy baby poop right into the priceless relic. That didn’t stop Draper and his team from enjoying drinks out of it a week later, though.

Gay Pride Parade

It’s considered good form for the NHL champions to bring the Cup back home for a parade so all the fans can get a glimpse of its silver glory. When the Anaheim Ducks won the Cup, they naturally put it on a float in the Rose Parade. But when the Chicago Blackhawks took home the championship in 2010, the team decided the Stanley Cup needed to get with the times, and showcased it during the city’s Gay Pride Parade instead.