HIGHLIGHTS
- The Florida Panthers damaged the Stanley Cup during their championship celebration
- Photos show visible cracks along the rim of the trophy’s bowl
- See photos of the damage, plus the wild history of Stanley Cup mishaps below
The Florida Panthers took their post-game celebration a little too far.
Florida made NHL history Tuesday night, repeating as Stanley Cup champions by beating the Edmonton Oilers in six games. It’s the first back-to-back title since the Tampa Bay Lightning did it in 2020 and 2022.
You can watch them lift the trophy here:
But somewhere during the celebration, things went awry.
Photos have already surfaced showing visible cracks along the rim of the Stanley Cup’s bowl. At this time, it’s not known when or how it got damaged.
Photos:
If we had to guess who caused the damage, we’d attribute it to a member of the Rat Pack (i.e. Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett or even Brad Marchand). But when it comes to the Stanley Cup, all bets are off.
It’s the oldest trophy in North American sports, and it’s almost as famous for its dents as it is for its champions. For a trophy that weighs nearly 35 pounds, it’s seen a lot of abuse.
Damaging the Cup has become an annual rite of passage. In fact, the Keeper of the Cup, Phil Pritchard, has said the bowl gets damaged almost every year.
It’s a long and storied tradition of tough love.
A History of Mishaps
The list of mishaps is legendary. The Colorado Avalanche couldn’t even get through the team photo in 2022 before Nicolas Aube-Kubel tripped and dented the base. It was the first time the trophy was ever damaged on the ice right after being presented.
Go back to 1962, and you’ll find the Toronto Maple Leafs accidentally dropping the Cup into a bonfire. The team had to foot the bill for those repairs.
Mark Messier took the Cup to a bar during the Oilers’ dynasty in 1987, where it got beat up by fans. He had to get it fixed himself before returning it to the Hall of Fame.
And then there are the truly bizarre stories. The New York Rangers celebrated paying off the Madison Square Garden mortgage in 1940 by lighting the documents on fire inside the bowl. The trophy caught fire, too.
The Cup has been used to feed a Kentucky Derby winner, which also resulted in a dent. Clark Gillies of the Islanders fed his dog from it, and Kris Draper’s infant daughter famously had an accident in the bowl.
So while the Panthers added the newest scar, it’s just another chapter for hockey’s ultimate prize. Each dent tells a story, and Florida just wrote the latest one.
