- The Stanley Cup made a stop at the pickleball national championships in Cary, North Carolina
- Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Jalen Chatfield showed up with it and grabbed paddles
- Read below for the job the Canes gave the Cup between matches
The Stanley Cup spent Thursday night on a pickleball court.
Hockey’s trophy turned up at the Veolia Pickleball National Championships in Cary, North Carolina, took center court and posed with the pros competing for a national title. Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Jalen Chatfield came with it.
Philip Pritchard, the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Keeper of the Cup, shared photos from the night:
The three of them did not stand around next to the trophy all night, either. They picked up paddles and played:
Then the Cup picked up a new job. Aho, Svechnikov and Chatfield drew their fantasy football draft order out of the bowl, live from the event:
Cary is a short drive from Lenovo Center, so this was one of the easier stops on a summer that has run all over the map.
Svechnikov already took his day to a children’s hospital in North Carolina. Chatfield hoisted it in the rain. Nikolaj Ehlers rode through Aalborg in a Lamborghini with it, and Rod Brind’Amour let a puppy sit in the bowl.
Aho and Svechnikov are the two forwards Carolina leans on hardest. Aho put up 27 goals and 80 points in 79 games last season. Svechnikov scored 31 in the same number of games and finished with 70 points.
Carolina opens its title defense on Sept. 29 against the Florida Panthers at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN, and the Canes are the betting favorite to do it again.
