The Stanley Cup is in KC this week, and its caretaker has some fun details to share
The trunk of a black SUV flew open, and a man sitting in the passenger seat walked behind the car to retrieve a large carrying case. It was nondescript, but that’s by design. What better way to disguise what’s inside?
He wheeled the case through a crowd of people, then around the side of the building to find a resting place. After fitting white cotton gloves onto his hands, he finally popped open the box, revealing its contents.
The Stanley Cup.
The 34 1/2-pound silver and nickel alloy trophy is awarded to the champion of the National Hockey League. It’s the oldest trophy still presented to professional sports teams.
Mike Bolt travels with “Lord Stanley” more than 200 days per year. They call him a “Keeper of the Cup,” one of a few people to earn that nickname.
His annual 200-stop tour reached Kansas City this week for the first time in five years. On Tuesday, as the trophy settled at Summit Ice, a complex that opened last year in Lee’s Summit, Bolt found a crowd waiting in the cold temperatures.
“OK, listen up. You can touch it, hug it, kiss it,” Bolt told the line of hockey fans. “But if you want to hoist it, you better go win it.”
The Stanley Cup offers a uniqueness unmatched by other American professional sports leagues. In the NFL, MLB, NBA and MLS, a new trophy is created each year and permanently awarded to the champion.
The Stanley Cup is a traveling trophy. So the nearly three-foot structure on display this week in Kansas City — the one fans were kissing and photographing — is the same hardware hoisted and smooched by the game’s all-time greats.
It’s on the road for 330 days per year, spending just one month at its home at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Every player from the championship team gets a day with the Cup the following offseason, often with Bolt right by its side.
And, boy, if it could only talk...
“It could tell some stories,” Bolt said. “The Cup has a more adventurous and wilder life than any human being I know.”
It’s traveled in planes, trains, automobiles and even boats. Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and former Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman took it fishing. New Jersey Devils Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Niedermayer and former Blackhawks winger Andrew Ladd hiked up mountains at sunset or sunrise to capture the perfect photo. (Bolt saved those, too.)
The Cup has traveled to 25 countries (all in the Northern Hemisphere), 49 states (all but Hawaii) and every province and territory in Canada. It’s visited the troops in Afghanistan three times. It’s been in the space shuttle.
It’s often served as a container for a bowl of cereal — breakfast of champions — or an ice cream sundae. It’s been a dish for spaghetti and meatballs, sushi, Jell-O and lobster bisque. And it’s of course used for its name.
A cup.
In what’s essentially become a tradition, many players are sure to drink at least one adult beverage from the trophy.
Behind the scenes, Bolt and the three other men who share his job prepare it for the following day. After the adventures with the players, that sometimes requires giving the Cup a bath with soap and water. Perhaps it gets hosed down in the player’s driveway. After days like these in Kansas City, he will wipe it down with a wet cloth.
“Yeah, I’m also a professional dishwasher,” Bolt quipped.
Players must submit their itineraries in advance, and they must be approved by both the Hockey Hall of Fame and the league. The days can start as early as 7 a.m. The Cup’s curfew is midnight. Bolt watches it carefully, but accidents happen, of course. It’s dropped. It’s dented.
Always repaired.
That’s the beauty of the trophy to those who chase it. They spend time with a prize their idols once held.
Ken Morrow, the president of KC Ice, won it four times with the New York Islanders. He helped bring it to Kansas City this week. Upon seeing it, he smiled as if it was the first time. “When I’m around it, I’m still like a kid on Christmas morning,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Stanley Cup began with a news conference at Prairiefire in Overland Park, which is building its own open-air ice rink that will feature hockey, figure skating, ice dancing and curling.
KC Ice was established a decade ago to promote ice sports in Kansas City. “There is no better promoter than the Stanley Cup,” Morrow said.
The trophy will be on display again Wednesday, with scheduled trips to Chicken N Pickle (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.), Chappell’s Restaurant and Sports Museum (1-2:30 p.m.), Town Pavilion (3-4 p.m.), the Kansas City Mavericks game (5:30-7:30 p.m.) and Summit Ice (8-10 p.m.). All stops are open to the public.