The Stanley Cup's Summer Tour

Since unlike some sports, where each player is awarded with a ring or another type of momentum to symbolize that he or she was a apart of a team that achieved beyond other teams in the league, in hockey, the biggest prize is a shared one. It’s tradition that every player take the Stanley Cup home for a period of time during the summer months.

The Los Angeles Kings won the cup last season, so as well as, doing its routine tour of the Greater Toronto Area and a bunch of small towns throughout Canada that no one has ever heard of, Stanley had quite a summer…

The Kings defenseman Slava Voynov and forward Andrei Loktionov started the summer tour off, taking the Cup through several Russian cities.

Then, the Canadian tour began.

13 different Kings players and staff members are natives of Ontario.

Drew Doughty and Jeff Carter, took the cup home to London, Ontario where it met the OHL‘s London Knights. While coaching consultant Bernie Nicholls took the cup hunting with him in West Guilford, ON. Nicholls told NHL.com:

We do a lot of hunting. I had my bow and it [the Cup] stood in the tree stand beside me. My dad has been there since 1961. I remember walking through the bush when I was 5 years old following my dad. I’ve hunted my whole life. I always had a passion for that.

Dustin Penner brought the cup home to Winkler, Manitoba and August 17, 2012 was officially declared “Dustin Penner Day.”

Justin Williams brought the cup to Ventnor City, N.J., where it enjoyed a boating trip with him and his family. During the trip, Williams brother-in-law proposed to his girlfriend of six years, Dana, while sipping champagne and orange juice from lord Stanley.

Dustin Brown brought the cup to his local high school in Ithaca, N.Y., the rinks that he played in during high school, where nearly 1,000 people lined for pictures.

Then, Brown and his family took the cup to the gravestone of Christopher Bordoni, his wife Nicole’s cousin, a Marine who died as a result of injuries suffered in Afghanistan on his second tour of duty.

Anze Kopitar is the NHL’s first player from Slovenia, and so, bringing the cup there for his 24 hours was a very special time for him and his community.

Due to the extended summer, the cup met the Los Angeles Lakers. Reserve, Robert Sacre and point guard Steve Nash are both Canadians. While Nash showed little interest, Sacre “lit up,” at the opportunity to spend time with the cup.

Kobe Bryant and his family attended several playoff games, so teammates Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace were the most enticed with taking pictures and learning about the history of the cup. World Peace was slightly shocked that there was “only one” cup shared by the entire team. Then, he did something that shocked everyone in the room…he ate almonds out of it.