Special Guest: Stanley Cup

DinoMights Board member John, wife Cherie, and DinoMights participant, Miguel with the Stanley Cup at the 2009 Fundraiser

We have a returning guest to our Fundraiser this year. The Stanley Cup was so popular we just had to invite it back again.

As a kid I competed for the Cup repeatedly in my basement. I fired tennis balls and plastic floor hockey pucks at my less than willing younger brother. Those series rarely ended in glory. Usually, they ended with my sibling choosing to simply walk off the ice. To be fair to my bro, those contests were mostly fixed in my favor. I just enough older to know how to win every time. At any rate, lifting the Cup after nailing your little brother in the face with a tennis ball really isn't that sweet. But, I did want to taste that sweetness somehow. Being up close to the real thing brings me back to the best part of those days. My imagination for greatness is sparked by the Stanley Cup.

I love to watch the clinching of the Cup every year when it is awarded to the NHL Champions. It doesn't matter to me who wins. Even if my favorite, hometown team loses, I love to watch the very end of the Stanley Cup playoffs. There is just no celebration quite like in hockey. The players raise their hands in the air to signal victory; their sticks and gloves fly in the air, and they go to pile on top of the goalie. (For a hilarious Goalie pile FAIL watch this video about 2/3 of the way through.) I'm pretty sure that's what the angels in heaven were doing when Jesus walked out of the tomb.

I've accepted that my name will never be etched into the Stanley Cup. I can live with that, but visiting with the Stanley Cup reminds me that Teams can achieve great things together.