Stanley Cup Goes on a Detour

From Yahoo

Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:28 am EST

Toronto awarded Stanley Cup by overzealous airport employee
By Sean Leahy

We all misplace things everyday: Car keys, important papers, pants. But when the item you can't find is something as valuable as the Stanley Cup, the level of freak-out is exceedingly high.

That's the feeling the Hockey Hall of Fame and Cup keeper Mike Bolt almost reached when it was discovered that the greatest trophy in all of sports took a detour on its way to Vancouver for a charity event Sunday.

When Bolt arrived in Vancouver, he expected to pick up the Cup and be on his way ... but then he heard his name being paged in the Air Canada terminal. Bolt said he figured a back door was going to be used to get the Cup out of the airport and en route to the charity event in a hasty manner. Instead, it was a conversation that likely went like this:

AIR CANADA EMPLOYEE: "Good flight? BythewaytheStanleyCupdidntmakeit."

BOLT: "...what's that?"

It seems that an eager new employee at Newark Liberty International Airport saw the giant case and thought, "Hey! That's the Stanley Cup. What's it doing in Jersey?", missed the Vancouver designation on it and felt he/she was doing a solid by shipping the thing back to Toronto, home of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

(And you thought Devan Dubnyk's rookie season was going rough.)

According to CBC News, Air Canada calmed any fears Bolt might have been having when they informed him that they were in possession of the Cup the entire time because of its "oversized" classification -- so it wasn't "lost." Keep that in mind next time you fly Air Canada: If you don't want your checked baggage to get lost, pack it in a very, very, very large suitcase.

Unfortunately, due to the mix-up, the Cup didn't arrive in time for the charity event in Vancouver. Bolt recommended that a donation to the Vancouver Canucks Foundation by Air Canada would be a great way to ensure that the charity didn't lose out of any of the funds that were to be raised. Also, it would be penance for the fact that Canada's largest airline almost lost the Stanley Cup.

For more tales of the Stanley Cup being lost or stolen do check out Joe Pelletier's Greatest Hockey Legends. Thanks to Sportress of Blogitude for the tip.