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What if…: You Could Sneak Into A Stanley Cup Win Celebration?
Facts: The champagne is flowing, cameras flashing, congratulations raining over everyone. Your team has just won the Stanley Cup! After 82 regular season games and two months of playoffs spent taking your game to the limit and laying it all on the line you’re finally able to sit back and reap the rewards. Back in the winning locker room you’re making the rounds, slapping the guys on the back and dumping brews over their heads. You run into Tyler Kennedy who picks you up in a bear hug and spins you around because he still cannot find the words to show anyone what playing on this team and having this victory means to him. As he sets you down, off to flail someone else around, you spot it: the Stanley Cup....and someone’s handing it off to you. You throw Phillipe Boucher your camera, grab on to the grail, and raise it high above your head as he snaps a picture you will look back on with awe for the rest of your life. And when you tell your grandchildren about the night you hoisted the Stanley Cup, you’re going to need that photo as they’ll never see your name listed with the 2008-09 champions, or find your name on the trophy. Why? Because your name is Ryan Kraft and you are NOT a Pittsburgh Penguin, or a family member of someone on the team, but for the better part of 90 minutes that night you celebrated on the ice and in the locker room with them like you were and no one seemed to know any different!
Ryan’s story is revealed in the latest edition of The Hockey News in an article by John Grigg. He tells of how he managed to get on the ice as security was waving on non-credentialed family members of Phillipe Boucher (as Boucher pointed to them Kraft raised his hand as they did and security assumed he was in fact a family member), about how he mingled and celebrated with the players and their families on the ice and in the locker room as they celebrated, and how no one seemed to be the wiser for it, save the owner Mario Lemieux, who as Kraft described it gave him a “You’re not supposed to be down here, are you?” smirk as they had their picture taken together although left it at that.
To many, Kraft lived an experience that they would give anything for. Not only was he witness to a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup final, but his team won, he celebrated on the ice and continued on in the room, even hoisting the prize itself. He got to see the absolute raw emotion of the moments following what every hockey loving kid (or kid at heart!) would give the world to experience as a player. At the same time, there are others who have argued since news of Kraft’s venture into the celebrations of the evening that to do so was classless. That he was intruding on a celebration meant only for those who earned the prize and those who closely supported them in their journey. Nevermind that he dared put his hands on the Cup that night.
Me? I’m stuck in the middle on this. That he was able to get on the ice and celebrate up close and personal is fantastic! The locker room? Even better! Everyone seemed so wrapped up in the happiness of the win that they didn’t seem to care. If Tyler Kennedy is swinging him around the room, Boucher is taking pics for him and Lemieux catches him but doesn’t seem to care then all the power to him! I struggle with this at the same time though. As a fan, is the on-ice celebration we witness not our chance to join in the celebration while the locker room is a private spot for the players and their kin to take in the win? Even with Mario, did he not say anything because he doesn’t care or is it because he doesn’t want to take away from his own night by potentially causing a disruption by having to get a fan who really isn’t supposed to be there removed? Less questionable for me is hoisting the cup. I have issues with that for some reason. Just seems like on that night he should not be handling it unless he had a role in earning it. You may argue that the families didn’t, but they supported the players in their journey and that’s good enough for me. Sure the fans support the team as well, but again, that’s what the on-ice ceremonies and celebrations are for.
But that’s just me. What I want to know is:
“WHAT IF...?” #11:: You Could Sneak Into A Stanley Cup Win Celebration?
Would you? What would your boundaries be if you did? If you wouldn’t, why not? Would you raise the cup? How long would you stay? If you could do it, which celebration would you choose? Me, definitely the Ranger ’94 win. To see the Moose hoist the Cup and a team celebrating a 40+ year drought after the playoff they put together that year would be classic! Let’s hear your thoughts folks!
Cheers!
Shawn Gates
[email protected]
Twitter: ShawnHockeybuzz
Facebook: Shawn Gates
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Remember to visit
www.hockeyden.net, watch the 06-07 ITG Heroes and Prospects box break, and enter to win your choice of any card from the break!
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Previous “WHAT IF…?” Articles
#1 What If The NHL Contracted To 24 Teams?
#2 What If Quebec Traded Lindros To The Rangers Instead Of The Flyers?
#3 What If Calgary Drafted Martin Brodeur Instead Of Trevor Kidd?
#3a What If Calgary Drafted Martin Brodeur Instead Of Trevor Kidd?: A RESPONSE
#4 What If The WHA Never Existed?
#5 What If The Position Of Rover Had Not Been Eliminated?
#6 What If Pittsburgh Had Not Been Awarded A Team In 1967?
#7 What If Steve Smith Had Not Scored In His Own Net In Game 7?
#8 What If The NHL Had a Cross-Conference Playoff Structure?
#9 What If The NHL Asked For Fan Ideas For Improving The Game??
#10 What If Henderson Had Missed The Net In Game 8?
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