The coveted trophy visited the newsroom of the Capital Gazette one week after five staff members were killed in a mass shooting
BarkGrowlBite
July 5, 2018
The National Hockey League’s top trophy, the Stanley Cup, is the hardest of all sports trophies to win. Last month, the Washington Capitals won the cup for the first time in its 44 year franchise history.
By tradition, every player and team staff member of the NHL championship team gets to keep the Stanley Cup for 24 hours. Thus the cup has traveled to places all over Canada, to some U.S. places and to places in Russia, Sweden and other European countries.
On Thursday of last week, Jarrod Ramos took a shotgun to the newsroom of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland and killed five members of the newspaper’s staff. Craig Leydig, the Washington Capitals equipment manager, had been interviewed by the paper shortly before the mass shooting.
Leydig decided to use part of his 24 hours with the cup by taking it to the temporary newsroom of the Gazette. The visit turned out to be a real morale booster. Reporter Rick Hutzell said:
“We want to thank Craig for coming in with the Stanley Cup. It was clearly a big morale boost for everyone, particularly the hockey fans in the newsroom. The number of selfies that came out of this was huge and will be treasured forever.”
Alexander (the Great) Ovechkin, captain of the team, also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Although he owns a 5-bedroom home in McLean, Virginia, Ovechkin is expected to take his 24-hour turn with the cup in Moscow.
In November 2017 Ovechkin started a movement called PutinTeam in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin. You can bet that Putin will get to touch the Stanley Cup when Alexander the Great brings it to Russia.
Meanwhile a distraught staff at the Capital Gazette feels better after getting to touch the coveted trophy.
No comments:
Post a Comment