The Keeper of the Cup is a good man

Back in Dec 2007- January 2008 my wife and I honeymooned in the Czech Republic.  It seems like an odd time to go on your honeymoon, but we chose it specifically because the 2008 IIHF World Jr. Hockey Championship was being held in Pardubice and Liberec which are 2 smaller cities only a hours train ride from Prague.  The Canadian team had all their games in Pardubice so we never saw Liberec, but every game day we would take a train from Prague to Pardubice.

The funny thing was that the train from Pardubice back to Prague went at 10:15 every night, so if you wanted to catch the end of the hockey game you were stuck in Pardubice until 2:30 a.m when the trains began rolling by again on every hour.  Our group made use of this dead time by finding a small pub, which as the tournament went on, became the de facto headquarters of the Canadian fans.  I guess the place started to get a reputation because one night I turned around to find Phil Pritchard walking into the joint.  He had heard of the Canadian fans taking over of a small, smoke-filled pub that had Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath on the juke box and wanted to see it for himself.  Now, you have all seen Phil even though you may not have known his name.  Phil is employed with the Hockey Hall of Fame and has earned the nickname “Keeper of the Cup”

As soon as I saw him I went over and engaged the gentleman and his buddy in conversation.  Soon we were joined by my wife and McRedWing (who went to the tournament as well) and the 5 of us had a great night.  Before leaving, Phil gave each of us a small Stanley Cup key chain that can not be bought in any store and are custom made.  My wife and I loved those key chains and they became a great conservation piece when people saw them.  But then life happened.

A year ago my wife had her keys stolen.  The house keys, car keys, and postal key could all be replaced, but not the key chain.  We were bummed.  I gave up my key chain as she needed a ring and just used my car key ring, but I always had my eye on that Cup.  Last week I mentioned that I wanted my Stanley Cup back and my wife wanted no part of it.  Instead, she decided to look up Phil and see if he remembered us and if he could send us a new key chain.  Not only did he remember us, but yesterday we received a package from the Hockey Hall of Fame stocked with goodies.  Today I am the proud owner of a sparkling new Stanley Cup key ring.  That small gesture has only cemented  my belief that the people contected to hockey are the greatest in the world.

Thank you Phil, you are a good man. 

As a side note.  Thinking of that pub and the great time we had in the Czech Republic made me nostalgic for what I consider the greatest moment in my life as a hockey fan so I thought I would include the video from the gold medal game.  At the 1:28 mark, look for the guy in the crowd celebrating a goal with the Newfoundland flag.  ‘Tis me having the time of my life.  I also included a still shot to help.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skx0ggGwZTY]

The Greener \m/