Winning the Stanley Cup is my lifelong goal. It’s the big career dream I have. Some people want to own a company, become a CEO, be this or that. I just want to win the cup. Preferably I want to win it as the VP of Communications because then my name will be etched into sports greatest trophy for all of eternity but… a ring would be enough.
So when one of the other writers here at tPb asked us about doing “Cup Day” stories I already knew how I would write it. Without further ado…
My day with the cup begins at State College Airport. Where? You might be saying. State College Airport, you know the airport in Pennsylvania that’s closest to Penn State University. It’s where I’ll meet whichever cup keeper is assigned to my day with the Stanley Cup and grab the chalice with both hands. (No, I currently do not touch the Stanley Cup, come on guys rules are rules).
Because it’s time for the Stanley Cup to hit Hockey Valley.
There will, of course, be stops at the Lion Shrine and outside of Carnegie Building, the home of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications where my degree is from – places that defined my college career. Perhaps I’ll even take Stanley into the Forum fountain because not one year of my undergrad passed without my jumping into the thing.
But most of the day will take place at Pegula Ice Arena. Because I opened Pegula Ice Arena. I was there the day we swung the doors wide and let fans in for the first time. I worked as a member of the Hockey Management Association when we “Went B1G” as the framed poster in my current office proclaims. To me, Penn State’s Ice Hockey program is special because they proved to me I could be part of the team without playing on the ice. So Lord Stanley will spend a day at Penn State and he will spend most of it at Pegula.
The first portion will be the best portion, no seriously. THON kids, children with cancer who are beneficiaries of Penn State’s Dance Marathon which I was heavily involved with when I was in school, would be the first to get to see Stanley at Pegula. However many are healthy enough to come, will come. At this time they will get to touch, hold, hug and experience the Stanley Cup. The Berkey Creamery will bring in ice cream and we will eat ice cream out of Lord Stanley’s Chalice (maybe I’ll even get a few west cookies slipped in). Next, would be a private party, a couple hours of friends and family coming to skate at the rink. Members of the Penn State’s Hockey programs (men’s, women’s and club) would all be invited as well. Stanley will sit on a table, above and below the Nittany Lion Logo. Then, it’s time. For the remainder of however long I have him, I would let anyone come to Pegula to meet the cup. I want to sit him next to the mural my face somehow got into and let whoever chooses from the Penn State community hug him. I want to hug him to my chest in front of the concession stand whose fun hockey-themed description (Grinder) I wrote. I want nothing more than to share the cup with Penn State’s hockey community and to sew the moment I knew I could to this to the moment I did it.
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