How the Stanley Cup quietly entered the NHL bubble

EDMONTON — The Stanley Cup was scheduled to fly to Vancouver on March 12 for a Rogers Hometown Hockey event that got wiped out by the pandemic.

The most well-travelled trophy in sports then remained grounded until taking Air Canada flight 171 here on Monday night — by far the longest stretch it had gone without a road trip in the 32 years Phil Pritchard has been serving as Keeper of the Cup.

Pritchard quietly entered the NHL bubble with four pieces of precious cargo: The Stanley Cup; the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the playoff MVP; the Prince of Wales Trophy, awarded to the Eastern Conference champions; and the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, awarded to the Western Conference champions.

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Each will be presented on the ice at Rogers Place over the course of the next few weeks.

Pritchard arrived at the Delta Hotel while Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final was being played between the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders. It was an off night for the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights — the only other teams still occupying the bubble — but he managed to check in without raising any alarm.

“They dropped me off right out front and there’s a place there where I guess deliveries come or couriers come,” Pritchard said Friday morning. “One of the NHL security people met me there and then we went into the hotel and I had to do a COVID test there and checked in and then went to my room.

“It was very limited people that saw me: The nurse, the counter, security. The street was empty, the hotel lobby was empty.”

Pritchard has been serving quarantine in his hotel room ever since. He gets a test administered each day — it alternates between a nasal swab and throat swab — and should be cleared for official entry into the bubble by Saturday.

The COVID-19 pandemic helped create this unique playoff tournament, but some traditions remain unchanged. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly is slated to crown the conference champions while NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to award the Stanley Cup after Pritchard and Craig Campbell parade it onto the ice.

However, what happens after that point is still being worked out, according to Pritchard.

Typically the players pass it between each other, while kissing it, hoisting it and drinking from it. Teams winning on the road usually fly directly back to their playing city for more parties and a parade. In the weeks that follow, every member of the team then gets to spend a day with the Cup in a place of their choosing.

Restrictions on travel or COVID-related health concerns would seem to present challenges to each of those traditions.

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“We’ve still got two and a half weeks [to finalize a plan] and in the last two and a half weeks it’s changed a lot,” said Pritchard. “It’s really too early to tell what is happening. We’re pretty sure there’s going to be a Stanley Cup champion, there’s going to be some type of celebration and it’s going to be unique.

“What that consists of, that we don’t know yet.”

It is 2020 after all.

While serving his quarantine, Pritchard has managed to watch each of the conference final games on television. And despite the unique circumstances, he sees the same level of intensity and competitiveness required of every past champion.

“It’s a true team event,” said Pritchard. “The team inside this bubble [that’s going to win], they’re pretty tight right now, I’m sure. And whatever that champion’s going to be, it’s going to be special.”

When the NHL and NHL Players’ Association were working through the return-to-play planning in the spring, there was never a question of whether he’d be here to help crown the champion.

“If you’ve got a Stanley Cup winner, you’ve got to have the Stanley Cup there,” said Pritchard.

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