Then I kept reading. Stewart had written about how Lucic definitely wasn’t going to bring the Cup to Kits Fest, a Vancouver festival. “From the time I got the Cup in the morning until it left at night, people were taking pictures. Lucic didn’t want to gloat. Partly, that was Lucic not wanting a major public showing. One of the things Lucic did on his day was take the Cup to Grouse Mountain. “It’s too bad that we didn’t get to win this trophy together,” said Lucic.
This weekend, Bruins forward Milan Lucic, previously a favourite son of East Vancouver, scuttled plans for a public appearance with the Cup because of incidents that have taken place since June 15. “There is a certain amount of tension right now,” mother Snezana Lucic told the Vancouver Courier.
Instead of bringing the Cup to Kits Beach for a public celebration Sunday, and a stop at his old high school, the Lucic family held a private affair atop Grouse Mountain. It seems Canucks fans are now safely ahead of Saskatchewan Roughriders supporters as the country’s most notorious sports boosters.
Next stop Dodger Stadium.
By the time the Pittsburgh Penguins and Canucks face-off in the Oct. 6 opener, this city ought to be peppered with reminders.
It means increased security inside the arena, so fans in visiting colours aren’t showered with beer and debris, as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was when he presented Stanley to the Bruins.
Because the point now isn’t that it’s a minority of Canucks fans doing the damage.
"To have the Stanley Cup right in front of you is amazing," Robert Hillier marveled. The Stanley Cup's stop at ARH was part of a whirlwind tour of Abbotsford, courtesy of Boston Bruins director of player personnel Scott Bradley. The longtime Abbotsford resident earned the right to to spend a day with the Cup after his Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in a thrilling seven-game NHL final series.
Bradley's day with the Cup began at 8 a.m., when he picked it up in Vancouver and loaded it onto his friend Dean Russell's helicopter. Then it was off to Bradley's house in Abbotsford for a private photo shoot with his family. Next stop was the hospital, then the Baron Bar and Grill near the Abbotsford Airport, where fans could have their photo taken with the Cup in exchange for a $10 donation to Miracle Flights for Kids Canada – a charity which supplies low-income sick children with flights for medical treatment in distant locations.
Being whisked around by helicopter certainly helped to maximize the number of activities Bradley was able to book during his limited time with the Cup.
Bradley was somewhat curious how bringing the Stanley Cup into the heart of Canucks territory would be received. Bruins winger Milan Lucic, an East Vancouver native, had the Cup on Sunday, and a Vancouver Courier story suggested he scaled back his public celebration plans after running into some bitter Canucks fans at a Greek festival earlier this summer.
In Abbotsford, though, Canuck fans were simply thrilled to see hockey's holy grail in person, no matter if it was part of a Bruin's celebration.
Local Bruins fans, on the other hand, were strictly elated. Dave Ethier, a 48-year-old Abbotsford resident, rolled up the sleeve of his Bruins jersey to reveal a tattoo on his left shoulder of the spoked 'B' logo with the words "Big, Bad and Bruin" written below.
To be around the Stanley Cup is a cool, cool thing."
Bradley just completed his 19th season with the Bruins' hockey operations department. His fingerprints were all over Boston's Cup-winning roster, as much of the team's homegrown talent – including the likes of Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Brad Marchand – was drafted under his direct supervision.