The Lightning dressing room had been drenched in champagne and Bud Gentle for hours.
Nikita Kucherov’s notorious “No. 1 bullshit” press convention was going viral. The cleanup crew was shuffling via the aisles within the empty Amalie Enviornment stands after the post-Stanley Cup celebration on July 7, 2021.
However at roughly 3:30 a.m, captain Steven Stamkos needed to make another journey on the ice with hockey’s holy grail.
Stamkos’ mother and father, Chris and Lesley, weren’t capable of attend the earlier playoff run within the Canadian bubble, and as a substitute watched from the yard of their Toronto-area house. They didn’t see Stamkos, a lot much less contact the Cup, for a number of months, on account of COVID-19 protocol. So, this time, Chris Stamkos was going to soak it in along with his son.
The elder Stamkos borrowed Kucherov’s skates — “They match completely” — and took a short twirl. Slowly.
“There was a lot confetti on the ice,” Chris Stamkos stated. “I didn’t wish to fall with the Cup and break it.”
So Stamkos, 31, carrying a championship T-shirt, shorts and flip flops, gave his father an help as they approached mid-ice. Chris raised the Cup over his head. They took some movies and photographs, with Chris and Lesley posing like they had been taking a faceoff, with a beaming Stamkos in between, flashing two fingers. They had been solely on the ice for a couple of minutes, however it’s a snapshot that can eternally stay in household lore.
“It was such thrill,” Chris Stamkos stated. “You all the time dream about your child doing that. And it got here via.
