The guys who suit up for the Scotiabank Spruceland atom Tier 1 hockey team got the surprise of their young lives when they walked into the dressing room at Kin 2 after hockey practice Wednesday afternoon and found Lord Stanley's mug had beaten them there.
There, perched on a table at the far end of the room, was the Stanley Cup, the trophy every kid who laces up the blades dreams about winning.
Aaron Janjua, an 11-year-old right winger, was stunned by what he saw.
"I didn't think it was real, when you think of all the people who have had the Cup and touched it, and now we get to have it," said Janjua.
Gleeful shouts of "I found Gretzky," and "there's the Vancouver Millionaires," filled the room as the players swarmed the Cup and read out the names. Janjua says he'll do whatever it takes to win it as a player and hoist it over his head on the ice.
"I'm hoping," he said.
Left winger Euan Murray, 10, couldn't believe his eyes.
"This is a dream come true, wow," said Murray. "After all that work to get here on the Tier 1 team, it's just amazing."
"This is awesome, it's once in a lifetime," added 11-year-old defenceman Mitchell Lennox.
The Cup visit to Prince George coincided with former Philadelphia Flyer forward Joe Watson's day with the Cup in Smithers on Tuesday. Watson, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Flyers in 1974 and 1975, didn't have the opportunity to have his day with the Cup share it with his hometown, a reward today's players are now a granted.
"The tradition of bringing the Cup home didn't it start until 1974," said Phil Pritchard, vice-president of Hockey Hall of Fame resource centre and the Hall's curator. "Obviously we tied it in so it's one trip, but this event Scotiabank does with the minor hockey kids is beautiful. The emotions from the kids is pretty cool, and its the same with the big kids."
"It's a fantastic opportunity for the kids to see the Cup," said Derrick Gillissie, manager of personal banking for Scotiabank's downtown Prince George branch.
"Scotiabank is a huge fan of hockey and our involvement in the community hockey program is second to none, and when we were afforded this opportunity nationally to take part in one of these surprise events we jumped all over it.
"Timing-wise it worked out with Hometown Hockey being in town this weekend."
Liam Magrath had never seen the Cup before, let alone touch it.
"I thought, is this really happening?" said Magrath, a 10-year-old defenceman.
"All those people have won it and now I get to see it in real life. That's something Wayne Gretzky has touched. I found his name a few times."
While Gretzky is one of Magrath's favourites, he's no fan of the Edmonton Oilers, the team Gretzky led to five Stanley Cups. He's a diehard Vancouver Canucks fan and like all Canucks faithful, he wants to see their names engraved on the Cup.
"That's going to happen this year," he said confidently.
