Stanley Cup: What Would You Do with It for a Day?

The tradition stands that each player of the winning NHL team gets to spend 24 hours with the Stanley Cup. They can do whatever they please, as long as it does not harm the Cup.

Some of us have friends, some family, some the television, computer or an ice-cold beer. Even for those who prefer solitude, there comes a time when we need someone—or something.

Friends talk too much. Family gets on your case. The tube has way too many commercials, and an ice-cold beer—well, it's hard to find a fault. 

But 35 pounds of silver and alloy, standing just about three feet tall next to you, could prove to be the most rewarding company.

On surveys and college applications and when speed dating worldwide, we are asked, "If we could spend one day with someone, who would it be, and why?" The question rattles us. "George Washington, Babe Ruth, my mom?" No one really knows.

But for each NHL player, the answer is easy: It's not who, but what they would spend the day with. They are on the crusade for the holy grail of hockey. A day with the inanimate object beats out any other option.

Past Stanley Cup-winning players have made the best of their day.

Mario Lemieux and Patrick Roy took the Stanley Cup swimming. Without floaties, it quickly ended at the bottom of their pools.

Some players have simply slept in the bed with it, reporting back that there is nothing better than waking up next to the Cup.

Others took the Cup out of the country, as it has traveled to Russia, Japan, Switzerland, the mountain peaks of the Rockies and the igloos of Nunavut, Canada. 

The 1905 Ottawa Silver Seven drunkenly kicked the Cup into Ottawa's Rideau Canal. Thankfully it was rescued by sober heads the next day.

Ironically, the team with the most Stanley Cup wins happens to be the most careless and forgetful with such a prize. In 1924, the Montreal Canadiens stored the Cup in their trunk on their way to a celebratory party. They got a flat, removed the Cup, and forgot it on the sidewalk as they drove away. They didn't remember until it came time to drink champagne out of the Cup. Thankfully, it had not been stolen, and life went on.

I asked a few non-NHL playing friends what they would do.

I heard an assortment of answers, most revolving around drinking activities (14 beers fit into the Cup), but the most interesting, and disturbing, idea was "a trip to the strip club."

I don't think Lord Stanley would approve. 

If you gave it to our moms, they'd probably make it into vase with a bouquet of tulips. 

What would you do with the Stanley Cup for a day?

Leslie Bega Maria Sharapova Lindsay Price Zoe Saldana Rachel Perry