* In 1970 it was stolen from the Hockey Hall of Fame. The story attached to this incident is apocryphal but nonetheless has entered the canon of Cup lore. Who had the Cup was apparently no secret to at least one of the police officers working the case, and he successfully used this knowledge to negotiate for the trophy’s safe return, getting it back a few weeks after it was purloined. However, he needed to deflect suspicion from the parties who handed over the Cup, which meant the return had to have happened on a day when all the participants had valid alibis. The Detective-Sergeant involved accomplished this by feeding the newspapers a tale about awakening one morning a few days after the heist to find the Cup sitting at the edge of his driveway.

* In 1993 some members of the Montreal Canadiens took it for a swim in Patrick Roy’s pool. Thirty-six pounds of silver does not easily master the backstroke, as these Einsteins finally concluded. “The Stanley Cup,” Habs captain Guy Carbonneau said, “does not float.” Too bad they hadn’t thought to ask Mario Lemieux — in 1991 hockey’s grail had reposed at the bottom of his pool after a teammate took a dive with it in his arms.

* In 1996 the Cup was credited with the assist on a goal scored by the stork. The Rileys, a married couple who had been trying to have a baby for fourteen years, had given up hope of having that particular dream fulfilled because the doctors pegged Cheryl Riley’s chances of conceiving somewhere between slim and none. Then Mike Ricci of the Colorado Avalanche brought the Cup to a party attended by Cheryl. On a whim she kissed the Cup. Shortly thereafter she delightedly discovered she was pregnant. By counting backwards she determined she must have conceived somewhere during the weekend she bussed the Cup, if not even that very night. The resulting child was born on 6 May 1997 and christened Stanley C. Gordon Jeff Riley. The “C” stands for “cup.”