Missing Walter Cup Found and Returned to Montreal Victoire
The PWHL says its championship trophy was lost in shipment before a scheduled stop in Alberta and is back with the team.
The Montreal Victoire have their Walter Cup back. The Professional Women's Hockey League announced Monday, Aug. 24, that the championship trophy had been located and returned to the team after being lost in shipment.
The cup was due in Lethbridge, Alberta, on Thursday, Aug. 20, to spend the day with Victoire forward Dara Greig, who had a public event planned at the city's VisitLethbridge.com Arena. It never showed up. A shipping container reached the city, but it was not the one the league had loaded the trophy into, and Greig postponed her day with the cup, according to cbc.ca.
The following day the league told The Associated Press that the trophy "did not arrive as expected at its latest stop" and said it was "working closely with the shipping company to locate it," per cbc.ca.
The PWHL offered little detail when it confirmed the recovery. It has not said where the cup turned up or how it was misplaced. The league thanked "everyone who helped track it down and to our fans for their concern and support," per cbc.ca.
"Turns out, even the Walter Cup can have a little off-season adventure," the PWHL said. "We're looking forward to the Victoire continuing their celebrations alongside their cup."
What went astray was the Victoire's keeper cup, the replica a PWHL champion is given to hold onto. The trophy handed to players on the ice is housed permanently at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Like that original, the team's copy is sterling silver and designed by Tiffany & Co., weighing roughly 16 kilograms and measuring about 61 centimetres in height and 33 centimetres in width, cbc.ca reported.
Unlike the NHL, which assigns a person to travel with the Stanley Cup when it goes on the road to be with players, the PWHL has no such dedicated escort for its trophy, cbc.ca reported.
Montreal took the title in May by beating Ottawa in Game 4 of a best-of-five series, becoming the first Canadian club to win the Walter Cup. Minnesota had claimed the league's first two championships. The trophy carries the name of Mark Walter, the PWHL's founder and primary financier, along with that of his wife, Kimbra.
