Walter Cup No Shows Again, This Time in Darkangelo's Hometown
The PWHL's traveling championship replica missed a September 5, 2026 appearance with Shiann Darkangelo in Brighton, Michigan, the second stop it has blown in about two weeks.
Shiann Darkangelo was supposed to spend the morning of September 5, 2026 with the Walter Cup at an Athleta store in Brighton, Michigan, the town where she grew up. The trophy never showed up.
"The Walter Cup did not arrive as expected yesterday, and unfortunately, it will not be at the Athleta event in Brighton today," she wrote on Instagram. "I know many of you were excited to see the cup, and I'm genuinely disappointed that it won't be there."
She went anyway, telling fans she would be at the store from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for photos and hellos.
It was the second missed stop in roughly two weeks. Victoire forward Dara Greig had to postpone her celebration in Lethbridge, Alberta, on Aug. 20 when the Cup went missing in transit. That one surfaced on Aug. 24. This time nobody was searching: a source close to the situation told The Associated Press the league knew where the Cup was on Saturday afternoon, it simply had not been delivered. The same source said the PWHL used the same shipping company it used in August.
The item bouncing between airports is the keeper replica each champion receives to tour with. The original sterling silver Walter Cup, about 24 inches tall and 35 pounds, stays at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
Darkangelo won hers with Montreal in May, when the Victoire beat the Ottawa Charge in Game 4 of the final. She signed a two-year deal in June with the PWHL's new Detroit club, one of four expansion teams stocking rosters this summer, which is how a Montreal trophy ended up booked for a Michigan strip mall.
The scheduled September 5 homecoming ended without the Cup.
