Apparently the Stanley Cup went missing last week

No one wants to deal with checking luggage for a trip, especially international travel with multiple layovers. Who knows if all of your baggage will make it to every destination? What happens if Air Canada or Lufthansa or whoever doesn’t put your suitcase in the luggage hold?

Flying from Novosibirsk to Moscow to Munich to Toronto is quite the haul for anyone, but it turned into a slog for the keeper of the Cup, Phil Prichard:

Long story short, Vladimir Tarasenko spent his day celebrating in Novosibirsk and then had to hand over the Stanley Cup to Bill Armstrong for his day a couple of days later.

Armstrong was ready for a long day with his family and the Stanley Cup. The Cup, on the other hand, was still in Munich.

“Missing” is a bit of a strong word for what happened. “Travel nightmare” is a bit more spot on. Armstrong’s day didn’t turn out the way he wanted to, but all’s well that ends well.

Over at The Athletic (subscription required), Jeremy Rutherford recounts the trials and tribulations of Prichard, the Cup, and poor Bill Armstrong.

“At the Novosibirsk airport, Tarasenko had people there, so they made sure it got on,” Pritchard said. “When we got to Moscow, we were told it’s on. We didn’t see the Cup, but we saw the case. So everything went well in Moscow, and everything went well when we arrived in Munich. We had to get it off (the airplane) because we had to clear customs, so we had the Cup with us. We rechecked it, and for some reason, it didn’t get on the flight from Munich to Toronto.”

I’m more than a little confused at this level of oversight. I get missing normal luggage. It’s not something that you want to happen, but you can see how it does.

The Stanley Cup is a very large trophy and with the case it weighs about 90 pounds. It’s also the most famous trophy in professional sports.

In an airport.

Who knew that the keeper of the Cup would have the same problems as a family coming home from a European vacation?