Vote Now, Vote Often For Your Favorite Championship Team And NHL Player

The accolades and awards just keep on coming for the Vegas Golden Knights. So, vote now, and vote often, for the Vegas Golden Knights and Jonathan Marchessault in The 2023 ESPY Awards presented by ESPN.

It sure is nice to live and work in a Stanley Cup-winning city. We now get to vote for the team we love. In this manner, we can help them win another prestigious award. The Vegas Golden Knights are nominated in the “Best Team” category at this year’s ESPY Awards.

Sure, they did lose the first game of the playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets in dismal fashion. That was tough to watch. But these guys turned it on after that. They lost only five more times in the next 21 Stanley Cup Playoff games. That’s quite a run! And furthermore, we were proud to see them win the Cup as a team. Their recipe for success includes rolling four forward lines and three defensive pairings throughout the playoffs.

The Golden Knights are up against some tough competition in the “Best Team” ESPY Awards category. The nominees include the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, who are one of the leading vote-getters at this point. Additionally, there’s the NBA Champion Denver Nuggets and the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. You can vote for your favorite by clicking here.

Jonathan Marchessault is the proud winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy for being the Most Valuable Player in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He is now in the running to win the 2023 ESPY Award for “Best NHL Player.” He deserves the nomination. According to an article on NHL.com, he’s one of the top scorers in all playoff stats. He ties for first in total playoff goals. He leads the league in plus/minus. In addition, he is second in overall points during the playoffs.

Once again, “Marchy” is up against tough competition in the “Best NHL Player” category. Superstar Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers will most likely win. Forward David Pastrnak and goalie Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins are also in the running. However, maybe we can all band together and get Marchessault over the top to win this ESPY Award to add to his trophy case. That sure would be nice!

The ESPY Awards will be broadcast live on ABC-TV on Wednesday, July 12th at 5pm Pacific Time.

You would think that would warrant a special level of respect from those who get to touch it. Well, that's not always the case. The Stanley Cup has been through some questionable things. Some intentional, some just through neglect.

First of all, it's the oldest existing award given to a professional sports franchise. The first cup being awarded in 1893, and professional hockey vying for it since 1906. Secondly, the Stanley Cup is the only professional sports championship trophy that doesn't get remade every year. Other sports will make a new trophy to give to the winning team to keep. The Stanley Cup, on the other hand, is the same cup for every championship.

Every year, the names of the winning team and players get engraved on a ring of the cup. And when the cup gets too tall, older rings are taken off and put into Lord Stanley's Vault in the Esso Great Hall in Toronto's Hockey Hall of Fame. This happens traditionally every 13 years.

That's not to say there's nothing to show for the team who wins the cup. A replica is made for the team to display in their arena. It looks the same, though it's shorter than the original. The original cup is kept in the Hockey Hall of Fame. But first, every player on the winning team gets to keep it for 24 hours. A tradition started in 1993.

What's cool about the same cup being used every year is that winning teams and players get to see their names engraved next to those of their heroes. To date, there are more than 2,200 names on the cup (nhl.com). Some of them duplicate names as some players have won multiple times.

So much history in one artifact. Definitely something to be gently handled and cared for. Right? Well...not always. Here are some of the craziest things the Stanley Cup has been through. - Wendy Rush

I used to think being baptized in a swimming pool made me unique. This baby has me beat. Sylvain Lefebvre baptized his daughter, Jade, in the Stanley Cup after he won in 1996. What a story to tell!

After winning with the New York Rangers in 1994, Eddie Olczyk took the Stanley Cup to the Kentucky Derby and let the winning horse eat oats out of it. Which is kind of poetic, in a kind of way.

Mike Bolt is the keeper of the Stanley Cup. His whole job is to be like the cup's secret service. In 2007, Bolt took the cup to the war in Afghanistan to encourage the troops. While in the shower in the barracks, alarms went of signaling the base was under missile attack. Bolt thought it was a drill, so he didn't take cover. Luckily he nor the cup were hurt!

Kris Draper won the cup in 1998 with Detroit. He thought it was a cute idea to put his infant daughter in the cup. Who then proceeded to use it as a toilet. Not cool, baby. Not cool. Sadly, this isn't the only time this has happened. Red Kelly's kid also went in the cup. Maybe we just stop putting babies in the thing already. 

Mount Elbert is the highest summit in the Rocky Mountains. When the Colorado Avalanche won the cup in 2001, their Director of Finance Mark Waggoner took the cup all the way to the top. That's over 14,000 feet!

In 1987, Mark Messier took the cup to his favorite strip club, where it allegedly got its first lap dance. This is a rumor, but it's also never been denied by Messier.

Martin Broduer has two Stanley Cup wins to his name. In both 2000 and 2003. After one of those wins, he took the cup back to his hometown and played a game of street hockey with some folks. And he let the winning team hoist the cup in victory. How cool would that be for a small town Saturday?!?

When he was with the Penguins, Mario Lemieux won the cup two consecutive years, in 1991 and 1992. During his 24 hour custody of the cup, he threw a house party and the cup ended up in the pool.

Peter Forsberg won the cup in both 1996 and 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche. In 1996, he took the cup to Sweden, the first time it had ever been overseas. It's been overseas many times since.

One of the times Mark Messier won the cup, he took it out clubbing with his friends. And like all of us after a night of hard drinking, the cup needed repairs the next day due to being damaged.

This one might tick off those who love hockey but hate animals. Clark Gillies put dog food in the Stanley Cup and let his fur baby eat from it. I guess that's one way to celebrate...

After winning the cup in 2002, Luc Robitaille took it to Universal Studios Hollywood where it got to ride a roller coaster.

Maurice Richard, who won the cup with the Canadiens in 1955, tried to drink from it and ended up chipping two of his teeth. His two front teeth, to be exact. Hockey player - 0, Stanley Cup - 1.

Claude Lemieux took the Stanley Cup on the Howard Stern show in 1995. While on air, the always pranking Lemieux pretended to use the cup as a toilet. And fans were not happy about that little show of disrespect.

When the Pittsburgh Penguin's won the cup in 2009, Sidney Crosby took it to the lake. He put it on his jet ski and, through the pleading of the Hockey Hall of Fame, even put a life jacket on it, just in case.

Larry Martino is the long-time afternoon drive personality on 96.3 KKLZ. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of Larry Martino and not necessarily those of Beasley Media Group, LLC.

Follow us: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram