2023-09-14 16:02:00
TORONTO – The Stanley Cup is heading to the Southern Hemisphere for the first time.
The Cup will accompany the Arizona Coyotes on their charter plane on Saturday for a 15 and a half hour flight of nearly 13,000 kilometers between Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia.
She will make appearances at various events over the course of a week, including two preseason games between the Coyotes and the Los Angeles Kings at Rod Laver Arena as part of the 2023 NHL Global Series – Melbourne.
“She never went south of the equator, which is pretty extraordinary, especially in this day and age,” said Phil Pritchard, vice-president of the Hockey Hall of Fame, but also known as the goalie of the Cut.
By “extraordinary,” Pritchard means it’s surprising the Cup never went there, even though the NHL never took its product there either.
St. Louis Blues forward Nathan Walker is considered the first Australian to play in the NHL. He was born in Cardiff, Wales, but grew up in Sydney, Australia, where he began playing hockey.
He recorded 27 points (13 goals, 14 assists) in 111 career games with the Washington Capitals, Edmonton Oilers and St. Louis Blues, including 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 56 games with the Blues last season. He lifted the Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2018, but his name was not included on the trophy.
The Cup is more than the trophy awarded to NHL champions. She is an ambassador for hockey.
She has traveled to 31 countries in the Northern Hemisphere – to Afghanistan to visit military personnel, to China and Japan for NHL events and even to Mexico and the Bahamas.
Hockey is played in many other places around the world. The International Ice Hockey Federation (FIHG) has 83 national associations, including Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa in the Southern Hemisphere.
The sport has a modest presence in Australia, with 6,150 players and 20 arenas according to the FIHG. Men rank 35th in the world; women at the 31st level. But the history of hockey there dates back to the early 1900s. The country has been a member of the FIHG since 1938, and there is a semi-professional league there.
The Hockey Hall of Fame has various Australian hockey artifacts in its archives, such as the Goodall Cup, the oldest trophy still in use outside of North America, an Australia jersey worn in the wake of the 1960 Olympics, the year of the country’s only participation in ice hockey at the Winter Games, and sticks decorated with Aboriginal art.
Pritchard has seen Australia compete internationally, but he has never been to the southern hemisphere either. He is looking forward to seeing his daughter, Brady, who studied at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and lives in Melbourne. He is also looking forward to acting as a Cup chaperone with his colleague Howie Borrow.
“I want to see people’s reaction, meet them and have the opportunity to talk to them,” he said.
He hopes the Global Series will contribute to the development of hockey in Australia.
“I think it will be very exciting for the fans there and even for those who don’t know much regarding the sport,” he added. They will see a sport that is very fast and electrifying. Hopefully we will create new hockey fans. »
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