Stanley Cup is no stranger to damage or rough and tumble adventures
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The Florida Panthers are hardly the first team to play rough with the Stanley Cup.
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A team fights that long and that hard to win it, you deserve a chance to celebrate and though it's made of malleable material (a silver-nickel alloy that can usually be re-shaped) its custodians prefer it be returned in one piece.
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The 6,400 kilometres the Dawson City Nuggets travelled from the Yukon to Ottawa to challenge for the title in January of 1905 was Cup-worthy in itself, though the Ottawa Silver Seven blew out the weary travelers in a best-of-three series.
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After a 23-2 one-sided clincher, the gracious Seven held a banquet for the visitors, with the victorious Bytowners later staggering into the street with their prize. Bets were placed whether one of them could boot the bowl across the Rideau Canal — thankfully frozen over at that time of year — but when it only landed halfway, none of the merrymakers thought to retrieve it.
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Next morning, a player was grateful to find it still there.
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The winning Montreal Canadiens went off to owner Leo Dandurand's home, but the car carrying the trophy had a flat tire. After getting out to fix it, they forgot they had put the trophy at the side of the road.
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Twice the Cup has been allegedly burned, once when the 1940 champion New York Rangers ceremoniously set fire to the paid-off mortgage of original Madison Square Garden and during one of Toronto's championships in the '60s during a team bonfire party.
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THE TOOTH HURTS
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It has been established that the bowl can hold 14 bottles of beer.
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But in 1957, Habs legend Maurice 'Rocket' Richard chipped both of his front teeth while taking an enthusiastic swig.
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Other players have been at a loss for words when asked to describe the taste of beer, champagne and alloy after it's constantly refilled.
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As it sat in a glass case in the lobby of old Chicago Stadium during the '62 playoffs, won the previous year by the Blackhawks, Ken Kilander deftly opened the door, put the Cup on his shoulder and was marching out when arrested.
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