Dallas Drake might not have been the biggest name on the 2008 Detroit Red Wings roster, but he played his part on the Stanley Cup–winning team. Now, he reveals what happened to the Cup during the Red Wings’ first night of celebration…
Dallas Drake, born in 1969, was drafted in the sixth round by the Detroit Red Wings in 1989. He made his debut for Detroit in the 1992–93 season. The following year, he was traded to the Winnipeg Jets. After his time in Winnipeg, Drake played for the Phoenix Coyotes and the St. Louis Blues before returning to Detroit ahead of the 2007–08 season.
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Star-studded roster
Drake joined a star-studded roster featuring Henrik Zetterberg, Chris Chelios, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Pavel Datsyuk. Together, the team went on to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games in the Stanley Cup Final. As tradition has it, the Red Wings brought the Cup with them to celebrate their victory. But things didn’t go quite as planned.
Broke the Stanley Cup in half
Appearing on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Drake shared what happened to the trophy that night:
“We did break the Stanley Cup in half. The first night we had it, we broke it completely in half. We had it at the bar—I think it was Jiri Hudler who had it—and he was standing on top of the bar. He was a puddle, and he slipped, and away it went. It was in half. It was like, one guy had one half and one guy had the other half. They ran it down to the rink and soldered it back together. Just pieced it back together. It’s not the one that’s sitting in the Hall of Fame, it’s not the real one they give you anyway. But yeah, we broke it in half. It didn’t last very long.”
You can watch the clip below.
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