If you’re thinking, “Hey, it seems like Andrew hasn’t posted in a while“, you wouldn’t be wrong. I haven’t. There are reasons for this (some of them good) and I’ll be addressing that in my regular post on Sunday (is it still a regular post if I haven’t done one in over a month?)

Tonight though, something special could happen. So, please allow me a few minutes of your time to get all nostalgic and sappy.

Since 2003 a day like today has only come around once. If you count 2002 this day has only happened three times in the last 12 years. That may seem common, a leap year happens that often after all, but in my world it’s actually quite special.

You see, on this day in 2002 my wife was 37 weeks pregnant and we were lying in bed watching the Stanley Cup finals. Well, I was watching. I’m pretty sure Jodi was reading a book. At any rate, I don’t have an adult memory of me missing the Stanley Cup presentation at the end of the final game. I watch the winning team’s captain accept The Cup from that weasel shit-for-brains Gary Bettman and then raise it over his head and then plant a big ole kiss on the greatest trophy in all of sports.

On this particular night the Detroit Red Wings won The Cup and captain Steve Yzerman got to drink from Lord Stanley’s mug once again. As soon as he lifted the silver chalice above his head I turned to my wife, patted her on the belly (pausing briefly to see if my soon-to-be daughter would finally give me a kick – she didn’t) and said, “Okay, you can give birth now.“

It would have been funny had she just gone into labour right then, but alas she did not and we went to sleep. She did wake me up at 05:00 though with a gentle, “Andrew, we’re going to have a baby.” To which my reply was, “I know.” (Hey, it was 5am, cut me some slack). She clarified that her water just broke and, while she was not in labour,  that she would be giving birth today one way or another.

Later that day our first child was born. Happy and healthy, with only a couple bruises and a slightly cone shaped head and since June 14, 2002 I have had my very own Stanley Cup. Only once since then has there been a Cup deciding game on June 13th. Back in 2011 it could have happened but they polished it for nothing on that particular evening. Last year there was a game seven scheduled for June 13th – which would have guaranteed the celebrations on the right day but the darn thing was handed out after game six.

Tonight, however, the heavily favoured LA Kings face a disorganized New York Rangers and hold a three games to one lead in the series. The Stanley Cup will be in the building and even though I don’t have television I’ll be huddled around my wife’s cell phone watching on her TV app. If I feel up to it I’ll just pay the three bucks and Air Play it to my TV from my iPhone through the CBC Hockey app. Either way, I’ll be watching.

Regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain: I’ll be waking up tomorrow and giving my little Stanley Cup a great big birthday kiss.

The First Stanley Cup – 1893

My First Stanley Cup – 2002

Update:
It took until after midnight (which is way past my bedtime by the way) and one and a half overtimes but the Kings pulled it off and gave me a cool daddy memory in the process. I’m the only one in the world for which this odd little piece of trivia matters and I’m glad I got to relive experience. So thanks to all those players who were able to make that happen for me.

~ Andrew

P.S.
I did not get up at 05:00 to commemorate the utterance “We’re going to have a baby.”

P.P.S.
I did spring the $3 so I could stream the game from my phone to my Apple TV. The picture was HD quality but the connection was a bit flaky. Also, my phone kept putting itself to sleep every five minutes and the app wouldn’t play when it did that so I had to tap my screen every couple minutes to keep things going.