Stanley Cup travels

It was after midnight at Muldoon’s Irish Pub, but the crowd had no intention of hitting the road.

As Friday night turned to Saturday morning, customers packed the Newport Beach restaurant and bar in the hopes of seeing one man — and one tall, glistening silver trophy.

The anticipation ended when Anaheim Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger arrived with the Stanley Cup, having gained possession of his team’s trophy for 24 hours. Muldoon’s staff members placed the 3-foot cup on top of one of the tables and roped it off, while Ducks fans peered in for a look at the oldest championship prize in professional sports.

“It’s sort of the Holy Grail,” said Richard Kaplan, the special events director for Muldoon’s. “People are just drawn to it.”

Since the Ducks won the National Hockey League championship June 6, each player on the team — along with coaches and front-office staff — has been given control of the Stanley Cup for one entire day and night.

Most players, when their time comes, opt to take it out in public. In the last month, the trophy has made a number of stops in Newport-Mesa — at Fashion Island on June 16, at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on July 11 and at Muldoon’s on July 21.

“It’s pretty much up to them. The standard answer is they get 24 hours with the cup sometime during the summer, however it works scheduling-wise,” said Lauren O’Gorman, media coordinator for the ducks. “Some of the veterans get it maybe for a little more than 24 hours.”

The cup was up in Canada while members of the Ducks celebrated at the Blue Beet Café Thursday night, but it’s scheduled to be back in town Sunday.

O’Gorman said the trophy would be on display by the pier in Huntington Beach before the U.S. Open of Surfing.

To read an online journal of the Stanley Cup’s travels this summer, visit https://www.hhof.com/html/exSCJ_main.shtml.