Monday, September 1, 2008

Used Pontoon Boats - Pontoon Boats showcase NHL's Stanley Cup

Montreal native and Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock watches the game from behind the bench. The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 2008. Photograph by : Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Hi gang, Rick Ostler here from North American Waterway bringing you Used Pontoon Boats along with news and views from the boating industry. Pontoon Boats carrying priceless cargo, "Lord Stanley's Cup".

Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said his experience with the Stanley Cup was a personal dream come true."It was fantastic," he told me. "I got a day in Saskatoon, where I grew up, to share it with the kids and the hospital, fire department, police department, that kind of thing, and then had a private party that evening (a barn dance).

"The next day, I took it to my lake home for a family function with my family and my wife's family. That was an excellent time as well."That was also fun for Babcock's children, who had a special breakfast treat on the deck.

"There's nothing like eating Corn Puffs out of the Stanley Cup," his son Taylor boasts on the nhl.com video. "Being a Canadian, the Stanley Cup is something amazing," Babcock said.

"I took it over to my neighbour's place and set it on his table. He said that spot will never be washed. It's a special, special, special thing, and to be able to share it with your friends and family and the people you live around is something I'll never forget."

Babcock will also never forget a special boat ride he took with Stanley to wrap up his time with the Cup.

"Every summer when I'm at the lake, there's a young kid who bagpipes around the lake with his grandfather once a summer or twice a summer," Babcock said. "And I always said that if I won the Cup, I'd get Jeff to bagpipe the Cup around, and that's what we did."

The ceremony started with about 80 family members on five or six pontoon boats going around the lake with the Cup while the youngster played the bagpipes.

"By the time we were done, we had 58 boats following us," Babcock said. "It was unbelievable. It was a beautiful night, the sun was going down . . . it was just spectacular. It's something I'll always remember."

Zukerman says he will never forget the last sip of beer he took from the Cup before returning to Montreal.

"At the end of the night, I ate some chips and I was thirsty," recalled Zukerman, who had already had two or three sips from the Cup earlier in the evening.

"The Cup was there and there was no one near it . . . everyone was sitting around the bonfire. I was standing by the Cup and there was Phil Pritchard (the white-gloved 'keeper of the Cup') and I just leaned over to take another sip and he tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Pearl, you know the rule.' "

Apparently, there is a rule that you can only drink from the Cup if it is poured for you by someone from the winning team.

"So I flagged Babcock down and he came over and tipped it over and I had another sip," Zukerman said. "I'm not even a big beer fan normally, but it tasted great. It tasted special."

It's a taste most Montreal hockey fans have almost forgotten. Thanks to; Montrealers enjoy a sweet sip from Stanley

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