Biz Blogs

Alan Halberstadt

Behind The Scenes With Lord Stanley

Posted July 5, 2010 @ 11:09AM

What a hoot!

Bridget Scheuerman, my wife Susan and I drove to Detroit Metro Airport with Royal Limousine Service owner Jason early Canada Day morning to pick up some real royalty – Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Maggie Durocher, executive director of the Windsor Parade Corporation, asked us to go fetch the cup. Stanley was travelling with Mike Bolt, one of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s four guys with white gloves who escort the most revered trophy in hockey around the world.

We met the 9:35 a.m. flight from Chicago to Detroit, snatched up Stanley and Mike, and sped down I-94 to the tunnel. After stopping for five minutes while the “beyond exhaustion” Mike picked up a case of Canadian and a blast of cologne at duty free, we arrived on the Windsor side to be greeted with a police motorcycle escort. Windsor’s finest turned on all the bells and whistles to lead us down Riverside Drive to the parade staging area at Devonshire and Assumption. We made it around 10:30, half an hour before the beginning of the first Canada Day Parade ever to traverse Wyandotte Street.

Joel Quenneville, coach of the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, was already there, fielding media interviews. When the other Guest of Honour arrived, Joel and Stanley were engulfed by fans of all ages, wanting to touch the cup and take photos of Joel, Stanley, Adam Henrique of the two-time Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires.

Of course, there were plenty of photos taken of Stanley and the Memorial Cup sitting side by side on the back of a convertible.

The parade went off without a hitch, culminated by a ceremony at Fred Thomas Park, behind The Barn, where Joel captained the Spitfires several decades ago. Somebody shouted -- “Joel Quenneville for Mayor.” Windsor’s real Mayor Eddie Francis soon presented him with the key to the city.

I had the opportunity to thank the parade corporation, Bridget who is the co-ordinator of the Wyandotte Towne Centre BIA and the Olde Walkerville BIA, sponsors of the event. Few people can appreciate the toil behind the scenes required to put on one of these.

I also thanked Quenneville for getting the Cup to Windsor on Canada Day. After I got his cell number from Spit coach Bob Bougner, and made the request to him two days after his Stanley Cup triumph, he worked behind the scenes with the stewards of the Cup to make it happen. As thrilled as we were to have him and the Cup here, Joel was equally elated.

Quenneville told CBC Ontario that he was thrilled to bring hockey's holy grail back to Windsor.

"We've got a perfect day today and I think we had a great celebration in Chicago, when we won the Cup for the first time in 49 years," Quenneville said.

"And getting back and seeing some familiar friends here - everybody's excited, everybody's excited about seeing the Cup, and that makes people do amazing things."

I also expressed a debt of gratitude from the stage on Thursday to Mike Bolt for granting this huge favour for Windsor and our native son. Bolt has been in the middle of mobs of adoring fans at multiple Chicago events. After our parade, he and Stanley were whisked to Windsor Airport by 1 p.m. for a flight to his home town of Toronto.

Mike handed the Cup over to another guy in white gloves, who was accompanying Stanley to waiting arms in Saskatchewan the same day. Mike, who has not spent a holiday with his family for years, was looking forward to chilling out with his Molson Canadian. What a welcome relief, he told us, from the watered down brew that passes for beer in the U.S.A.