Name: Cheryl-Anne Riley
Occupation: Semi-retired hockey fan
It was August 1, 1996 just after the Colorado Avalanche had won professional sport’s most coveted trophy.
The team’s centerman Mike Ricci brought the Stanley Cup to his lakeside cottage in Haliburton, Ontario where we happen to live just across the lake. That summer my husband Ken had worked on Ricci’s newly built cottage. So when Mike invited some folks over to see The Cup we excitedly joined the group.
It arrived with its own personal handler in a stretch white limousine! About 30 people gathered to see The Cup and many were posing for photographs with the trophy, which was situated on the tailgate of a pickup truck! It was all very exciting, and so kind of Mike and his wife Beth to allow the neighbours to invade their privacy for such a close-up-and-personal visit. Mike was kind enough to come out to talk to some of the kids. It was a great.
The Cup is beautiful, so polished and shiny. I asked the handler if I could kiss it and he agreed that it was okay. My husband took a picture.
We didn’t stay too long afterwards and enjoyed the rest of the day on the beach with our friends and neighbours who also had been to see The Cup. We all enjoyed talking about it for months afterward.
But for Ken and I the most exciting part came nine months later; in fact some people called it a miracle. You see, when I was 16 I was told I’d never have children. It’s a long story but it had to do with a drug my mother was given to prevent miscarriages. So at the age of 41 I had long since resigned myself to the fact that I’d never be a mother. Ken and I had accepted the fact that we were not going to be parents.
We never dreamed on that August day that kissing the Stanley Cup would bring magic and a memory to last a lifetime into our lives! A beautiful, wonderful, magical journey that lasted nine months and brought us the most precious gift anyone could ever receive. A beautiful healthy baby boy arrived after a wonderful pregnancy that I never thought possible. There is magic in that Stanley Cup… and the baby’s name? Stanley C of course!Â
He's now studying electrical engineering at Carlton University in Ottawa and has been a hockey referee for four years.
