ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Stanley Cup is just about finished making the rounds in St. Louis before it goes off on an annual world tour, spending one day, with every member of the St. Louis Blues Stanley Cup Championship team.
"I just started with a Google Map of all the towns they wanted to take it to," Otto says. "And then we tried to make it as efficent as possible so we could get it from place to place without spending too much time at an airport, because the more time it's in an airport, the less time it is with people getting pictures with it."
Tyler Bozak says he's going home to Saskatchewan to "enjoy it with family and friends." Robert Thomas and Sammy Blais, like most players, also say they're taking it to visit family, but some are taking it on golf trips with multiple teammates. The Blues have players and coaches who are from Canada, Russia and Sweden, who will likely be taking it to their home towns.
One of the Keeper's of the Cup who will be with it for all of its travels, Howie Borrow tells KMOX that after visiting the players in July and August, the Cup will return to Montreal in September, so the Blues' names can be engraved on it. The entire process takes more than a week to complete and must be ready by the start of the regular season on Oct. 2.
Borrow says about five names per day are engraved, one letter at a time being meticulous placed among the decades of previous champions.
Louise St. Jacques has engraved the names on the Stanley Cup since 1988. She is only the fourth person to have that job since the tradition began in 1924.
The Blues' names will stay on the Cup for 64 years, until their ring is full of names and must be removed to make room for the next ring.