Someone Stole the Stanley Cup?

On December fifth, nineteen seventy, Toronto police got a call from the Hockey Hall of Fame letting them know that the Stanley Cup, along with a few other trophies, had been stolen away from the museum and started one of the most useless thefts in history, as the Stanley Cup has no street value. We're going to cover all this and some unique tales about the Standy Cup today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Rees, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge. As today we learned about the nineteen seventy Stanley Cup heist and today's trivia question is when was the first time the Stanley Cup actually got stolen? Now, the Stanley Cup has a long history, but we actually covered how the Stanley Cup got started as it was just a cup donated by Lord Stane of Canada as he loved the game of hockey and wanted to increase his value. And it has kind of grown into a life of its own, and the Standy Cup has become one of the most unique trophies in all those sports because it's kind of like the People's Cup. It goes on tour players and employees of the team that wins it gets a day with it to do whatever they want. They can take it to their hometown. They can have a day just eating out the top of it or drinking out of it. There's so many different things the Stanley Cup has been used for, where other sports trophies are just trophies. They usually don't have a story or a Laura behind them. In nineteen oh five, when the Ottawa Senators tried to kick it over a canal where it got frozen and they couldn't take it until the canal on froze and even I mentioned like players and coaches got to take it. Lester Patrick, who be covered on a previous episode, took the cup home to him and his kids actually etched their names into it and fitdily enough. They would get their names officially put on officially engraved it into the cup in the nineteen forties, but in nineteen sixty two was the first time it got stolen, as the Montreal Canadians had just lost to the Chicago black House the year before, and the Chicago Blackhawks were displaying it at their stadium in a glass display, and a disgruntled fan of the Canadians, Kenneth Kylander decided that during a game he would go in bribe a security guard, pick the lock, and just walk out. And he said it was an April fools Day prank and he actually contacted local sports writers to come take photos of it and everything, and he was actually arrested in charged with disorderly conduct and had to pay a fine of a whopping ten dollars and he was released. But in nineteen seventy was when it really was one of the bigger heist as it's a case that was never solved and really wasn't a high priority to be solved. We'll find out why. It all happened at the Hockey Hall of Fame which is in Toronto, Ontario, and has been there since nineteen fifty eight, and they have inducted over two hundred and ninety nine players, one hundred and fifteen builders, sixteen on ice officials in their storied history and they have different displays of great moments in history, and of course they have the original Stanley Cup. But on December fifth, nineteen seventy, the Stanley Cup was stolen along with the Consmike Trophy, which is given to the most Valuable Player of the Year and these trophies are iconic in NHL, and they were stolen in an attempt for ransom, because a few days later, the police actually got a call from someone saying how much was the cup work? To them, trying to brok her a deal to get a little ransom out of this, but the cops didn't want to negotiate because this wasn't the real Stanley Cup. See, the permanent cup had been on leave going to visit other cities, and this was a replica cup that was just there for the time being. So it was a fake cup and the only way for the robbers to get money from this was if they held it for ransom, and there was no reason for the NHL to pay for the ransom. It wasn't the real trophy, and even if it was, they could just make another trophy. It wasn't something they couldn't replicate, and it's not something you could sell on the black market, as it was obviously stolen. One of a kind. Thing that is stolen is very hard to sell on the black market. You might find a buyer, but they're knowingly buying something stolen, so that limits your options and likely the ransom deal was the only thing they had going for, as the robbers probably weren't thinking that they wouldn't negotiate for this heralded Stanley Cup, which was one of the most valuable things they thought in the country, which it is, but it's the idea around it, not the actual cup. And so after years of not hearing back anything, in nineteen seventy seven, the police got anonymous at call that there would be a missing silverware in the basement of a dry cleaners and they didn't know what they would find, and they went down there there it was the Stanley Cup all alone. Now they investigated a little bit, but they didn't put much stock into it, as it wasn't ah whole lot matter. They got the Stanley Cup back, whoever did it didn't really accomplish what they were wanting to do, and life went on. The NHL went on, the Stanley Cup finals went on. It was like stealing a pack of gum. Why would you investigate and put a whole lot of man time and power into investigating that. And because of this, we don't know what actually happened. We don't know who was all involved. Why these were the only things they stole and what their final goal really was what they were really hoping to do. But the cup was back, they put on own display again and life went on. I know, it's an anti climactic story, I know, but it's not over see. In nineteen seventy seven they would actually get stolen. There was actually another attempt by a group of students trying to steal it as well as they were trying to do a scavenger hunt for the best possible find and they thought the Stanley Cup would be the best thing they could do, and they were eventually arrested and detained for interrogation and eventually released with no charges. But in nineteen seventy nine, a guy the floor who was the former number one overall pay in the NHL, stole the cup and hit it in his trunk of his car following the Stanley Cup parade, and he had it for almost fourteen years, where they used a replica again because it wasn't that big of a deal and Lafour wasn't trying to steal it for anything. He just wanted to have the cup to show it off in his house, and it was actually returned after he had another player come into his house and check it out his trophy room and see the cup was there, and reported it to the NHL, where they were able to get it back. Now it's not only that the cup had been stolen, it's actually been lost a few times. In nineteen twenty four, some Multreal Canadian players had a flat tire on their way home hauling the Stanley Cup, and they had moved some things around in order to change the tire and get moving, and they had accidentally left the cup in a snow bank out there all night, and when they realized they had lost it, they went back and the cup was still sitting there. No one had grabbed it, taken it, or even reported it. So the cup has a unique history. And even though it was a worthwhiless robbery more dangerous and what's t worth. Oftentimes criminals don't think about that. They see something that seems valuable and that's what they take. Luckily, no one was hurt in this whole process. The cup was returned and they were able to get it back, and the NHL went on continue to grow, and the cup continued its story to grow even more as they become even more popular today. And if you want to learn more about some hilarious crimes. Check out Life Laugh, Larceny a Petty, a true petty crime podcast where hosts Amanda and Tevin explore the lighter side of crime where they do dramatizations of real petty crimes that have been done that are over the top and downright funny. As it's cheesy and there are some funny dumb crimes that have been committed. We'll put a link in the description below for you to check them out. And if you enjoyed today's Daily Sports History, please subscribe wherever you're at. That way, you did not miss a single episode, and I want to give you a quick update as the simper, I'm going to just cut back to doing Monday through Thursday shows as the holidays have come up and I've had some family things come up where my son, who I've talked about previously, has a heart condition and his surgery's coming up soon, so thoughts and prayers for him would be gratefully appreciated. But he's requiring a little bit more care and takes a little bit more time away from doing the podcast, which is important to me, but also nothing is more important than family, So I hope you can handle just four days a week, and come back next week for more daily sports history.