from Bryan Burns of TampaBayLightning.com,

With COVID restrictions continuing, there are sure to be more non-traditional ways of celebrating with the Stanley Cup for the Lightning this offseason.

Pritchard is one of five people who guard and protect and shuttle the Cup from one place to the next. Pritchard was in the Edmonton bubble at the conclusion of the Cup Final - two of the southernmost teams in the NHL contesting the final in the League's northernmost city -- and carried the Cup along with Craig Campbell onto the ice before resting it on a table for the trophy presentation after the Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars in six games. He flew back to Tampa on the Bolts team charter, witnessed each player high-fiving Lightning owner Jeff Vinik as they deplaned, saw the emotional reunion of players, coaches and staff with their families on the tarmac following the lengthy postseason run spent entirely away from home.

Pritchard will switch off with other Cup Keepers based on geography. For example, if the Cup's going west, he can rendezvous with another Cup Keeper in a connecting city and hand it over.

This year, there won't be as many Cup Keepers because some of the guys only work in the summer. "They teach sports in schools, so they're not available," Pritchard said. This being 2020, the Stanley Cup was presented to the Lightning September 28, more than three months after it would typically be awarded. The Lightning organization will get to keep the Cup through October, November and December ahead of the NHL's targeted start date of January 1 for the 2020-21 season.

read on