The Stanley Cup far outshines the players in the final

	Lord Stanley's famous fruit bowl gets around and overshadows the players who win it, such as Craig Ludwig of the Stars (1999). Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
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The Stanley Cup was on Boston Legal last week. Maybe you caught the episode. The William Shatner character, an eccentric chap named Denny Crane, had purloined the Cup and wanted to have his name engraved on it because, he said, he leant Bobby Orr his "lucky jockstrap" before the incomparable defenseman scored that photographic Cup-winning goal for the Big Bad Bruins against St. Louis in the 1970 final.

Now, there are a couple of avenues for commentary about the Cup cameo on Boston Legal. The most obvious: this was the only way Boston, which last won the Stanley Cup in 1972, is going to get a glimpse of the hallowed hardware anytime soon, but that is way too facile, even for me. Maybe the focus of the gag should be on Shatner, who is only a slightly more animated actor than the Cup itself. Shatner hails from Montreal, which means he should have at least a passing knowledge of the traditions and superstitions surrounding the Cup, including this: It can be touched only by those who win it. By handling the thing on the set, Shatner boldly went where no man has gone before.

Bad jokes and cheap shots aside, it strikes me that the most significant aspect of the marriage of an award-winning TV show and the hard-won Stanley Cup is the timing of it. More specifically, prime time.

Think about it. Sidney Crosby, as a rookie, chatted with Jay Leno. After the New York Rangers won the Cup in 1994, Mark Messier kibitzed with David Letterman. The great Wayne Gretzky hosted Saturday Night Live. Jeremy Roenick and Scott Gomez made cameos on soaps - not as hockey players, incidentally. Three Los Angeles Kings, including current Ranger pot-stirrer Sean Avery, appeared on a Mad TV sketch last fall.

Late night, sure. Daytime, occasionally. But can you think of the last time a hockey player appeared on American network television in prime time in recent years? Me neither.