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'The cup floats really good'

Stars put three-inch mystery dent in Stanley Cup

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Posted: Wednesday July 07, 1999 10:42 PM

Who me? According to a member of the rock band Pantera, Guy Carbonneau damaged the Cup by throwing it off a balcony into the pool below. Ian Tomlinson/Allsport

DALLAS (AP) -- The Dallas Stars apparently can be just as damaging off the ice as on.

Shortly after the Stars won the NHL championship in a heart-stopping triple-overtime game against the Buffalo Sabres, the 106-year-old Stanley Cup championship trophy ended up with a roughly three-inch ding in its metal base.

How the cup got bent isn't clear, though some people think they know.

Larry Kelly, Stars spokesman, said he believes the dent -- which has since been repaired -- happened when the cup was accidentally dropped or banged in the locker room after the victory on June 20.

Yet another theory being passed around is that the cup was dropped while being carried at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport after the team's return from Buffalo.

But Vinnie Paul, drummer for the Dallas-area rock band Pantera, told the Texas Journal of The Wall Street Journal that he knows exactly how it happened.

"It really got dented when Guy Carbonneau threw it off my balcony into my pool," Paul said, referring to the Stars' 39-year-old center. Carbonneau did not make a clean shot, Paul said. "It's his fault, Mr. Hockey himself."

Stars defenseman Craig Ludwig said he and the team, arriving at Paul's house with roughly 200 people the night after the big game, hauled the cup into the drummer's home.

Stars' players have built a relationship with the members of Pantera, which recorded what many consider the team's theme song.

Ludwig agrees that Carbonneau threw the cup into the pool, but he isn't willing to say the toss actually caused the dent.

Carbonneau, however, is crying foul. He said he didn't throw the cup toward the pool and doesn't know if anyone else did, for that matter.

"It wasn't me," he said. "I didn't see anyone doing it."

Paul skates over some of the party's details. But he says that because Hockey Hall of Fame regulations don't allow the cup to enter certain establishments, like the topless bar he co-owns, "we treated it to a few lap dances at my house."

Of course, a little rough treatment from victorious hockey players is nothing new for Lord Stanley's Cup, which has recovered from many previous dents. And not all of Paul's story can be independently corroborated.

The Hall of Fame says the security official who accompanied the cup that night can't comment on such activities.

As for how the trophy handled being in the pool, Paul said, "The cup floats really good, till you get two or three people on it."

 

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