| ARTICLES |
| DEADMARSH'S STANLY CUP MISSPELLED SURPRISE Evan Weiner | NHL.com correspondent | 05/16/07 |
The final payoff for winning a Stanley Cup is for a player to get his name engraved on the grand, old trophy. It’s the culmination of a
dream that started as a youngster of maybe 2-, 3- or 6-years-old on a frozen pond in Canada, or on a rink in Southern California or
somewhere in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden or Russia.
The Anaheim Ducks are currently celebrating their 2007 championship, with each player and coach getting a day to spend with the
Cup. But, pretty soon, it will be that time of year when a part owner of Montreal’s Boffey Promotions, Louise St. Jacques, hammers
individuals letters into the Cup and “engraves” the names of those who just went through a long regular season and four rounds of the
playoffs and came out on top. The Cup finally gets a rest from its long summer travels and gets updated and the players anxiously wait
for the alterations because they will finally see their names on the lower ring of the Cup.
Here’s a word of advice for Anaheim Ducks players; carefully check the spelling of the names on the Cup because Boffey’s stampers
aren’t always perfect.
Just ask Adam Deadmarsh.
Deadmarsh was the Quebec Nordiques’ top pick in the 1993 Draft, taken 14th overall, and was a big part of the Colorado Avalanche
1995-96 Stanley Cup championship run. During the regular season, the 20-year-old right wing had 21 goals and 27 assists and gave
the Avalanche needed toughness. In the playoffs, Deadmarsh had a strong run with five goals and 12 assists in 22 games. So
Deadmarsh was not a guy who lacked credentials to get his name spelled correctly on the Cup.
Those on the 2006-07 Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks need to be reminded of Deadmarsh and his Stanley Cup tale because
it could happen to them. Deadmarsh was somewhat startled to see the spelling of his name on the Cup when Avalanche players
finally got to see the Cup prior to the 1996-97 Stanley Cup banner ceremony in Denver. Deadmarsh became Deadmarch and that
caused a little problem. The name was misspelled.
“Definitely growing up in Canada, I think it’s the dream of every youngster (to win the Cup and carry it on ice and see their name on the
trophy) and they spelled it wrong,” Deadmarsh chuckled about the first time he saw the Cup. “It was kind of funny at first and it was a
big joke and then we started thinking of it and we were, gee, we are wondering are the going to fix that? It was kind of frustrating at first.
“They spelled it with a ‘ch’ at the end instead of an ‘sh’ and it gave me a new nickname on the team, Dead March instead of
Deadmarsh. I guess that kind of stuff happens if someone spells your name wrong on the Cup.”
Deadmarsh wasn’t alone in that many players and even teams previously had their names misspelled, but he is unique in that his
became the first misspelled name that was corrected by St. Jacques. However, it’s quite obvious to anyone who has laid eyes on Lord
Stanley’s trophy that the mistake was made. But St. Jacques, who has had busy summers since 1989, not only engraves the Cup, she
also creates the 13-inch replica Cups given to players and other team officials. In 1994, she also created a replica of the Cup so that
Hockey Hall of Fame visitors can see a Cup should the traveling Cup be on tour.
“Yeah, they did a pretty good job, but you can tell it’s been fixed, but the effort was there,” said Deadmarsh of the correction. “I don’t
know (how you fix the mistake), they did a good job on it, they just stamped a C over the S. I think they might have grinded it down a bit, I
don’t know what they did, but I am glad they did fix it.”
Deadmarsh and his teammates started to really take a good look at the Cup and see if there were other mistakes and sure enough,
Deadmarsh and his Colorado mates did find some misspellings which made him feel a little bit better.
“Actually after we’d seen that, we looked around to see if we could find any others. There are one or two others that guys pointed out,
so I didn’t feel so bad,” said Deadmarsh. “There are a few X’s on there, I guess worse has happened.”
What they found was interesting. The 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers panel has one named completely X’d out. Oilers owner Peter
Pocklington decided to put his father’s name on the Cup after his. The problem was that Basil Pocklington had nothing to do with the
hockey team and the NHL ordered his name off the Cup. Today, the name has X’s on it.
The New York Islanders 1980-81 panel looks fine until the word “Ilanders” appears. That mistake was never corrected.
In 2002, Detroit Red Wings goaltender Manny Legace became Manny Lagace. That mistake was corrected.
In 1929, Boston Bruins player-coach Cy Denneny is featured twice in the Bruins panel, once as coach and once as a player. The panel
features two spellings of Denneny’s name, one correctly and the other as Cy Dennenny.
Carl Poul Peterson took over as the engraver in 1947. In 1952, he missed on two members of the Detroit Red Wings. Coach Tommy
Ivan is listed as Nivan and Alex Delvecchio became Alex Belvecchio.
In 1964, the Toronto Maple “Leaes” won the Cup.
In 1972, the “Bqstqn” Bruins took home Lord Stanley’s mug.
Montreal’s Jacques Plante was a great goaltender but Peterson, who was engraving his name into the Stanley Cup, failed to take
notice. His name is misspelled five times.
In 1975, Montreal’s Bob Gainey became Bob Gainy.
The 1996 triumph was the only Cup victory for Deadmarsh, who wound up in Los Angeles in February 2001 as part of a deal that sent
Rob Blake to the Avalanche. Deadmarsh would help lead the Kings to an upset victory against the Detroit Red Wings in the opening
round of the 2001 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the Kings ended up losing in the next round to Deadmarsh’s former Colorado teammates.
The Avalanche would go onto win the Cup. Deadmarsh retired in September 2005 because of two concussions.
“I don’t think it was that big a deal,” Deadmarsh said of the misspelling. “At the time, I was kind of disappointing because you always
dream of having your name on there and when they spell it wrong, its kind of shocker but they fixed it. They fixed it and now its over
with.”
dream that started as a youngster of maybe 2-, 3- or 6-years-old on a frozen pond in Canada, or on a rink in Southern California or
somewhere in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden or Russia.
The Anaheim Ducks are currently celebrating their 2007 championship, with each player and coach getting a day to spend with the
Cup. But, pretty soon, it will be that time of year when a part owner of Montreal’s Boffey Promotions, Louise St. Jacques, hammers
individuals letters into the Cup and “engraves” the names of those who just went through a long regular season and four rounds of the
playoffs and came out on top. The Cup finally gets a rest from its long summer travels and gets updated and the players anxiously wait
for the alterations because they will finally see their names on the lower ring of the Cup.
Here’s a word of advice for Anaheim Ducks players; carefully check the spelling of the names on the Cup because Boffey’s stampers
aren’t always perfect.
Just ask Adam Deadmarsh.
Deadmarsh was the Quebec Nordiques’ top pick in the 1993 Draft, taken 14th overall, and was a big part of the Colorado Avalanche
1995-96 Stanley Cup championship run. During the regular season, the 20-year-old right wing had 21 goals and 27 assists and gave
the Avalanche needed toughness. In the playoffs, Deadmarsh had a strong run with five goals and 12 assists in 22 games. So
Deadmarsh was not a guy who lacked credentials to get his name spelled correctly on the Cup.
Those on the 2006-07 Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks need to be reminded of Deadmarsh and his Stanley Cup tale because
it could happen to them. Deadmarsh was somewhat startled to see the spelling of his name on the Cup when Avalanche players
finally got to see the Cup prior to the 1996-97 Stanley Cup banner ceremony in Denver. Deadmarsh became Deadmarch and that
caused a little problem. The name was misspelled.
“Definitely growing up in Canada, I think it’s the dream of every youngster (to win the Cup and carry it on ice and see their name on the
trophy) and they spelled it wrong,” Deadmarsh chuckled about the first time he saw the Cup. “It was kind of funny at first and it was a
big joke and then we started thinking of it and we were, gee, we are wondering are the going to fix that? It was kind of frustrating at first.
“They spelled it with a ‘ch’ at the end instead of an ‘sh’ and it gave me a new nickname on the team, Dead March instead of
Deadmarsh. I guess that kind of stuff happens if someone spells your name wrong on the Cup.”
Deadmarsh wasn’t alone in that many players and even teams previously had their names misspelled, but he is unique in that his
became the first misspelled name that was corrected by St. Jacques. However, it’s quite obvious to anyone who has laid eyes on Lord
Stanley’s trophy that the mistake was made. But St. Jacques, who has had busy summers since 1989, not only engraves the Cup, she
also creates the 13-inch replica Cups given to players and other team officials. In 1994, she also created a replica of the Cup so that
Hockey Hall of Fame visitors can see a Cup should the traveling Cup be on tour.
“Yeah, they did a pretty good job, but you can tell it’s been fixed, but the effort was there,” said Deadmarsh of the correction. “I don’t
know (how you fix the mistake), they did a good job on it, they just stamped a C over the S. I think they might have grinded it down a bit, I
don’t know what they did, but I am glad they did fix it.”
Deadmarsh and his teammates started to really take a good look at the Cup and see if there were other mistakes and sure enough,
Deadmarsh and his Colorado mates did find some misspellings which made him feel a little bit better.
“Actually after we’d seen that, we looked around to see if we could find any others. There are one or two others that guys pointed out,
so I didn’t feel so bad,” said Deadmarsh. “There are a few X’s on there, I guess worse has happened.”
What they found was interesting. The 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers panel has one named completely X’d out. Oilers owner Peter
Pocklington decided to put his father’s name on the Cup after his. The problem was that Basil Pocklington had nothing to do with the
hockey team and the NHL ordered his name off the Cup. Today, the name has X’s on it.
The New York Islanders 1980-81 panel looks fine until the word “Ilanders” appears. That mistake was never corrected.
In 2002, Detroit Red Wings goaltender Manny Legace became Manny Lagace. That mistake was corrected.
In 1929, Boston Bruins player-coach Cy Denneny is featured twice in the Bruins panel, once as coach and once as a player. The panel
features two spellings of Denneny’s name, one correctly and the other as Cy Dennenny.
Carl Poul Peterson took over as the engraver in 1947. In 1952, he missed on two members of the Detroit Red Wings. Coach Tommy
Ivan is listed as Nivan and Alex Delvecchio became Alex Belvecchio.
In 1964, the Toronto Maple “Leaes” won the Cup.
In 1972, the “Bqstqn” Bruins took home Lord Stanley’s mug.
Montreal’s Jacques Plante was a great goaltender but Peterson, who was engraving his name into the Stanley Cup, failed to take
notice. His name is misspelled five times.
In 1975, Montreal’s Bob Gainey became Bob Gainy.
The 1996 triumph was the only Cup victory for Deadmarsh, who wound up in Los Angeles in February 2001 as part of a deal that sent
Rob Blake to the Avalanche. Deadmarsh would help lead the Kings to an upset victory against the Detroit Red Wings in the opening
round of the 2001 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the Kings ended up losing in the next round to Deadmarsh’s former Colorado teammates.
The Avalanche would go onto win the Cup. Deadmarsh retired in September 2005 because of two concussions.
“I don’t think it was that big a deal,” Deadmarsh said of the misspelling. “At the time, I was kind of disappointing because you always
dream of having your name on there and when they spell it wrong, its kind of shocker but they fixed it. They fixed it and now its over
with.”
| Adam Deadmarsh was surprised to find that his name had been misspelled on the Stanley Cup. |
| There have been numerous misspellings engraved onto the Stanley Cup over the years. Some mistakes have been corrected while others still remain. |