For more than a hundred years, the Stanley Cup has served a purpose beyond the ice, becoming a symbolic cradle for the children of champions. In 1916, the son of Canadiens legend Georges Vezina, Marcel “Stanley” Vezina, was photographed perched in the trophy, inaugurating a ritual that endures to this day.
A Century-Old Tradition
The tradition re‑emerged in the modern era, when Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Stan Neckar recalled the pride of seeing his one‑year‑old son Ty Neckar seated in the Cup after the 2004 championship. Decades later, Jack Johnson’s three children were baptized in the trophy after he captured his first Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche, and Blake Coleman’s daughter Carson, just three weeks old, was nestled into the bowl following the Lightning’s back‑to‑back titles in 2021.
Each image freezes a fleeting moment, yet the stories behind them reveal a deeper emotional current: parents cradling newborns who lack the neck strength to stay upright, siblings sharing the bowl, and families gathering around a symbol of sporting glory. Nick Bonino’s daughter Maisie, for instance, required her parents to support her head during the 2017 ceremony, while Jonah Gadjovich’s twins, Lion Gadjovich and Adalee Gadjovich, fit together in the Cup after the Florida Panthers secured back‑to‑back championships in 2024 and 2025.
Beyond private photo ops, champions have turned the ceremony into public celebrations; Bill Guerin, after winning his second Cup in 2009, organized a “Kids Cup Day” at a pirate‑themed pub where his children — Liam Guerin, Kayla Guerin, and others — drank soda and Gatorade from the trophy. The ritual even extended to spiritual rites, as Pastor Bruce Dickerson poured holy water over Jack Johnson’s children during their baptism.
The enduring appeal of placing infants in the Stanley Cup lies in its ability to fuse personal milestones with a shared cultural heritage, turning a gleaming piece of silver into a vessel of love, legacy, and continuity that transcends generations of hockey.