When the Cup is shortly put away until its appointed hour to be trotted out for next year’s champions, it will bear the names of 52 members of the 2010 Blackhawks’ organization, which were recently engraved on its base. Of course, the names of players, coaches, and officials of the winning team are engraved on the trophy every year. But this might be the first year in which the names of players are in the minority.
The 1934 Hawks have 21 names on the Cup, 18 of them players.
The 1938 Hawks have 22 names on the Cup, 17 of them players (the names of three players and the trainer were originally included, but were inadvertently removed when the trophy was refurbished in the 1950s).
The 1961 Hawks have 29 names on the Cup, 23 of them players (including two backup goalies who were on the roster but didn’t appear in a regular-season or playoff game).
Fifty-two is now the maximum number of names allowed per team, which should be plenty. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine how any more than that could be made to fit. Amazingly, the Hawks were able to find room for only 23 players among the 52 names. The other 29 are coaches, executives, and all sorts of other employees including the team massage therapist. With all due respect to the massage therapist, Pawel Prylinski, can he possibly be more worthy of having his name immortalized on the Stanley Cup than winger Bryan Bickell, who played in 16 regular-season games and four playoff games but whose name was left off?
To his credit, Bickell maintains that he is not offended by the snub. "It makes you want it [to win the Cup again] even more, to try and get the name," he said. "I had a day with it, and I made the best of it."
Following is a list of the names engraved on the Stanley Cup for the 2010 Blackhawks, in order. (None of the job titles referenced below actually appears on the Cup--with one notable and deserving exception: Captain.)
2010
W. Rockwell Wirtz (chairman)
John McDonough (president)
Jay Blunk (executive vice president)
Stan Bowman (vice president/general manager)
Al MacIsaac (vice president)
Kevin Cheveldayoff (assistant general manager)
Scotty Bowman (senior adviser)
Dale Tallon (former general manager)
Joel Quenneville (head coach)
Mike Haviland (assistant coach)
John Torchetti (assistant coach)
Stephane Waite (goaltending coach)
Mike Gapski (head trainer)
Troy Parchman (equipment manager)
Jeff Thomas (assistant trainer)
Clint Reif (assistant equipment manager)
Pawel Prylinski (massage therapist)
Jim Heintzelman (equipment assistant)
Paul Goodman (strength and conditioning coach)
Paul Vincent (skating coach)
Brad Aldrich (video coach)
Marc Bergevin (director of player personnel)
Mark Kelley (director of amateur scouting)
Norm Maciver (director of player development)
Michel Dumas (amateur scout)
Ron Anderson (director of player recruitment)
Tony Ommen (senior director of team services)
Mark Bernard (general manager of minor-league affiliations)
Dr. Michael Terry (team physician)
Jonathan Toews, Capt.
Dave Bolland
Nick Boynton
Troy Brouwer
Adam Burish
Dustin Byfuglien
Brian Campbell
Ben Eager
Colin Fraser
Jordan Hendry
Nicklas Hjalmarsson
Marian Hossa
Cristobal Huet
Patrick Kane
Duncan Keith
Tomas Kopecky
Andrew Ladd
John Madden
Antti Niemi
Brent Seabrook
Patrick Sharp
Brent Sopel
Kris Versteeg
