Visit from Stanley is heaven for ER's Grimes

Actor Scott Grimes, of NBC's long running medical drama ER, had a chance to see the NHL's Stanley Cup while on set. Stanley Cup visits Tinseltown gallery

Scott Grimes, the actor best known for playing Dr. Archie Morris on the NBC medical drama ER, has done a lot of cool things in his life.

But Friday's visit with the Stanley Cup ranks right near the top of that lengthy list, which includes a starring role in the smash HBO hit Band of Brothers, performing on stage with Bob Hope and playing Alyssa Milano's love interest in Who's the Boss.

"When this Cup gets here, I won't even be able to explain what that is going to mean to me," Grimes said hours before the Stanley Cup arrived on the set of ER for a visit, part of the trophy's whirlwind tour of Hollywood.

The sets of House, M.D., Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory were also on the Stanley Cup's itinerary, as well as a visit to a Michael Buble concert in Santa Barbara, Calif.

But it is hard to imagine the venerable trophy going over bigger than it did with Grimes, a lifelong fan of the sport. Upon receiving the trophy from Cup keeper Mike Bolt, Grimes was seen visibly shaking as he held up the trophy before placing it down for some vanity shots with various members of the cast.

Grimes was born in Lowell, Mass., and fell in love with the game there.

"My dad would take me to the Boston Garden all of the time,"  Grimes said. "I wasn't a huge Bruins fan. I always liked the Rangers and then when Wayne Gretzky started playing, I pretty much followed him from there on out."

A child actor, Grimes first fell in love with Gretzky while filming a local commercial for Coca Cola in the Boston area. In the commercial, he was asked to roller skate down the street with a Coke in his hand. The director suggested he pantomime the goal celebration that Gretzky was known for at the time – the one-knee-bent, fist-pump routine.

A seed was planted and Grimes went on to find out and follow Gretzky throughout the latter's playing career.

He still roots for Gretzky and is pulling for Detroit to win this year's Stanley Cup title because he still wishes Gretzky had gone to Detroit after leaving the Los Angeles Kings. He says he always admired Steve Yzerman, as well, which is another reason to throw his lot in with the Wings.

Grimes has been lucky enough to be involved with hockey during his professional career. A pretty good skater, Grimes really took to the game in California when he arrived as a teenager two decades ago.

His ability to play the sport proficiently helped land him the part as Brian "Birdy" Burns in the hockey movie, Mystery, Alaska. It also made him an integral part of the hockey plotline featured on ER last season.

"I've gotten the opportunity to play hockey on screen two times and I just loved it," Grimes said.

Last season, ER filmed an episode that featured a plot line revolving around hospital personnel, including Grime's character and Dr. Neela Rasgotra, playing in a rec league game that pits the orthopedic surgeons against the trauma surgeons.

That episode rekindled Grimes love for the game. He began skating again taking advantage of all the free ice available to the actors to prepare for the scene. Soon, he was again playing pickup hockey with other celebrities and is playing at least twice a week every week.

"It was a gift, man," he says.

But, it was not as a big a gift as Friday's visit by the Stanley Cup to the set of ER.