Stanley Cup 'rescued' from pirates in Tampa

TAMPA -- Avast, ye!

Listen to this tale of treasure -- a silver bowl purchased by Lord Stanley of Preston in 1892, fought over by bearded men for more than a century and plundered by pirates on Saturday, only to be saved by a feather-capped NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

"I think," Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn said with a laugh, "Commissioner Bettman got exposed to something he never thought he would see in his life."
Uh, he wasn't the only one.

Legend has it Spanish pirate Jose Gaspar, known as Gasparilla, sailed off southwest Florida. A group of prominent Tampa citizens began a festival in his honor in 1904, calling themselves Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, dressing up and invading the city.

Gasparilla has become Tampa's Mardi Gras. Thousands of pirates invade each year, quenching their thirst as the ship Jose Gasparilla docks downtown, the mayor gives up the key to the city and a parade marches down Bayshore Boulevard, strings of beads everywhere.

But this year Gasparilla coincided with the 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend.

So in the spirit of adventure and humor, there was the Stanley Cup on the poop deck of the Jose Gasparilla, sailing up the Hillsborough River, surrounded by hundreds of pirates on board and thousands more on shore.

Music blared. Flags flapped. Cannons boomed. Guns cracked.

The Cup wore a life jacket and was flanked by Phil Pritchard and Mike Bolt of the Hockey Hall of Fame -- undercover as pirates, of course. They've seen a thing or two traveling the world with the Cup over the years, but …

"Nothing quite like this," Pritchard said, wearing a black hat and a red vest with a skull and crossbones on the back.

When the ship docked, the pirates disembarked, handing beads to the crowd as they came ashore. Pritchard and Bolt carried the Cup down from the poop deck, across a gangplank and to a stage outside the Tampa Convention Center, not far from Amalie Arena, home of the Tampa Bay Lightning and site of the 2018 NHL All-Star Game on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVA Sports).

They set the treasure on a pedestal and took off its lifejacket. The bowl had ash in it from all the cannon and gun blasts.

"Let's see a rousing round of a applause for Tampa's newest pirate," said one of the pirates, putting his arm around Commissioner Bettman, wearing a suit and strands of beads.

Commissioner Bettman received a feathered hat from the pirate, and he wasn't too proud to put it on and play along. The Cup was being held ransom for the key to the city.

"Mayor," Commissioner Bettman said. "I respectfully and strongly urge you to give it up. We want the Cup back."

Buckhorn refused at first

"I was going to hold him ransom so I didn't have to give up the key," Buckhorn said. "But inevitably I always end up having to give up the key, as much as it hurts me, because if I don't give up the key, there will be no parade, and I will be impeached."

At Bettman's urging, Buckhorn handed over the key as the crowd cheered and chanted.

"Let's go, Bolts!"

"We want the Cup!"

You never know. Tampa Bay just might get it for the first time since 2004.

The Lightning lead the NHL standings with 71 points and have the best record in terms of point percentage (.724). They have the NHL's leading scorer, forward Nikita Kucherov, who has 63 points (27 goals, 36 assists). They have the League's leader in wins and shutouts, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has 29 and seven, respectively.

They lead the Atlantic Division with five representatives: Kucherov, Vasilevskiy, forward Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos, and coach Jon Cooper. Point replaced Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, who is injured.

"We do [Gasparilla] every year," Buckhorn said. "It's a huge parade. It's part of Tampa's DNA. But to put hockey in the mix, it's just a special weekend.

"We've become the quintessential hockey town, largely because of [Lightning owner] Jeff Vinik, the product he puts on the ice, the customer experience, the fact that Tampa has embraced that team like no other team in the Bay Area.

"Obviously we love football, but they are committed to hockey, and so for us it's a success story. It's a model, I would think, for the NHL, and we couldn't be prouder to be that team."

After the Cup was safely out of sight, Bolt turned to Commissioner Bettman.

"Thanks for getting it back for us," Bolt said.

Commissioner Bettman laughed.

The Cup has been part of lots of championships. But a pirate ship?

"I can't even begin to describe it," Commissioner Bettman said. "You've got to look at the video and the pictures. This is an unbelievable celebration. Good on Tampa."