A King-Size Prize : Hockey’s Illustrious Stanley Cup Arrives in L.A.

Philip Pritchard arrived at LAX about 10:30 Thursday night with his 19 trunks marked “fragile.”

By 11:10 Friday morning, his assistant, Chris DiPiero, stood high on a three-tiered display in the lobby of the Westin Hotel near LAX, polishing the gleaming silver of the Stanley Cup’s 100-year-old bowl.

In one of the rich traditions of the NHL, the Stanley Cup--perhaps the most distinctive trophy in sports--is put on public display in the competing cities when the teams are contesting the final series there.

So the Cup and the 18 other elaborate bowls and trophies recognizing NHL awards have been transported from the Delta hotel in Montreal, where people filed by as reverently as if in a museum, to Los Angeles, where a few King fans mingled with passersbys who ranged from amused to mystified.

“Some people don’t have much concept of what it is,” said Greg Nichols, an off-duty policeman providing security for the trophies. “Some of the others are in awe.”

David Johnston, a reporter with the Montreal Gazette who has spent the week reporting on Los Angeles and its hockey culture, watched the onlookers and smiled at the contrast.

“Canadians, when they see the Cup, fall silent,” Johnston said. “It’s sort of like going into a church. . . . Here, people are talking much louder, saying, ‘Which one is that?’ ”

In the workday murmur of an airport hotel and conference center on a Friday afternoon, people stopped in passing to admire the silver collection.

“We just happened to come to lunch,” said Stefanie Kallok of Lawndale, who was admiring the display with Irene Serna of Diamond Bar.

“I could never have imagined them being that nice,” Serna said.

Craig Chinen, an electrician at the hotel who is also a hockey fan, brought his camera to work.

Pritchard, who works with the collections of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, said that contrary to belief, the Stanley Cup has been to Southern California before--just never on official business. The Cup apparently has been on display in Anaheim and some people remember seeing it at the 1981 NHL All-Star game at the Forum.

First awarded in 1893 by Lord Stanley of Preston to the amateur champion of Canada, the Stanley Cup far outshines most of sports’ rather mundane trophies. Once a modest cup, it has grown into a three-foot barrel by the addition of rings that allow the inscriptions of the names of new champions. But the decision has been made that the Cup--which is hollow and weighs only 32 pounds--will grow no taller. Now, older rings will give way to the new.

Susan Miller, wearing a Kings’ jersey, drove an hour and a half from San Bernardino to see the Cup. She gazed at the nearly blank bottom ring.

“There’s a spot for the Kings,” she said.