Image Credit: Everett CollectionTonight, the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks face-off in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals (NBC, 8 p.m. ET). Last month, hockey’s Holy Grail visited the EW offices, along with one of its four keepers, Mike Bolt, who’s become part guardian/part storyteller. Ever since the ’94 New York Rangers returned Lord Stanley in three pieces, the Cup has had a constant chaperone. Each player, coach, and trainer on the winning team gets to spend at least one day with it doing whatever he can talk Bolt, its companion of 11 years, into. (He’s declined a request for parachuting, but in 2001, sanctioned Scott Parker strapping Stanley into a specially-designed harness for a ride on his Harley, and in 2007, agreed to hand it out of a hovering helicopter to brothers Scott and Rob Niedermayer, who wanted to celebrate by raising the Cup over their heads on a mountain top — something similar to what Scott had done in 2000.)

Bolt is also present when Stanley stops by a TV set to film a guest appearance or snap a picture. The Cup has had “roles” on Boston Legal and Guiding Light; it’s been photographed getting serenaded by Charlie Sheen while sitting atop his Two and Half Men piano, waiting patiently in Hugh Laurie’s House office as he pretended to use his cane as a hockey stick, and being interrogated by CSI:NY‘s Eddie Cahill. Here, 10 stories guaranteed to entertain, whether you’re already a hockey fan or not.

The Cup makes a bathroom run with Chris Chelios, John Cusack, and Eddie Vedder in 2008: “We’re in Chicago goin’ to a Cubs game with Chris Chelios. Eddie Vedder and John Cusack are with us. Chelios threw out the opening pitch, and Eddie Vedder was the catcher. Thank god Chris can play hockey because he can’t throw. That’s right, I said that, Chelios, YOU CAN’T THROW. So it’s his day, we’re in this big limo bus, but there’s no washroom on it. We’re headed to the Sox game next, and the guys had a few, and we need to stop. There’s these kids playin’ catch outside this house. I’m like, he’s gonna show the kids the Cup, how nice. He gets off the bus. They’re like, ‘Ohmygod, Chris Chelios!’ He’s like, ‘Hey, I’ll make you a deal. Mike, grab the Cup.’ They’re like ‘Holy crap, it’s the Cup! Holy crap!’ He goes, ‘I’ll let you guys get a picture if I can use your washroom.’ They’re like, ‘Sure, come on in.’ So everybody pours off the bus, and we’re goin’ in this house. Well, they’re havin’ a baseball party in this house, at least 20-25 people in there. So he puts the Cup down. The entourage runs to the bathroom, the people in the house are runnin’ to the Cup takin’ pictures. We’ve been in there 20 minutes, and finally, this lady says, ‘Holy crap! You’re John Cusack!’ We’ve been in there for 20 minutes. We get on the bus, and John goes, ‘You know, I just love the Stanley Cup. I wish I could bring it everywhere with me. What a distraction. Eddie and I were talkin’ about that. We’re walkin’ around the concourse at Wrigley Field, and nobody’s recognizing us and it’s great. We’re just there 10 feet behind and all eyes are on Lord Stanley.’ Later that night, Eddie Vedder was doin’ a solo show in Chicago. So we went to the concert, and we’re backstage, and as we walk into the greenroom, we run into Sean Penn, who’s a big fan of Eddie Vedder’s. We go up to the balcony area, and it’s John Cusack, Sean Penn, Lord Stanley, myself and Chris Chelios sittin’ watchin’ Eddie Vedder play. That day didn’t suck.” READ FULL STORY »