In case you missed it yesterday was officially declared Brad Richards Day in my home province of PEI as Brad took the Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe Trophy and Lady Byng Trophy home to the fishing community of Murray Harbour- population 350. Upwards of 10,000 people lined the streets to watch Richards hoist the Stanley Cup as he rode down Main Street on a lobster boat being carried on a flatbed truck. 10,000 people might not sound like a lot to you city folk but consider that the entire province of Prince Edward Island has a population of about 144,000, meaning that close to 10% of the population showed up to celebrate with the first native of the province to ever win Lord Stanley's Cup, let alone the Conn Smythe Trophy, although it's not the first time the Cup has been to PEI with a Cup winner. Grant Marshall owns a cottage on the Island and took the Cup to North Rustico in 1999.
Richards took the Cup for a cruise around the harbour Monday night as part of a private party with family and friends, even driving an 84-year old woman to drink. Seriously. Margaret Billard has known Brad his entire life and had never had a drop of alcohol in her life before taking a sip of champagne from the silver chalice which also had lobster eaten out of it.
CBC has video footage from the celebration here.
On a related note Richards has signed an endorsement deal with Subway for the Atlantic Canadian region. As Irwin Dawson (who holds franchise rights for PEI and owns at least 8 Subways in the small province) said "We're active in the community, Brad's active in the community, whether it's doing a charity golf tournament or whether it's flying friends and relatives to Florida, he just seemed to be a perfect fit.
Must have been an awsome time. Wish I had been home on vacation for it.