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Loneys’ Stanley Cup memories last
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Pittsburgh Penguins winger Troy Loney celebrates his goal in the second period of play against the defense of Washington Capitals goalie Don Beaupre in the second period of Game 3 of the Patrick Division finals at the Capital Centre in Landover, Md.
Troy and Aafke Loney
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Phantoms Owners Troy and Aafke Loney
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Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Troy Loney and his wife Aafke visited Vindy Talk Radio for a special interview to talk about their involvement with the ...
Loneys, Hockey HOF bringing Stanley Cup to Youngstown
Hockey players are considered fortunate if they get to raise the Stanley Cup once in a lifetime. Troy Loney has his name engraved twice on the famed trophy.
By Tom Williams
YOUNGSTOWN
Hockey players are considered fortunate if they get to raise the Stanley Cup once in a lifetime. Troy Loney has his name engraved twice on the famed trophy.
He’s about to share his good fortune with hockey fans in the Mahoning Valley.
This Friday, the co-owner of the Youngstown Phantoms will be re-united with the National Hockey League’s championship trophy when representatives from the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto bring the Stanley Cup to Youngs-town.
The Cup will be on display at the Covelli Centre during the Phantoms’ game against Team USA. It will be the Cup’s third time in Mahoning County.
In 1991, Penguins owner Edward J. DeBartolo displayed the Cup in the lobby at his company’s headquarters.
The Stanley Cup was displayed a year later at Paonessa’s in Boardman, along with eight Lombardi Trophies won by the San Francisco 49ers and Pittsburgh Steelers in one of the greatest trophy displays anywhere.
Loney — a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ championship teams in 1991 and 1992 — has many memories of the struggles to win and the celebrations that followed. He was at Mario Lemieux’s mansion on Memorial Day weekend in 1991 when the Stanley Cup went for a swim.
“One of our guys got up on the waterfall and threw the Stanley Cup into the swimming pool and it caught neck first,” Loney said, declining to name Phil Bourque, now the Pens’ radio analyst, as the scamp. “The solder kind of broke around the ring — not all the way but to about an inch-and-a-half.
“And then it sunk to the bottom of the pool,” the native of Bow Island, Alberta, said in a recent interview. “We had a heck of a time getting it out of the pool — it was very heavy.” Loney said the city celebration the next day at Point State Park had unusual sights.
“Usually you see people picking it up by the ends and we were picking it up [coddling] the neck because we were all a little worried it might snap off in your hands,” Loney said.
“You didn’t want to be the guy who was hanging on to the Stanley Cup and it broke.”
The Cup survived, as it has so many celebrations.
In 1995, the Hall of Fame began orchestrating a day with the Cup for each player and executive on the winning team. When Loney’s teams won, time with the trophy was less organized.
“They’ve changed [the rules] quite a bit,” Loney said. “When we won it, it was ‘Troy you get it from Monday to Wednesday and you’ve got to bring it over to Bob Errey’s place or Phil Bourque’s place.
“We had it at our place for two whole days,” Loney said. “It’s a revered trophy but it’s not like it’s pristine, it still has a touch and feel to it. When we won it, you could share it with a neighbor or a tavern.”
On this visit, fans will be able to pose with the trophy but no one will be touching it, per Hall of Fame rules.
In 1991, the Penguins trailed the Minnesota North Stars two games to one in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final. Loney said the North Stars gave them bulletin board material.
“We’re having breakfast that morning [in Bloomington, Minn.] and we pull out the Minnesota newspapers and [in them] is the parade route for the Stanley Cup [championship].
“Rule number one — you never do that,” Loney said of sports no-nos. “So that added a little bit of encouragement.”
The Pens won Game 4, 5-3. The game included five of the longest minutes of Loney’s life after he used his stick to cut a North Star defenseman and was penalized.
“Game was pretty tight at that time,” Loney said. I’m outta the game, thinking [Red Sox first baseman goat] Billy Buckner in my mind because if we lose this game, it’s my fault for taking this major. We’re moving out of Pittsburgh, we’re gone.”
The Pens skated off the penalty. Loney estimates the North Stars were limted to two shots on goal during his sentence.
The Pens returned home to the Civic Arena, scored four times in the first period of Game 5 and won 6-4.
Game 6 back in Minnesota was over almost as soon as it began as the Pens romped, 8-0.
“I remember the last few seconds of the clock ticking down and jumping over the boards in excitement,” Loney said. “I don’t recall who handed me the Cup.”
Neither does his wife, Aafke, who also is co-owner of the Phantoms with Bruce Zoldan.
“I remember telling my parents to come because I knew we were going to win,” she said of Game 6.
Among her favorite memories were getting on the plane with the Stanley Cup and the arrival back in Pittsburgh in the middle of the night. Back then, no airport security checkpoints existed and fans flooded the concourses to greet the team.
“Arriving in Pittsburgh and getting absolutely mobbed by the fans — it was absolutely the coolest and scariest moment I’ve ever been in,” Aafke said.
The Penguins repeated in 1992, but only after overcoming major obstacles. Bob Johnson, the coach of the 1990-91 team, was diagnosed with brain cancer in August 1991 and died three months later. Scotty Bowman, who had won four Stanley Cup titles with the Montreal Canadiens, replaced Johnson as Pens coach but the team did not respond well initially.
A February trade with the Philadelphia Flyers brought forward Rick Tocchet, defenseman Kjell Samuelsson and goaltender Ken Wregget to Pittsburgh and shook the team up.
Going into the Stanley Cup Final, the Pens had won seven straight games while their opponent, the Chicago Blackhawks, had won 11 straight. Something had to give.
In Game 1, the Pens trailed, 4-1, before rallying for a 5-4 win that launched a series sweep that ended in Chicago with a 6-5 Game 4 victory.
That celebration moved across the Allegheny River to Three Rivers Stadium. Loney said the first celebration setting was better.
“Old Three Rivers Stadium was pretty sterile,” Loney said. “We were in cars and they were driving us around.”
The highlight of the celebration came when Bryan Trottier took the Cup for a slide on the tarp covering the infield.
“I remember it was raining and Trottier grabbing the Stanley Cup and running out and sliding on the infield,” Loney said.
Trottier had won four Cups with the New York Islanders before joining the Penguins for their two championship seasons.
“Trottier was such a key element to that team,” Aafke said. “I remember the first time we won, [his advice] was to ‘just enjoy it, just enjoy it.’ I really appreciated that.”
Loney’s NHL career began in 1984 when the Penguins were the worst team in the league.
“To see us go from last to first, not too many guys were around who had seen that whole thing happen,” Loney said. “It was gratifying to see that whole transformation.”
Loney’s gratitude is about to be shared with Stanley’s return.