Tom Williams: Hockey fans get an early present

Imagine a job where people greet you with smiles wherever you travel. That’s the life Phil Pritchard has enjoyed for 26 years as a curator and Resource Centre vice president for the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

What inspires the smiles? Pritchard’s main job is caretaker of the Stanley Cup, the National Hockey League’s championship trophy.

“I’m the hockey Santa,” said Pritchard, who is a familiar face to hockey fans who have seen Pritchard and his crew prepare the Cup as the final game of the Stanley Cup Final winds down.

“It’s just great being around [the Cup] — everyone’s got a smile on their face,” Pritchard said Friday before the Cup’s appearance at the Covelli Centre during the Youngstown Phantoms-Team USA game. “Tonight, no matter how long the line will be, everyone will be thrilled.”

There was quite a line before the game as hundreds of fans stood in a line that snaked from the team shop to the box office.

The Cup was in town as part of the Youngstown Phantoms’ Pittsburgh Penguins night. Troy Loney, Phantoms co-owner, put the promotion together. Loney was a member of the Penguins’ championship teams in 1991 and 1992.

When the Cup arrived, Pritchard asked Loney if he wanted to lift it out of the shipping box.

“Gladly,” Loney said, who added that it felt heavier than what he remembered. “When you win, it’s pretty light.

“I think they are using heavy print [for the engraved names],” he joked.

Loney said it’s the first time he’s been with the Cup since a family trip to the Hall of Fame about 10 years ago.

“We saw it like everyone else in a cattlecar,” Loney said of the line at the Hall. “We got our picture taken and got out of there.”

Pritchard also is a familiar face from a Discover Card commercial a few years ago when he tried getting help with his credit card from “Peggy,” the Eastern European gravelly-voiced customer service representative.

“A lot [of recognition] from the commercial, always by men,” said Pritchard, who explained that there is just one hard-and-fast rule for the Cup.

“You can’t pick it up unless your name is on it,” Pritchard said. “If they want to hug it or kiss it, that’s OK.

“Most fans appreciate that and understand that — they know what it takes to win the Cup. They respect the history and the aura of the Cup.”

For this visit, the only locals eligible to lift it were Loney and Denise DeBartolo York, owner of the San Francisco 49ers who was a Penguins executive when her father, Edward Sr., owned the team in 1991.

Pritchard said the busiest time of year for him is in the summer.

“The team that wins it gets it for 100 days,” said Pritchard whose travels last summer included Slovenia, the homeland of Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar.

At the Covelli, WBBW-AM 1240 broadcaster Marc Means said he stood in line about 30 minutes waiting for the Cup to appear. Once it did, he said the line moved fast even though fans were taking multiple pictures.

During fall and winter months, Pritchard said the Cup makes promotional appearances at all levels of hockey. Today, the Cup will travel to Connellsburg, Pa., home of the Keystone Ice Miners of the North American Hockey League. On New Year’s Day, the Cup will be at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., for the NHL Winter Classic.

“We try to do a lot of charity events and promoting the game at every level, from late October to March,” Pritchard said. “It’s always great when we can work with the minor pro teams. Their fans are as diehard as NHL fans.

“They appreciate the whole history. People come around to share their stories and memories of hockey.”

What a job Pritchard has and does. For hockey fans in the Mahoning Valley, Santa delivered an early present.

Tom Williams is a sportswriter at The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Williams_Vindy.