One day after Pat Maroon was seen holding a damaged Stanley Cup, the Tampa Bay Lightning forward confessed to being the culprit.
Maroon, who won his third consecutive title last week, blamed the weather for the incident, which occurred during the team's championship celebration Monday.
"It was obviously raining and it was wet," he told St. Louis-based radio station 101 ESPN on Tuesday. "I went to lift it and I went ... backwards with it. I slipped, (my brother) Phil held me up, and the Cup went back on its end."
Maroon defended the Lightning's treatment of the trophy.
"People were saying we disrespected the Cup," he said. "(That's) such B.S., because if they had half a brain, you know it's wet outside. You think we'd be throwing the Cup around? No, we didn't disrespect it. It was a complete accident, and we both got hurt. My back has been hurt all day (Tuesday). But yeah, that's what happened. Nothing crazy."
The 33-year-old added that Phil Pritchard, the Hockey Hall of Fame's "Keeper of the Cup," reassured Maroon that it wasn't an issue.
"(Pritchard) said, 'It's OK, don't worry about it.' I'm sure way worse things have happened to the Cup besides me just falling," Maroon said. "So they said it's an easy fix."
He added that the Cup will be back in Tampa on Thursday.
A Lightning fan first posted a screenshot of Maroon holding the dented Cup from a video of Monday's festivities.
That’ll buff out. https://t.co/lpTMYYMBzq pic.twitter.com/25A11bdY2t
— Bolts Jolts (@BoltsJolts) July 12, 2021
It was reported Monday that the trophy was being shipped back to Canada to be repaired.
The Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens in five games to repeat as champions last Wednesday. Maroon was a member of both title squads, and he also claimed Lord Stanley's mug with his hometown team, the St. Louis Blues, in 2019.
