Wearing their crested Hall of Fame blazers and their white gloves, Pritchard and Campbell would perform their time-honored duty once more. The pair walked the Stanley Cup, conceived 125 years ago last March by Lord Stanley of Preston, to a black curtain at the Zamboni doors of the rink, then carried it out to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman for presentation to Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.
Together, Pritchard and Campbell have been toting the Cup onto the ice since 1998, parking it for presentation by the Commissioner. Pritchard had worn the white gloves solo from 1989, the year after he joined the Hall of Fame, until Campbell joined him nine seasons later.
Sunday was the 24th time Commissioner Bettman has presented the Conn Smythe Trophy to the playoff MVP and the Stanley Cup to the captain of the winning team, having first handed hockey's holy grail to Guy Carbonneau and the Smythe to goalie Patrick Roy, both of the Montreal Canadiens, on their Forum ice on June 9, 1993. He had been in office for four months at the time.