The Walter Cup is missing. Or at least a replica version of the trophy which did not arrive at its scheduled tour stop in Alberta this week. The search is on for the PWHL's title trophy, which has joined a long list of previously lost or stolen championship hardware.
The Walter Cup is missing. At least one of the replica versions of the trophy that has been on tour this summer with members of the PWHL champion Montreal Victoire is missing.
The trophy was supposed to be with Dara Greig for a celebration in her hometown this week, but it did not arrive. Instead, only the trophy’s case made it to Lethbridge, Alberta, forcing the city to postpone an event in her honour.
In a statement provided to the Associated Press, the PWHL stated that the Walter Cup “did not arrive as expected at its latest stop” saying that the league is “working closely with the shipping company to locate it.”
The Walter Cup is the PWHL’s championship trophy, crafted by Tifffany and Co. In the league’s three season existence the trophy has been won twice by the Minnesota Frost, and this season by the Victoire.
Walter Cup Joins Historic Trophies With Disappearance
For trophies in professional sport, being stolen, or going missing, is nearly a right of passage.
In its own history, the Stanley Cup has been lost multiple times. In the early days of the trophy it was taken by a cleaner and used as a flower pot for months before anyone noticed, it was also left on a curb in a snowbank, and launched into the Rideau Canal. More recently in 2003 and 2010 the trophy missed connecting flights and needed to be tracked down. The PWHL will hope this is the case, and not an instance like the 1970 theft of the Stanley Cup, which was also recovered.
Soccer’s World Cup trophy is another with a long history of being lost or stolen. In 1966 the trophy was stolen, but later recovered. However, in 1983 the trophy was again stolen, but this time never recovered.
In 2013 the Baltimore Ravens misplaced the Vince Lombardi Trophy after their celebrations, but it was also tracked down. Prior to that, the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy, the NFL's trophy prior to the Lombardi Trophy, was lost in 1969, and rediscovered in 2015.
Women's Rugby's original World Cup trophy was on tour in England when it disappeared for 15 years, when it was found in the attic of the parents of a English rugby administrator.
The list could go on as championship trophies constantly tour the globe with players and staff, or to special events changing hands many times each year.
Now the Walter Cup has had its day, joining a long line of major sporting trophies that have been lost or stolen over the years.
Where’s Walter? With any luck, the PWHL will soon recover their lost trophy and the Montreal Victoire’s championship tour can continue uninterrupted.
