Spreading goodwill and garnering attention from devoted hockey fans, the famed Stanley Cup®— awarded annually to the National Hockey League champion—made a special visit on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, to Fox Chase Cancer Center.
The visit was associated with the American Cancer Society Hockey Fights Cancer Stanley Cup Hope Lodge Tour. Through their partnership, the National Hockey League (NHL), National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA), and American Cancer Society (ACS) are bringing the coveted Stanley Cup® to multiple ACS Hope Lodges across the country, and Philadelphia was one of the stops. The visits are meant to bring joy to cancer patients and their caregivers and to raise awareness of ACS patient programs and services.
In honor of the Stanley Cup®’s visit, faculty and staff were permitted to wear their Philadelphia Flyers gear to work on January 29. Employees, along with patients and visitors, waited excitedly in line for their chance to see the prized trophy up close, to take pictures, and even to hug and kiss it, if they felt so moved.
Known as the oldest trophy in North American professional sports, the Stanley Cup® is unique in that there is only one. In most of the sports world (NFL, NBA, MLB, Olympics), unlike in the NHL, a new trophy or medal is bestowed upon their respective champions each season.
Greatness has touched the Stanley Cup®—quite literally—with thousands of champion hockey players having kissed the trophy throughout its history after advancing through the hard-fought and grueling Stanley Cup® Playoffs. When a team wins the Stanley Cup®, the names of all the players and team executives are engraved on it. These names stay with the Stanley Cup® until a ring is retired and placed in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
This symbol of community, that represents working together to overcome obstacles, carries forth a proud legacy… one that has now graced the Fox Chase Cancer Center community, where we also know something about prevailing over challenges together.