The Mosque and the Stanley Cup

 

                                                    Kadri Family & the Stanley Cup 

My eyebrows shot up to my non-existent hairline recently as I read about a baptism which took place five years ago using the Stanley Cup, symbol of NHL hockey supremacy, as the font. This seemed sketchy to me, but players on the championship team get to take the Cup to their communities and stories abound of questionable activities which end up requiring repairs to the trophy. 

There is a more recent religious connection involving the Stanley Cup. Nazem Kadri former Maple Leaf, now Calgary Flame, was part of the Colorado Avalanche when they won the championship earlier this year. Kadri is the first Muslim to be on a Cup-winning team and yesterday he took the trophy to the mosque in his hometown of London, Ontario. It's the first time the Cup will visit a mosque and this will undoubtedly be a boost to the Muslim community of a city in which a Muslim family was brutally killed last year in a cowardly hate crime. 

“We’re proud of Nazem, proud of his journey,” said Mo Haidar, Kadri’s brother in-law,“The younger generations, and the youth coming up, it just shows that not only Muslims, but any group of minorities that anything is achievable. If you really have passion and you really want to achieve something, Nazem is a great example of that, and on the 27th you’ll be able to see the proof of that.”

Sadly, there was likely tight security during the mosque visit, but we can hope this was a milestone celebration. I'm fairly confident that the Stanley Cup will never be used a communion chalice, but you never know...