Cup Begins European Tour

In celebration of the Red Wings’ 2002 Stanley Cup Championship, the famed trophy began it’s tour of Europe on Sunday when Pavel Datsyuk took it to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, his hometown.

Datsyuk brought the Cup to Russia to encourage the Russian youth to take up hockey.

“Russian hockey should be helped, and as many children as possible should go in for sports so that they do not roam about in the streets,” he said.

Datsyuk, along with fellow Russian Red Wings Igor Larionov and Maxim Kuznetsov brought the Stanley Cup to Moscow on Monday. It was scheduled to be displayed in the office of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Larionov was among the first players to bring the Cup to Russia following the Red Wings’ 1997 Stanley Cup Championship.

The Stanley Cup will next go to Sweden with defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and forward Tomas Holmstrom before continuing on to the Czech Republic with now-retired netminder Dominik Hasek.