Ben Lovejoy Wins 2016 Stanley Cup With Pittsburgh Penguins

There will be a day later this summer, after all the parties and the cross-country flights that the Stanley Cup will end up in Boffey Silversmith's in Montreal. It will be there after all the drinks and cereal that filled the bowl are gone. There might even be a baptism in it before it's all said and done.

But it will get there.

When it does, the bottom of the lower five rings will be removed and on it will be engraved the name of Ben Lovejoy '06.

The eighth former Ivy Leaguer and just the second former Dartmouth player ever to have his name etched on Lord Stanley's Cup, Lovejoy capped an incredible year on Sunday, June 12 by achieving his childhood dream.

A member of the previously unheralded and now celebrated Penguins' defensive core, Lovejoy and his Pittsburgh teammates claimed the Cup Sunday night in San Jose, defeating the Sharks, 3-1, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

From undrafted to Stanley Cup Champion in nine years. From Dartmouth to Wilkes-Barre to Pittsburgh for his first taste of winning the title in 2009 as a Black Ace (minor leaguer who travels with the top-level team in the playoffs, but doesn't play). He was traded from the Pens to Anaheim just three games into the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season before Pittsburgh brass reacquired the Orford, New Hampshire, native last spring.

A key contributor and media darling during the team's run to the fourth title in franchise history, Lovejoy was on the ice as the final seconds ticked off the clock at the SAP Center, welcoming the tsunami of teammates into the zone to celebrate what has to be the moment they imagined most as young hockey players.

Lovejoy ranked 17th amongst NHL defensemen in scoring during the postseason with six points, but his goal in Game 3 of the Sharks series made him the first Dartmouth alumnus ever to score in the Stanley Cup Final. He would go on to add a second-period assist for the first multi-point postseason game of his career.

Myles Lane '28 was the last former Dartmouth player to win the Cup, doing so as a rookie in 1929 with the Boston Bruins. But that 87-year drought is over because one day later in the summer in Montreal, B-E-N-L-O-V-E-J-O-Y will be tapped into the world's most famous trophy letter-by-letter.

His name will remain there for roughly five decades before its location on the trophy has moved out of the five rings and will then be encased in the Great Hall at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Taking his team's ring off the Cup does nothing, because for the rest of his life, Ben Lovejoy will be followed by: “Stanley Cup Champion.”

FACTS AND FIGURES
- Lovejoy became just the third Dartmouth player ever to reach a Stanley Cup Final, joining Myles Lanes (1929) and Tanner Glass (2011).

- Lovejoy's goal in Game 3 in San Jose was the first in a final game for a former Dartmouth player.

- Lovejoy became the first New Hampshire born player to ever win the Stanley Cup.

- Is just the fourth Dartmouth alumnus to win a North American major professional sports championship, joining Red Rolfe '31 (five World Series), Jim Beattie '76 (1978 World Series) and Myles Lane '28 (1929 Stanley Cup).

- Harvard (Craig Adams, George Owen), Cornell (Joe Niewendyk, Ken Dryden), Princeton (Kevin Westgarth, George Parros) and Dartmouth (Myles Lane, Ben Lovejoy) now all have two former players with their names on the Stanley Cup.

- Eleven former college hockey players appeared in the Final for Pittsburgh, the most ever. Two more former college players were on the roster, but did not appear in any games, but will still have their names on the Stanley Cup in 2016, raising the number to 13.

- Lovejoy was the only player from the Ivy League or ECAC Hockey to appear in this year's Stanley Cup Final and become the first former Ivy Leaguer to win a Cup since 2012.

QUOTES
- “I'm so proud of Ben's accomplishments. He played a major role in Pittsburgh's run to the Cup. His road to the NHL and this year's Stanley Cup was not easy as an undrafted player, but he worked extremely hard, was a great teammate and student-athlete here for us and was rewarded for all of his efforts by achieving his hockey dreams." – head coach Bob Gaudet '81

- "As his former coach, it was great to see him hoist the Cup over his head in San Jose, but as someone who got to know him personally, it was even better seeing him carry his daughters around and pose with family members on the ice. I am very proud of the player he became, but even more proud of the man he turned out to be.” – head coach Bob Gaudet '81

- “This is the best! I thought I was going to lose it, I thought I was going to cry, get emotional, but I'm just so excited. This has been such a turnaround of a team from where we were early in the season to where we are tonight. We beat a great San Jose Sharks team tonight and this is just the best.” – Ben Lovejoy to SportsNet

- “It's fun to win.” – Ben Lovejoy to SportsNet

Ben Lovejoy… forever will be known as a Stanley Cup Champion. pic.twitter.com/Fij41G2bTP
— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) June 13, 2016

🏆 pic.twitter.com/Uvzi3mjRJe
— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) June 13, 2016

From undrafted to Stanley Cup Champion! pic.twitter.com/JqTH96fPEe
— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) June 13, 2016

One of the best guys in the game @RevLovejoy6 over the moon with Cup win pic.twitter.com/58JDcx1dbp
— Dennis Bernstein (@DennisTFP) June 13, 2016

Ben Lovejoy and kids. pic.twitter.com/9mLIxwgo2J
— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) June 13, 2016

CORRECTION: Lovejoy becomes EIGHTH former Ivy player w/Cup. (Missed a Harvard guy from 1929… sorry @Harvard_Hockey) pic.twitter.com/51BPcHdtIY
— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) June 13, 2016

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