The Calder Cup made its first official public visit since being won by the Chicago Wolves on Tuesday night, and the 72-year-old chalice looked right at home at 94-year-old Wrigley Field.
Wolves captain Darren Haydar and playoff MVP Jason Krog accompanied the Calder Cup to Wrigley on Thursday afternoon to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Chicago Cubs’ game against the Atlanta Braves.
The Chicago Wolves defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, four games to two, to win the Calder Cup for the second time in seven seasons since joining the American Hockey League.
Krog, who was also the league’s MVP and scoring champion in the 2007-08 regular season, recorded 38 points in 24 playoff games, including a hat trick in the decisive Game 6 of the Finals. Haydar, a former teammate of Krog’s at the University of New Hampshire, won his second Calder Cup and became the league’s all-time leading playoff scorer in the process, finishing the 2008 postseason with 124 points in 95 career AHL playoff games.
It wasn’t the Cup’s first chance to be celebrated at a sporting event other than an AHL game recently. The 2007 champion Hamilton Bulldogs were honored during halftime of a Hamilton Tiger Cats CFL football game, and the Phillie Phanatic paraded with the Calder Cup during a Philadelphia Phillies game after the Phantoms’ championship win in 2005.
