On the heels of a Stanley Cup sweep in the NHL Finals at the hands of the Washington Capitals, a dejected Vegas Golden Knights hockey team has been offered consolation Stanley cups by a local 7-11 convenience store.
According to Matahatma Mahatma, who manages a local 7-11 store, a bounty of cups featuring KISS guitarist Paul Stanley were recently discovered in his storeroom, and he has offered the cups to the team in exchange for participating in the store’s “Free Cup With Purchase of a Big Gulp” program.
“Obviously, they will need to get here before they sell out,” Mahatma announced via his Facebook page.
The Golden Knights, a Cinderella team who had made the NHL Finals in only their first season in the league, had hoped to win the Lord Stanley’s Cup associated with the NHL championship. However in the face of defeat, several members of the team seemed pleased with the offer of the participation cups.
Fighting back tears, team co-captain David Perron told one reporter “This is it. This is truly the best thing we can hope for after such a sound thrashing.”
Paul Stanley, whose “Starchild” character appears on the participation cups, was delighted to hear that his image would be distributed to the NHL runners-up.
“I’ve been following the Finals closely, as I do every year,” the KISS frontman stated. “After watching the past 4 games, I feel Vegas has certainly earned the privilege of owning a durable plastic Paul Stanley cup full of Mountain Dew for a fee that’s usually around $2 plus tax. I hope they cherish them and share them with their families and put them on their mantles, and that someday maybe their children will want to join the KISS Army or check out our fantastic online merchandise catalog.”
Team owner Bill Foley was surprisingly upbeat following the sweep, and told one media source, “If I had realized Mr. Mahatma still had these cups in storage, I probably could have saved myself a lot of money.”