The Montreal Victoire’s missing Walter Cup championship trophy, which disappeared during shipment, has been located and returned to the team, as announced by the Professional Women’s Hockey League on Monday. The PWHL shared limited information but expressed gratitude to all involved in the retrieval process and to their fans for the support.
Last week, the trophy went missing en route to Lethbridge, Alberta, where it was scheduled to be with Victoire forward Dara Greig. Although a container arrived, it did not contain the trophy that was sent by the PWHL.
The league humorously remarked that even the Walter Cup can have its off-season adventure and looks forward to the Victoire resuming their celebrations with the cup. The exact location of where the trophy was found or how it went missing remains unclear, with the PWHL citing it as “lost in shipment” and confirming efforts were made in collaboration with the shipping company to recover it.
It should be noted that the missing trophy was not the one presented to the teams on the ice during the championship win. The original trophy is permanently housed at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The missing trophy was a replica known as the team’s “keeper” cup, modeled after the original sterling silver Tiffany & Co.-designed Walter Cup, weighing approximately 16 kilograms and standing 61 centimeters tall.
Montreal secured the cup by defeating Ottawa in Game 4 of a best-of-five series in May, claiming the PWHL’s first Canadian championship title. The trophy is named in honor of PWHL founder and main investor Mark Walter and his wife, Kimbra. Mark Walter, who owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and recently agreed to sell his controlling stake in the Los Angeles Lakers, is the namesake of the prestigious cup.