June 18 (UPI) -- The back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers appear to have damaged one of the most iconic and hardest trophies to win in all of sports.
The Panthers won their second championship in two years on Tuesday, by downing the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.
As is tradition, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman awarded the Panthers, specifically their captain, Sasha Barkov, Lord Stanley's Cup during an on-ice ceremony after the game to be paraded around the ice surface by each player.
However, not long after winning the oldest trophy in professional sports at 133 years old it appears the Panthers have damaged the silver hardware.
Images posted online show that not only has the bottom of the 35 and 1/4 inches tall cup been damaged but its iconic bowl has been torn.
Though given white glove treatment by its handler -- Hockey Hall of fame's Keeper of the Cup Phil Pritchard -- throughout the year, after being awarded following the playoffs, the trophy is known to be treated without care.
Players drink beer and Champagne from its silver goblet in which babies are also frequently placed. And Phil Kessel filled it to the brim with hot dogs after winning it in 2017 as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Other foods consumed out of the cup include poutine (on more than one occasion), various pastas, borscht and more.
The rough treatment has seen the Cup receive its fair share of injuries, most notably by Nicolas Aube-Kubel of the Colorado Avalanche who gave it a nice dent to the bottom when he fell holding it as he was joining his team for a team photo in 2022.
The Cup has a storied history, and has been repeatedly lost, damaged and even once thrown into the Rideau Canal after the Ottawa Silver Seven won the trophy in 1905.
After winning the cup, Florida Panthers brought the trophy to the Elbo Room in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday. The team has announced there will be Championship Celebration on Sunday with a parade along A1A, starting at Riomar Street and ending near Fort Lauderdale Beach Park where a rally will take place.
The Panthers' home is Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, about 16 miles west of the rally.
