Welcome to Steele County, Stanley

Hockey royalty visited the Four Seasons Centre in Owatonna on July 31 when former Huskies assistant coach and current Carolina Hurricanes Scout Eric Fink brought the Stanley Cup to his old stomping grounds as part of his day with hockey’s biggest trophy.

Fink, along with his wife Beth and their sons Max and Zac, chose to bring the cup to Owatonna to share it with their home community after discovering that multiple Hurricanes players were planning to have the trophy in-state over the course of the weekend.

“It was a pretty easy choice to bring it here once I found out we were going to get it,” said Fink. “It wasn’t much of a debate to bring it anywhere else. This is where we’re from. We’ve lived here for a long time now. Our family, our friends and our kids’ friends are here, so to share it with them was the goal.”

According to Fink, a day with the Stanley Cup is not guaranteed to every member of the organization.

The players, coaches and owners typically take first priority in selecting their days with the trophy.

“They had said that the goal is to try and get as many people to get it at a time as possible. The priority is obviously the players and staff, and there are so many support staff behind the scenes that are more than deserving. I got pretty lucky that we have three guys from Minnesota on the team. None of them could take it on Friday and I was the only person in the area that day, so I jumped on the opportunity,” said Fink.

While many athletes choose to spend their day with the cup constantly on the move with a select few family and friends, Fink chose to share his day with his community.

“It was so cool to see how everyone interacts with it… We were trying to figure out who to invite and who to have come over, but me and my family were like, ‘We want everyone to be around it.’ I had some people there that I hadn’t seen in 15-20 years. My sister, brother and so many others came to town for it. It was a really fun day,” said Fink.

A special part of Fink’s big day was the chance to show the Stanley Cup to the current Owatonna boys hockey varsity team; a perfect representation of how years of hard work, dedication and sacrifice can pay off in the end.

While Fink admitted that he never could have imagined a day with the Stanley Cup in his future as a young coach, he did recall on a fond memory from early on in his hockey coaching career that put his path into perspective.

“I started off coaching in Junior B hockey, and the guy that I was coaching with at the time was Josh Hauge, the current head coach at Union College. It was really funny because we got done with warmups during our very first junior game, but we didn’t have any volunteers to pick up the pucks. So, we had to do it ourselves,” said Fink.

“I don’t remember if it was me or him who said it, but one of us said, ‘Someday, maybe we won’t have to pick up our own pucks after warmups.’ Now, over 20-25 years later, he’s a Division I head coach and we’re both here holding the Stanley Cup.”

According to research done by the Times, Fink’s day with the Stanley Cup in Owatonna marks the first time the prestigious trophy has ever been brought to Steele County by a member of the winning organization.