"And The Stanley Cup Was In It?"

Words hockey fans don't ever want to hear again: "Has anyone seen the Stanley Cup?"

Those words very well may have been uttered Sunday night by the keeper of the cup, Walter Neubrand, who was on an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Fort St. John.

He was delivering the cup to Jake Goertzen, a scout for the world champion Tampa Bay Lightning and had checked it as luggage on his flight.

So there were Walter and Jake, standing at baggage claim in Fort St. John, when they realized something was really, really wrong. We were waiting for it to come out," Goertzen told local reporters. "Everybody's bag was there, except the Cup."

Air Canada workers checked the aircraft, but found no evidence of the cup or its container. So they called the ticket counter in Vancouver and discovered the Stanley Cup had been bumped from the flight.

It was too heavy.

Neubrand was understandably upset, according to Goertzen. "(Neubrand) told them specifically it was the Stanley Cup. He is just so distraught."

Hockey fans are equally distraught. "It's not like it's a brown paper bag; it's the holy grail," said fitness gym owner Brent Lock, who'd hoped to view the cup Sunday night. "It's probably the most important non-religious artifact in Canada."

An Air Canada spokeswoman said the cup was kept in a secure location Sunday night and "placed in its rightful hands" Monday morning.

FMI: www.nhl.com