Second Montreal Gazette article features Eric Perrin and Martin St. Louis back home in Laval, Quebec with the Cup….
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“Hundreds welcome St. Louis, Perrin and Stanley Cup in Laval, Quebec.”
Canadian Press
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
LAVAL, Que. (CP) – Two Tampa Bay Lightning forwards were cheered on by hundreds of fans Tuesday during a triumphant homecoming with their hard-earned Stanley Cup.
The crowd roared as star winger Martin St. Louis and his childhood friend, Eric Perrin, each held the silver cup above their heads in a grocery-store parking lot not far from where they grew up. The Lightning beat the Calgary Flames in June for the franchise’s first-ever Cup victory.
St. Louis told the crowd he hoped to bring the Cup back to Laval next summer.
“I won’t promise anything, but we’ll work hard to bring it back,” said the Hart Trophy winner and NHL scoring champion.
Perrin, who played youth and college hockey with St. Louis, said the championship took awhile to sink in.
“I never would have thought that I would be here with the Stanley Cup,” the diminutive fourth-liner told the crowd from a large stage. “It’s a dream.”
St. Louis and Perrin were greeted as heroes when they arrived with the Cup on Tuesday morning. They were led by police escort to a reception, where they were presented with civic medals.
Each Lightning player gets custody of the Cup for 48 hours. Lightning superstar Vincent Lecavalier toured his hometown of Montreal on Saturday with the famous trophy.
