The marquee event on the final day of Kraken development camp is a tournament that lets Seattle prospects play against each other for not just bragging rights, but also to be the winners of a trophy called the Stucky Cup. We chatted with Kraken staff as well as past winners to understand the history and meaning behind the final camp event and the trophy itself.
Jeff Tambellini, Director of Player Development
A lot of teams end their development camps with a tournament, maybe it’s 3-on-3, 4-on-4 or maybe it’s 5-on-5. But it’s a time to put all the work the players have done on the ice into practice, and to allow them to compete against each other. Putting together the tournament is one thing, but on top of the game play, we're looking to build tradition with our team. The great part of being an expansion team is that you get to start with a clean slate and create customs that best match our organization.
It is important that the players come through development camp…these are our future Seattle Kraken players. So, we want to have some tradition to it, and we thought it was a great opportunity to reward some of the people who worked behind the scenes and do an amazing job. There are so many amazing people working on the training and equipment staffs who help players be their best on the ice, so I decided to name our end-of-camp trophy after (James) Stucky, one of our equipment staff and one of the best.
James Stucky, Assistant Equipment Manager
I found out the day before the tournament last year that the trophy was getting named after me. “Tambo” (Tambellini) told me he wanted to create a culture and a history within development camp. He said “well we have to have a trophy,” and the next thing you know, it’s named after me – that was pretty cool.
The idea is that there are four sides to it where we put the name of each year’s winning team. So, every four years we'll add a ring to it – it will get bigger and bigger. It's not crazy big right now, maybe 18-24 inches tall. But, that's the thinking is that over the years it'll get bigger and bigger.
Tambellini
Once the names started going on the trophy, it really changed everything. It's a legacy piece. If you win the Stucky Cup, yeah, you're on it forever. We're hoping that in 25 years, there's a great list of names on it. I think there's some pride on the line - I know the coaches are very eager to win this. One team took a big loss last year, so it's been a great event so far.
Lleyton Roed, Kraken prospect, 2023 Stucky Cup Champion
We haven't talked about the tournament too much yet, we’ve been focused on what we've been doing this week but I'm sure the trash talking will ramp up as it gets closer. That’s what makes it fun – that’s what makes winning it so much better. On game day last year, I remember the chirping was pretty intense. Everyone will ramp it up as it comes.
But it’s a lot of fun - you work hard all week and then to end with something light and fast with all the guys you're meeting all week, it's a blast. Hopefully, you raise a Cup at the end.
Ty Nelson, 2022 Draft Pick, 2023 Stucky Cup Champion
Winning last year was amazing. We had a great group of guys, we had a lot of fun playing and I know it meant a lot to win both to our team and our staff. It’s going to be fun defending that title on Friday.
For the older guys, we know what's coming. We take a lot of pride and joy in winning the Cup so I mean, it's always a good time getting to play in that game. And Tambo likes to mention it throughout the week – remind us it’s coming. Some of the guys like to say who's going to win and who's going to lose… it'll be fun.
And to have a Cup named after a member of the equipment staff that does so much for us? They deserve it. It’s an honor to win it and carry the Cup named after one of them.
Roed
I mean it’s pretty cool to have a trophy named after you and represent your team. For us to play and compete for it it's pretty great.
Stucky
Deep down I am honored to be a part of this and represent the entire equipment staff. As the years unfold, I think it’s going be really fun, looking back, to see our young players as they grow up in our system. As a Seattle native it does give me a great sense of pride that my name was chosen to represent our staff in the yearly game.
