Pietrangelo takes Stanley Cup to golf course, spends time with family

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. -- Alex Pietrangelo has been through it before, so the Vegas Golden Knights defenseman simply wanted to keep his day with the Stanley Cup as low-key as possible.

Pietrangelo, along with some of his friends and family, celebrated Monday morning at nearby Boone Valley Golf Club before taking it home to bask for a bit, then finishing the day at one of his favorite restaurants, Peppe's Apt 2.

"You enjoy yourself, but I think I enjoy the presence of our family, friends and neighbors just as much as anything," he said. "We played golf this morning... My buddy flew in from home, my best friend from home... Now that we have everybody together, especially family and friends, it's cool for them because they get to see each other again. It almost gets forgotten because everybody's so excited to spend some time together."

Pietrangelo's kids, triplets Evelyn, Theodore and Oliver, and youngest daughter Julia, ate breakfast out of the Cup before heading to the golf course.

"We had Cheerios this morning and had Doritos and Sun Chips," Pietrangelo said.

The past seven months for the Pietrangelo family may have ended with the high of a Stanley Cup championship, but that came only after Evelyn developed a serious case of encephalitis. He missed nearly a month of action between Nov. 26-Dec. 17 and during that time the veteran defenseman considered walking away from the game for good.

"Thinking back on it, it was a really difficult time for our family, and family comes first," Jayne Pietrangelo said. "Obviously it worked out, and to go from that to him winning the Stanley Cup for the second time, it's like, what a turnaround."

It's Pietrangelo's second celebration with the Cup after winning his first with the St. Louis Blues in 2019.

"Everybody that's won it a second time will probably say the same thing, it's just a different feeling," Pietrangelo said. "Kids are a little bit older, so for me, it was really cool because they understand it now. My boys knew the teams that we were playing. They knew all that. But for me, it's important. I told Jayne we're not going to pick up our family unless I know we have a chance to win and what Kelly [McCrimmon] and George [McPhee] do with Bill [Foley], the way they wanted to build the team, we saw eye-to-eye on everything. I trusted what they were doing."

Pietrangelo's trust paid off in the ultimate way. And Monday he reaped the benefits.

"I said to [Jayne] I have a feeling we're going to win a Cup in Vegas, and it's nice you can get that done in three years. I think we've got a chance to win another one at least. It's not like we're done. We haven't changed our team either. We've got a great group. It's just a fun place to play."