WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sam Reinhart had a clear picture of what he wanted to do on his day with the Stanley Cup before he won it: a two-stop celebration that started at the rink where he learned to skate and ended with a golf memory he’d get to relive forever.
Reinhart did exactly that in his hometown of West Vancouver on Sunday, first bringing the Cup to Hollyburn Country Club to share it with the coaches and families he grew up with in hockey, and to take pictures with and sign autographs for the next generation of players he hoped to inspire. Then, it was a quick drive up the road to Capilano Golf and Country Club to play a few holes with his family, including mom Theresa and dad Paul, who played 11 NHL seasons; older brothers Max and Griffin, who spent parts of three seasons in the NHL; and his wife, Jessica, before another round of photos with him and the Cup.
“Hollyburn was always going to be the first stop,” Reinhart told NHL.com. “Honestly, you get into a good situation the last couple years (with the Florida Panthers) and you can kind of see it, you start envisioning it and then it's tough not to think about what you'd do with it, and how you'd spend your time, and once I started really thinking about it a little bit, this was always on the list. I wanted to come play a couple of holes and share it with the membership here. I'm going to come up for the rest of my life and remember this day.”
It started at Hollyburn Country Club, where Reinhart and his brothers all learned to skate, and mom, Theresa, remembers pulling up in the family suburban to drop all three kids off for a day of hockey, swimming, basketball, tennis, ping pong and more. Driving around that same corner on Sunday and seeing more than 500 people lined up to celebrate her son, then having the Cup pull up behind them made for a memorable morning.