Florida Panthers forward Kyle Okposo. Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

IT outage ruined Kyle Okposo's day with the Stanley Cup

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Jul 19, 2024 3:08 PM ET

After 17 years and 1,051 regular season games in the NHL, forward Kyle Okposo finally got a chance this season to lift the Stanley Cup as a champion with the Florida Panthers. On Friday, he was supposed to get his personal day with the cup — as all players on the winning team get — until something unexpected happened to ruin it.

That would, of course, be the global IT outage that has brought air travel and many computer programs across the country and world to a screeching halt.

Okposo had originally planned to spend part of his day at an ice rink in Minnetonka, Minnesota, where fans would be able to take pictures with him and the Cup.

Unfortunately, that event had to be canceled because the Cup was stuck in St. Louis due to travel issues associated with the IT outage following teammate Matthew Tkachuk's day with it on Thursday.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT especially if you’re driving from a long distance for Kyle Okposo’s public Stanley Cup appearance today at Pagel Arena.

It has to be CANCELLED due to the Stanley Cup being stuck in St. Louis because of the global IT outage affecting airlines.

“I’m crushed,”…
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) July 19, 2024

Every member of the Stanley Cup-winning team gets to spend 24 hours with the Cup in the location of their choice, doing pretty much whatever they want with it.

Some players choose to spend it in public places at parades, events or parties. Some choose to just spend a quiet day with family. It is a tradition that has produced as many creative — and probably insane — adventures as it has names scratched on to it.

In Okposo's case, it seems he is going to have to wait a little longer to create his own adventure with it.

Scheduling public events and having to reschedule them can be tricky and complicated, but there has to be a way for the NHL to make sure Okposo still gets to spend his full 24 hours with it at some point this summer, especially in a case like this where the delay is literally out of everybody's control.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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