Colorado Avalanche Players Touched The Western Conference Trophy ... Here's Why It Matters

Superstitions are not rare in sports, often time athletes eat the same meal before games or stick to a regimented routine to maintain continuity. Tiger Woods famously only wears red on Sundays, Michael Jordan wore his University of North Carolina college basketball shorts under his Chicago Bulls shorts and slugger Wade Boggs ate chicken before every baseball game. 

Unwritten Rules: But there’s one quirky belief in the NHL: that touching the Western Conference Trophy, called the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, will bring bad luck for the team that wins it. The last Western Conference team to win the Stanley Cup, the St. Louis Blues in 2019, did not touch the trophy after the team defeated the San Jose Sharks in six games. 

Finals Bound: The Colorado Avalanche completed its sweep of the Edmonton Oilers Monday night, winning 6-5 in a thrilling overtime game. After the game, the NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly presented the trophy to the Avalanche. 

A Big No-No: Colorado’s caption, Gabriel Landeskog as well as star player Nathan MacKinnon touched the trophy, much to the ire of some fans. 

Some even took to Twitter to point out the fact that the two players so carelessly dirtied the coveted Clarence Campbell Bowl with their fingerprints. Others were not as upset. 

I know he’s not the captain, but you gotta think Sid told MacKinnon to touch the trophy.

— ⱼₐₛ (@j_a155) June 7, 2022

 

Happy to see the Avs (well, MacKinnon and Landeskog) touch the Clarence Campbell Bowl. It's so hard to get this far and the superstition of not touching the conference trophy is super recent (and not backed by the numbers) anyway. Celebrate your steps up the ladder!

— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) June 7, 2022

Since the 2006-2007 NHL season, only one other team besides the Avalanche has touched the Western Conference Trophy: the Las Vegas Golden Knights — it was the team’s first year in the league, the players didn’t know better. The Knights went on to lose the Stanley Cup finals to the Washinton Capitals in five games. 

Photo: 99Art via Shutterstock