NHL’s Stanley Cup comes to downtown El Paso

EL PASO, Texas - For 24 hours on Thursday, one of the most iconic trophies in professional sports called El Paso home.

The Stanley Cup, award to the NHL's Championship Team each year, was on display for fans Thursday at San Plaza Jacinto Plaza in downtown El Paso. The Cup's presence in El Paso was part of the weekend-long celebration of Kraft Hockeyville, the hockey-community award bestowed upon El Paso after the city won it's nationwide vote last year.

As part of Kraft Hockeyville, the El Paso County Coliseum will host an NHL Preseason game between the Arizona Coyotes and Dallas Stars on Sunday night.

In addition, the El Paso Rhinos and County Coliseum received $150,000 in rink upgrades.

After making an appearance at the County Coliseum and Fort Bliss earlier in the day Thursday, the Stanley Cup was on public display for fans to take pictures with from 4-7pm.

Phil Pritchard, the official "keeper" of the Stanley Cup since 1988, was also on hand to both keep safe the Cup and take pictures with fans.

Hundreds of NHL fans donning jerseys from the Buffalo Sabres to the Chicago Blackhawks to the newly-minted Seattle Kraken showed out to bask in the Cup's ambiance, an impressive showing for a city in the desert Southwest.

"We were at the rink today earlier and the Rhino players were telling us how passionate the fans are at their games," said Pritchard of his surprise of the turnout. "And they knew there's hockey fans."

"When you see it here, there's every jersey there is!"

The Stanley Cup, originally presented in 1892, weighs 36.4 lbs and stands three feet high in size.

Currently in the possession of the Tampa Bay Lightning, last year's Stanley Cup Winner, the Cup is on it's way back to Tampa Bay on Friday for another celebration party.