It seems the only time the Stanley Cup gets paraded around Toronto, it's in Kris Draper's hands.

In this case, Draper and the Cup paraded aboard a fire truck through his parents' Scarborough neighbourhood, where about a 1,000 fans lined up to sneak a peek, take a photo and grab an autograph in Mike and Mary Lynne Draper's backyard.

"Every time I look at this Cup, I still get goosebumps," said Kris Draper. "I grew up here. It's something I can give back to hockey, to minor hockey, to kids.

"I couldn't even imagine if I was a kid and the Cup was in someone's backyard and I could go see it when I was 8, 9, 10 years old. So that's why I do it."

This is the fourth time Draper, a Detroit Red Wings forward, has brought the Cup home to Scarborough. He actually has two days with the Cup, handing it over tomorrow morning when it will be off to defenceman Derek Meech in Winnipeg. Each team gets 100 days with the Cup, to be divided among players, coaches, scouts, etc.

It was a full day of activities for Draper, his family and friends, and Canada's most cherished piece of silverware.

The Cup arrived at his West Hill home at 8 a.m. He loaded it with Timbits and invited family and friends over for breakfast. From there, the Cup went to the Hospital for Sick Children.

"It was nice to be able to put a smile on those kids' faces, even if it was just for a few minutes, when you think what they're going through," said Draper.

The Cup, of course, travelled in style, in a 14-seat Lincoln Navigator stretch limo. It came for lunch to – where else? – the Detroit Eatery on the Danforth. The 60-year-old restaurant is decked out in Wings paraphernalia and was packed with curious onlookers.

"We got to touch the Cup before Mats Sundin," joked Gunan Seevaratnam.

The Cup had fingerprints all over it and appeared scratched in places but still looked glorious to its admirers.

"It's amazing. This is once-in-a-lifetime thing," said 10-year-old Kenneth Cohen, who likened the trophy to the one he won with the Leaside Flames. "My trophy was not even half this size. This is awesome."

Draper's older kids, Kienan and Kennedi, enjoyed a big scoop of ice cream out of it back home.

The 15.9-kilogram Cup – made in 1958 to replace the original – was never out of the sight of Bill Wellman, one of four Cup keepers employed by the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"I don't think I've seen Timbits in it for a long, long time," said Wellman. "Ice cream, though, that's pretty standard."

Wellman, by the way, accompanied the Cup on its trip to Malibu, Calif., with Chris Chelios and called rumours that the Cup had been abandoned on the beach and used as an ashtray "malicious lies."

But no indignity, real or rumoured, compares with what Draper's newborn daughter Kamryn – diaperless – did to the Cup in June.

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"A week after we won it, I had my newborn daughter in there and she pooped in the Cup," said Draper. "That was something. We had a pretty good laugh.

"It was, well, clean it out. I still drank out of it that night, so no worries."



