Iron Range Native Matt Niskanen Brings Home The Stanley Cup

The former Virginia-MIB star got his chance to show off the Stanley Cup in front of his hometown.

VIRGINIA, Minn. – Fans were outside Miners Memorial Building as early as 6 a.m. to get a chance to see one of the most elegant looking trophies in all of sports.

The line extended all around the parking lot with people who wanted to take advantage of this once–in–a–lifetime opportunity.

“Who knows when the next opportunity, if ever, would ever have come for me to get a chance to stand next to the Stanley Cup, and how special it is for me to be able to stand next to that cup on the rink that I coached in for the last seven years. It’s unbelievably special,” said former Virginia-MIB hockey coach Reed Larson.

“I wanted to make it available to the public for whoever wanted to come take a picture. We tried to move people through here as fast as we could for three hours. We fell a little short. There was a line outside when two o’clock came. So I just took a quick twirl and brought it outside so everyone could at least see it,” Niskanen said.

Kids of all ages donned Niskanen jerseys as well to come see their hometown hero.

“That excites me as a former coach of this program because I think that you just see Blue Devils and the Blue Devils program continuing to grow just because of this opportunity,” Larson said.

The state of Minnesota is home to lots of Capitals fans, some driving several hours to get a glimpse of the Cup.

“We live in Brainerd so we’re two hours away to come here and see the cup instead of flying out to D.C. and getting into the pandemonium out there. It was great to come see it,” Capitals fan Nick Bentley said.

Niskanen added that to bring the cup home to where it all started made this day that much better.

“It means a lot to me. I spend my summers here. I plan to retire here and my kids will go to school here. This is home. I come back every year for a reason. Good people live here. I love to hunt and fish. There’s no better place for that. And I grew up playing here so to bring it right into this rink where I grew up playing high school and I actually started playing in here when I was in Pee-Wees, it’s a special feeling right now being on this floor,” Niskanen said.