UPDATED 4/11 5:51 p.m.
Mike Bolt’s 20-year career as a keeper of the Stanley Cup has kept him on the road for about 150 days a year and brought him to all 50 states, every province and territory in Canada, and overseas to countries like Switzerland, Japan, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Russia, Mexico, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia and Afghanistan.
The 50-year-old Bolt’s job is to ensure the integrity of the Stanley Cup and also act as security and travel agent for the trophy, which some sources say is valued at at least $650,000. Most hockey fans agree that the trophy is priceless and that putting a value on it is inaccurate. He’s also pretty sure that the greatest trophy in all of sport wouldn’t mind a return trip to Tampa Bay.
“I fell in love with Tampa back in ‘04,” Bolt — who's neutral on who he roots for in the NHL — told CL during the Cup’s Thursday afternoon visit to the Tampa postcard mural in downtown. That’s the last time the Lightning won the Stanley Cup, and Bolt (yes, that’s his real last name) has been to town a few times since then.
He said that he loves the Tampa Bay Lightning organization, Bolts fans and the beautiful weather. Bolt, a Toronto native born and raised in the Golden Horseshoe area in southern Ontario, has enjoyed watching Tampa’s downtown develop and tells everyone around the league that Tampa Bay is one of the NHL’s best markets.
“This is just an awesome hockey town,” he said. Bolt laughed when asked if the Cup, made of silver and nickel alloy, would ever get too hot to touch after catching a tan on a Bay area beach.
“I don't think we're quite that hot down here. Up in the Arctic the silver can get where if you put your lips on it they're gonna stick,” Bolt said. “It gets warm here, but not to where you're going to burn yourself.”
After last night’s series opening loss to the Blue Jackets, the Lightning still have a lot of work to do if they want to bring the Cup to the beach. Bolt, for his part, will be ready to watch over it should the hockey gods smile upon Tampa Bay, and he’ll make sure that the players abide by the new rules enacted by the NHL and Hockey Hall of Fame after the defending champion Washington Capitals partied with it harder than any team will ever be allowed to again.
“I don't want it to get hurt, and I don't want to be in disrespected. I mean, if you put all the major sports trophies together and times that by 10 it's still not as valuable as the Stanley Cup. I understand the rules and the guys do too,” Bolt said.
“I like the fact that you have to earn the right to spend time with it,” he said. “It’s reserved for the guys who went in and did it.”
And let’s hope our guys get the chance come summer.
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This article appears in Apr 11-18, 2019.