Stanley Cup Comes Home To PA And Johnstown, Megastars Among Those In Attendance At Festivities
July 13, 2017
By Trapper Tom, Editor, KSWA Digest
Johnstown businessman Mike Migut knows how to throw a party. To help celebrate the Stanley Cup stay with the Pittsburgh Penguins for a second consecutive year, Migut and his family threw one of the most festive celebrations that the trophy will see all summer.
Migut, who along with his mother Margie--and their business Valley Printing and Design--earned the Keystone State Wrestling Alliance's (KSWA) inaugural "Bill Cardille Legacy Award" for community service in February. They didn't rest on their laurels as the family hosted upwards of 1,000 friends (and a handful of KSWA Megastars and at least two men "of the cloth") on Tuesday, July 11, as a way of honoring hometown success story Dana Heinze.
Migut hosted Penguins Head Equipment Manager Heinze last year, but this championship--the fourth Heinze has had involvement with--also fell on the Penguins' 50th anniversary.
Heinze met with just about all in attendance, and happily took pictures with anyone who asked. The Stanley Cup was accompanied to WDVE Radio in Pittsburgh earlier in the day by the official keeper of the cup, Philip Pritchard. Heinze then traveled the 72 miles from Pittsburgh to Johnstown. The most prestigious trophy in sports visited Valley Printing, the Incline Plane and other areas in Heinze's hometown. At one point, he ran into a number of local teens, including Kasey Meredith, who performed the National Anthem with a guitar at the KSWA Arena several years ago.
When the Stanley Cup arrived in nearby Seward, PA, it was positioned on the dock overlooking M&M Lake. It's the same body of water Migut has used to host annual, charitable fishing events. It's also the place that Migut engaged in a charitable arm-wrestling contest with Bruno Sammartino. Proceeds of that event benefited the Johnstown Police Department.
Guests on a very tight check list (organizers didn't want to cause bedlam in the small town) arrived, ate, drank, enjoyed a Jimmy Buffet cover artist, and snapped photos with the Cup. A display of hockey sweaters and "Ten things you didn't know about the Stanley Cup" decorated the landscape.
Pritchard even donned his white gloves to hold a wooden replica of the Stanley Cup that Migut proudly displays at the vacation home.
KSWA Megastars, including 5-Star Champion Lord Zoltan, "The Face of Pittsburgh" Lou Martin and the 7-foot-tall Jack Massacre were among those who shared time with the Stanley Cup.
Heinze called the day a "blessing." Migut shared those sentiments.
At the end of the evening, a fireworks display capped off a memorable night.
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