On August 2, Chicago Blackhawks fan Brendan Millhouser posted photos of the Prince of Wales Trophy taken from a two-day Blackhawks fan convention on Rockthered.net and Twitter. The Prince of Wales Trophy is presented annually to the Eastern Conference champions, who happen to be our beloved Philadelphia Flyers this season. The trophies were on display from the Hockey Hall of Fame, but Millhouser noticed something odd: according to the engraving, the 2009-2010 Eastern Conference champions were apparently the Washington Capitals.
Over the course of the last week and a half, Millhouser has had to defend himself against accusations that the photos were Photoshopped. CSN went as far as to contact the Hockey Hall of Fame, eventually publishing a report that, according to a HoF spokesperson, it was “just a hoax.” That was until Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blogger contacted the HoF himself and received alternate confirmation from spokersperon Kelly Masse that there had been an engraving error.
“It was not Photoshopped. It was a real picture… What happened was that it was incorrectly engraved, and the Hall of Fame people with the trophy realized it in Chicago. When they got back from Chicago, they got it properly engraved.”
That thing BETTER be engraved right!!!