John Grahame could join his mom, Charlotte, as a name engraved on the Stanley Cup.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published June 2, 2004
Charlotte Grahame doesn't have any wild stories to tell about the time she brought the Stanley Cup to her Denver home.
There were no pool parties. No beverages were sipped from it. And no one held it over his head and did the chicken dance around the living room. Instead, Grahame said, the Cup stood for an hour or so on a table for her, her family and a few friends to see.
Grahame took a picture with the Cup. But another focused on a portion of the trophy an inch or so wide. A closeup of her name.
How about that? Charlotte Grahame, mother of Lightning backup goaltender John Grahame, is one of just eight women with their names on North America's most famous trophy.
"It's a tremendous honor," Charlotte said. "I don't take it lightly."
"It's pretty exciting for her," John said. "She works hard. She deserves it."
Charlotte is senior director of hockey administration for the Avalanche. She was the team's first local employee when it relocated in 1995 to Denver from Quebec, where it was known as the Nordiques.
So when the Avalanche won its second Cup in 2001, general manager Pierre Lacroix insisted Charlotte's name be included in the team engraving.
If the Lightning, tied at two with the Flames in the seven-game series, can win the championship, Charlotte and John would be the Cup's first mother-son combination.
"It would be a little bit of NHL history," John said. "If that were to happen, it would be pretty cool."
"It would be a great trivia question," Charlotte said, "don't you think?"
Charlotte knew hockey even before the Avalanche came to town.
She is the wife of former NHL goalie Ron Grahame, who played for the Bruins, Kings and Nordiques. He is an associate athletic director at Denver University.
A second son, Jason, is an amateur scout for the Avalanche and played, like his father, for DU, though as a defenseman. And the Grahames have been called "the first family of Colorado hockey."
"Ron taught us the love and passion of the game," Charlotte said. "I drew the long straw."
But Lacroix said his recognition of Charlotte was for more than that.
"She was an important part of our transition," he said of the team's move to Denver. "She became my assistant and part of the essential element for the success of the franchise. She does a lot of the everyday things, but including all departments and in all aspects of the organization."
Lacroix said Charlotte works with him on "contract technicalities" and "player movement.
"Sometimes," Lacroix said, "she just gives her input. She has the confidence of a lot of people. So when we won the Cup in 2001, I decided she deserved to have her name on it."
"It's a tremendous honor and a privilege that Pierre was generous enough to include me," Charlotte said.
Charlotte said one of her duties in 1996, when the Avalanche won its first Cup, and 2001 was to figure out the Stanley Cup's itinerary. You know, who gets the trophy on which days. Each player gets the Cup for 24 hours.
Charlotte said when she noticed a gap in the schedule, she brought the Cup home. No one at the house touched it, except Charlotte, who was the only one with a Cup victory to her name.
There is an old superstition that until you win a Cup, you cannot touch it. Some players, such as Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk, won't even look at it.
So Charlotte said she keeps her pictures put away. Even in her Pepsi Center office, there are four pictures of John and Jason. No pictures of the Cup.
"I hold them very dearly," she said of her pictures with the trophy. "But I just brought (the Cup) home for an hour between a bunch of other guys and coaches. It really belongs to them."
In less than a week it also might belong to her son.
WOMENONTHECUP
A list of the women who have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup:
Marguerite Norris (1955) was president of the Detroit Red Wings.
Sonia Scurfield (1989) was a co-owner of the Calgary Flames.
Marie-Denise DeBartolo York (1991) was president of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Marian Ilitch (1997, 1998) was a co-owner of the Detroit Red Wings.
Denise Ilitch (1997, 1998) with the Detroit Red Wings.
Lisa Ilitch (1997, 1998) with the Detroit Red Wings.
Carole Ilitch Trepeck (1997, 1998) with the Detroit Red Wings.
Charlotte Grahame's name was added in 2001 when Colorado won.
