From babes in arms to seniors, the steady stream of visitors to view the Stanley Cup covered all ages, Saturday, December 22 in The Blue Mountains.

From youngsters just learning about the game to those who can recall hockey before helmets and goalie masks and tube skates, the expressions of awe, admiration, fascination, and pleasant memories were common.

Craig Campbell of the Hockey Hall of Fame has seen it many times. He told of one trip with the Cup when a man who was obviously a 'biker' had tears running down his cheeks as he looked the Cup over. The man told Campbell the Cup brought back a lot of great memories.

The Cup came to the Beaver Valley Community Centre, in Thornbury, as a thank you from the National Hockey League Officials Association who held their pre-season training camp here in September.

Campbell was on hand to answer questions and show photos of the Cups many travels. Campbell took the Cup on a little personal side trip, Friday, on his way to Thornbury. He stopped in the village of Ravenna, in the heart of the The Blue Mountains, to take a picture of the Cup in the home town of his mother-in-law, Edna Perrin.

Also on hand was local resident Terry Gregson, a former NHL referee who is now the league's Senior Manager of Officials.

The visit was a chance for Campbell and Gregson to recall a shared Stanley Cup moment. In 1993, the 100th anniversary of the first Stanley Cup, Gregson was the referee for Game 5 of the Montreal Canadiens - Los Angeles Kings final. Montreal won that fifth game to capture the series, and it was Campbell who brought the Cup to the ice surface and handed it off to Henri Richard, Lanny McDonald, and Billy Smith, representing the games' legends.

The Cup's unique place in Canadian culture was evident, Saturday. One after another people waited patiently in line for their chance to get up close to the Cup. They posed for pictures, touched the bowl and the rings that form its base, gently rubbed their fingers over the names of their favourite teams and players. Several babies got to sit in the bowl, a replica of the original bowl donated by Lord Stanley of Preston in 1893.

Campbell explained that the original bowl -- too valuable to risk damage or theft -- is on permanent display at the Hall of Fame in Toronto. The Cup he brought here is the one presented to winning teams -- its the only one that leaves the Hockey Hall of Fame. An exact duplicate is on display at the Hall of Fame when that Cup is on the road.

A major atom team from Owen Sound, on their way to a game in Penetang, stopped in to have a visit with the cup. Teams from the Beaver Valley Athletic Association had their chance to visit the Cup and learn about its history during a special morning session.

The Cup rode into town on one of The Blue Mountains fire trucks, paraded from Clarksburg through Thornbury to the Community Centre.

Local resident Larry Hall stopped by to see the Cup that almost bore the name of his grandfather, Joe Henry Hall, a tough guy who had the nickname "Bad Man" Hall.

In 1919, an epidemic of Spanish influenza was sweeping North America. Joe Hall was playing with the NHL-champion Montreal Canadiens who travelled to Seattle to play for the Stanley Cup. But with the series tied, two of the Montreal players -- they had only nine on the team -- came down with Spanish influenza.

The series was abandoned, and in the interests of sportsmanship the Seattle club declined to claim the trophy. The Spanish 'flu claimed tens of thousands of lives, more than the First World War. The death toll include Joe 'Bad Man' Hall, who died about 36 hours after the game that tied the series.

The only other year the Cup hasn't been awarded was 2005, the year of the lockout that canceled the entire season.

Gregson said the league hasn't decided on a site for the next training camp for officials. With many of the pre-season exhibition games slated to be played in Europe, next autumn, Gregson said, it's possible the officials' training camp will be overseas. The Blue Mountains Director of Recreation Shawn Everitt said town officials have invited the officials back.

"We've made it quite clear that we're aware we'd love to have them back," he said. "We've had some discussions with them and we've been making sure they know that we want them back."