Stanley's Cup: Difference between revisions

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{{dablinkabout|Thisthe articleTV isepisode about theof ''South Park episode. For ''|the professional hockey trophy,|Stanley seeCup|other [[uses|Stanley Cup]]. (disambiguation)}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox South Parktelevision episode|

| series = [[South Park]]

episode_name = Stanley's Cup|

| image =

episode_no = 153|

| caption =

image = [[Image:Stanleyscup1014.PNG|150px]]|

| season = 10 |

airdate = [[November 15]], [[2006]] |

| episode = 14

season = 10 |

| airdate = {{Start date|2006|11|15}}

color = #DEDDE2

| production = 1014

| director = [[Trey Parker]]

| writer = Trey Parker

| guests = Dante Alexander as Nelson Brown

| music = "[[We Are the Champions]]" by [[Queen (band)|Queen]]<br>"[[Song 2]]" by [[Blur (band)|Blur]]

| season_article = South Park season 10

| episode_list = List of South Park episodes

| prev = [[Go God Go XII]]

| next = [[With Apologies to Jesse Jackson]]

}}

"'''Stanley's Cup'''" is the fourteenth and final episode in the [[South Park season 10|tenth season]] of the American animated television series ''[[South Park]]''. The 153rd episode of the series overall, it originally aired on [[Comedy Central]] in the United States on November 15, 2006. In the episode, [[Stan Marsh|Stan]] is forced to become the coach of a pee-wee hockey team. Written and directed by series co-creator [[Trey Parker]], the episode parodies the 1992 film ''[[The Mighty Ducks (film)|The Mighty Ducks]]'' and ''[[BASEketball]]''.<ref name="IGN review">{{cite web|url=http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/746/746108p1.html|title=South Park: ''Stanley's Cup'' Review|work=[[IGN]]|first=Dan|last=Iverson|date=November 16, 2006|access-date=1 June 2009}}</ref>

"'''Stanley's Cup'''" is episode 1014 (#153) of [[Comedy Central]]'s ''[[South Park]]''. It originally aired on [[November 15]], [[2006]]. This is the 10th season finale of [[South Park]]. The episode name is a play on the name of the [[Stanley Cup]], the championship trophy of the [[National Hockey League]] (NHL). [[Stan Marsh]] is the main character of the episode.

In the episode, Stan's bike is towed, and he can't do his job as a paperboy. The only way of getting his bike back is to coach a pee-wee hockey team. Similar to ''[[Cartmanland]]'', the health of a character is affected by others' fortune or misfortune.

==Plot==

[[Stan Marsh|Stan]]'s bicycle is towed away and impounded for [[parking violation]]s. To reacquire it, he is forced to become the coach of a [[USA Hockey|pee-wee hockey]] team. As [[Coach (sport)|coach]], he quickly runs into a whole host of problems in dealing with the small boys. One of the boys, Nelson, has [[Leukaemia|cancer]], which has already spread to his [[bone marrow]]. When he takes a turn for the worse, he asks Stan to win a game for him. However, neither team is capable of scoring and the game ends in a tie. Subsequently, Nelson's cancer remains in limbo - his health is neither improving nor getting worse. Looking for a chance to win, Stan persuades [[Kyle Broflovski|Kyle]] to allow his adopted brother Ike to play as a ringer due to him being Canadian; Kyle reluctantly agrees despite his mother disapproving of hockey being a dangerous sport. In the meantime, Stan's father [[Randy Marsh (South Park)|Randy]] is tormented that his son returned to hockey after he failed to win a game when he was in pee-wee hockey.

{{spoiler}}

Stan's bike is towed for [[parking ticket]]s, which is a problem, since he needs the bike for his [[newspaper]] route (which is how he earns money). He finds an opportunity to get his bike back, by coaching the [[Park County, Colorado|Park County]] [[USA Hockey|Pee-Wee hockey]] team. He quickly runs into a whole host of problems &mdash; one of the kids has [[cancer]] and the team from [[Adams County, Colorado|Adams County]] are all jerks. His father becomes shocked that Stan would take such a job, and thinks that he's trying to "make up" for what happened when Stan was four, when he missed a shot that resulted in a tie for the big game. (Stan can't even remember the event.)

The team is invited to play at the [[Ball Arena|Pepsi Center]], with the same premise — if Stan's team wins, Nelson will have enough hope to survive. When they get to the Pepsi Center to play in the intermission of an [[National Hockey League|NHL]] professional ice hockey game between the [[Colorado Avalanche]] and [[Detroit Red Wings]], the other team does not show up, and Stan worries that since they cannot play, it could result in Nelson's death. Attempting to console the boys, the Avalanche let the pee-wee team play the final period of their game against the Red Wings. The Red Wings unleash a vicious assault on the boys and go on to win, 32–2. Nelson dies in the hospital and the Red Wings celebrate their victory to the song "[[We Are the Champions]]", while Stan looks on dumbfounded at this turn of events and Randy is once again upset that his son lost.

==Production==

[[Trey Parker]] and [[Matt Stone]] revealed that "Stanley's Cup" started off as a "bank episode," an episode which is partially produced in advance at the start of the season for use towards the end of the season to allow for rest during the run. However, whenever Parker and Stone wanted to finish the "banked" episode, they found it increasingly difficult to do so. Because of the dissatisfaction with the episode, it was not finished until they were forced to work on it: at the end of the production run with one episode left to be produced. Because the second half of season ten did not feature a true "bank episode," and thus did not allow for extra time off, Parker and Stone described the run as being an extremely difficult one to complete. Stone compared it to child birth, while Parker thought their struggles to finish production on the season could have resulted in the show ultimately being cancelled.<ref>{{cite video | people=[[Trey Parker|Parker, Trey]]; [[Matt Stone|Stone, Matt]]|date=2006|title=South Park season ten DVD commentary for the episode "Stanley's Cup"| medium=DVD|publisher=[[Comedy Central]]}}</ref>

For the commentary of the final version, Matt and Trey, both find the ending to be very comical, after several weeks of production struggle and describe it as "a really happy ending for the other person's story," but it is polarizing amongst fans.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

==Reception==

Despite the episode being mostly well received by critics, "Stanley's Cup" is a relatively unpopular episode amongst fans of the series. According to Parker and Stone, "a lot of people didn't get that one. We thought the ending was really sweet and weird, but nobody really got it." Stone said the episode "is like three-quarters of a show, but the ending is fucking sweet."<ref>[https://ew.com/gallery/south-park-matt-stone-and-trey-parker-name-their-15-best-episodes-and-53-worst/?slide=357624#357624 'South Park': Matt Stone and Trey Parker Name Their 15 Best Episodes (and 53 Worst)]</ref>

Dan Iverson of ''[[IGN]]'' gave the episode a positive review, with a score of 9.1 out of 10, writing: "With the hilarious satire, and the parody of a well known movie genre we couldn't help but love this episode. Even though it featured sports as the theme, it wasn't any funnier for those who played hockey as a kid, but could be enjoyed by anybody that has seen this type of film. The only problem that we had with the episode was the disregard for [[Steve Irwin]]'s death. ''South Park'' has never had any problems making fun of taboo topics, but it just felt like it is too soon to make these comments."<ref name="IGN review"/>

Nelson, the boy with cancer, takes a turn for the worse, and asks Stan to win a game for him. However, his team isn't very good &mdash; though neither is the Adams County team &mdash; and the team ties, 0-0, following a montage played to the tune of [[Song 2]]. This makes Nelson's cancer "not better, but not worse, sort of putting him into a cancer limbo." The team is then invited to play against [[Denver, Colorado|Denver County]], which is a very good team, at the [[Pepsi Center]], with the same basic promise &mdash; the idea being that if Stan wins, Nelson will have enough hope to survive. Thinking about all the various movies, the team decides to believe in themselves and get a good player &mdash; and recruit [[Ike Broflovski|Ike]], based solely on the fact that he's [[Sport in Canada|Canadian]] (which actually does result in him being a better player than the others). Stan's father confronts Stan about playing at the Pepsi Center &mdash; the same place where Stan didn't win his game years ago, while he still can't remember it &mdash; and while he initially says he won't be there to watch Stan "destroy himself," he then decides (without any actual prompting from Stan) to go anyway.

==References==

When they get to the Pepsi Center to play in the [[intermission]] of a professional game, the other team doesn't show up, and Stan worries that since they can't play, it could result in Nelson's death &mdash; but the [[Colorado Avalanche]] let the Pee-wee team play against the [[Detroit Red Wings]] because they went through a lot of "emotional stuff," which of course doesn't go very well. The Red Wings beat Park County 32-2, injuring every member of the Pee-wee team. A bruised member of Stan's team tells Stan "I hate you" before the Red Wings lift the trophy to the song "[[We Are the Champions]]."

{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==

The episode concludes with Nelson whispering "no hope...no..hope..." as his heart stops beating.

* [https://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/w19jp7/south-park-stanley-s-cup-season-10-ep-14 "Stanley's Cup"] Full episode at South Park Studios

* {{IMDb episode|0897215}}

{{South Park episodes|10}}

==Trivia==

{{Colorado Avalanche}}

{{Detroit Red Wings}}

[[Category:Colorado Avalanche]]

*Two references to the death of [[Steve Irwin]] are made in response to the controversies started over the depiction of Irwin in [[Hell on Earth 2006]].

[[Category:Detroit Red Wings]]

*At the beginning of the episode Mr. Jarvis has three framed news paper clippings. They are titled: 'What is [[Fictional races in South Park#Scuzzlebutt|Scuzzlebutt]]??', 'Local inventor hits big!!' and an obscured view of what can be assumed to be 'Smug Alert!' These are all references to the episodes [[Volcano (South Park episode)|Volcano]], [[The Entity (South Park)|The Entity]] and [[Smug Alert!]], respectively.

[[Category:Ice hockey mass media]]

*The episode heavily parodies [[The Mighty Ducks]].

[[Category:South Park episodes: Seasonseason 10|Stanley's Cupepisodes]]

*The style used to advertise Stan's life is the same style used in the trailer voice-overs of [[Rob Schneider]]'s films in [[The Biggest Douche in the Universe]].

[[Category:The Mighty Ducks]]

*In the game against the Red Wings, one of the players is wearing the number 9 jersey. That number has been retired for [[Gordie Howe]] since 1972.

[[Category:Television episodes about cancer]]

*The audio clip when the Pepsi Center is shown as the Pee-Wees come to play their game is the "battle won" theme from [[Heroes of Might and Magic III]].

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