OK, we know that Buffalo is currently all-things-Sabres crazy. But did you know that the “Stanley Cup” happens to already be residing in Buffalo’s West Side, on the roof of La Nova Pizzaria?
I was tooling across West Ferry, heading to Grant Street, when my friend said “Hey, look! The “Stanley Cup!” Even I, a hockey novice, know that the “Stanley Cup” is the big Kahuna of hockey. I looked to where he was pointing and sure enough, there it was; the “Stanley Cup” on the roof of La Nova!
Let me tell you how it got there…….
“We made it last year,” said Dave Alessi, co-creator of the La Nova “Stanley Cup.” “This year we’re in the playoffs, so we decided to put it up again.”
Consummate hockey fans, Dave and co-worker Joe Cutezo, were on a mission last year when the Sabres were in the playoffs with the Ottawa Senators. When the Senators went down, Dave called the losing team to see if they would part with the teams’ famous 16’ inflatable Stanley Cup. With the wounds of loss still fresh, the Senators were at first quite incensed by Dave’s phone call. “They hung up on him,” said Joe. Eventually they called him back. Their representative said that since it was the only large inflatable Stanley Cup in the country, they had decided to keep it.
Dave and Joe were bummed. They wanted a Stanley Cup, too. So with necessity once again being the mother of invention, they decided to make their own version of the famed trophy.
A very close inspection of Dave and Joe’s trophy will present you, the viewer, with an interesting revelation. The La Nova “Stanley Cup” is actually constructed of recycled car tires, an old oil drum, and topped off by a super-sized restaurant pasta colander! “It took us a couple of days. We had to find the tires and shape them, cut them and then put it together,” said Dave. It’s very cool. “We have it lit so it really looks great at night!”
The entire construction was then painted metallic silver! It looks amazing!
I asked Dave if the enormous colander was from La Nova?
“Yeah, we kinda “borrowed” it. The lady really flipped out! But she’s OK with it now.”
Now this is NOT the Stanley Cup that’s recently been thrilling viewers as it tours the area shopping malls. But nonetheless, Dave and Joe’s creation is equally special and unique in a modern, 2007 way; the La Nova Cup is GREEN!
No, not the color green, it’s silver just like the original. “Green” as in the adaptive reuse of recycled materials! Now I’m not sure if Dave and Joe originally had reuse in mind, but if not, it indeed was a happy accident!
And that is the genius part!
A couple of REAL Sabres fans, Dave and Joe are not only thrilled to proudly be sharing their “green” La Nova Cup with their patrons and the city of Buffalo, they also happen to each be featuring “playoff beards.”
I thanked Dave and Joe for their time and they gave me a hearty “Go Sabres” as I walked out the door.
GO SABRES!
Photo:
Dave Alessi (L); Joe Cutezo (R)
La Nova
371 West Ferry St.
716.881.3355
http://www.lanova.com/