Hockey players are a superstitious bunch. For years, the superstition has been that it is bad luck to touch the Stanley Cup before you have rightfully won it. That belief has extended to not touching the conference trophy as well, lest teams anger the hockey gods by touching a trophy inferior to Lord Stanley’s.

Hockey fans also believe in the curse. To touch the Stanley Cup is to doom your team to never winning the Cup. This leads to some funny, hover-hand photos with the Cup at the Hockey Hall of Fame.

On Sunday, TJ Oshie put a dent in believers of the curse by sharing the story of how he touched the Stanley Cup when he was 12 or 13-years-old.

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“I must’ve been maybe 12, 13 and the Stanley Cup went to Seattle, to the Olympic View Arena,” Oshie said. “If I’m not mistaken it was sitting in the back of a truck and all of us kids got the chance to go touch it or take a picture with it.

“My dad told me not to touch it, he said it was a bad omen,” Oshie continued. “So I put my hand behind it and sure enough, the photographer made me put my hand on the side of it. I only touched it for maybe a millisecond, I pulled my hand back off it and told him I wasn’t allowed to do that.

“So I don’t know if that counts or not. If it does, then it might not be a curse because obviously we did something pretty special last year and got to hold it over our heads.”

Being able to hold the Stanley Cup over your head is only allowed if a player has won the Cup. The Keepers of the Cup strictly enforce that rule. (Also, no keg-stands over the Cup. That’s a new rule, courtesy of your Washington Capitals.)

Oshie also posted the photo of himself just as he was snatching his hand away from the Stanley Cup. (Doesn’t he look just like his daughter Leni in this photo?)

Mike Bolt, one of the Keepers of the Cup, told RMNB’s Ian Oland that of course there is no curse. He cited Oshie’s never-before-seen photo above as an example.

“Sure, that superstition is fun, but it’s not really a true thing because everywhere we go, somebody’s always touching it,” Bolt said. “You said you wouldn’t touch it, and that’s your own thing, but we’ve had other Capitals fans touch it over the years – even this year before they won.”

After all, here’s all the proof you need.

Headline photo: @warroadbrand on Instagram