The Pacific Pups are the 2026 Stanley Pup champions, and the event was as entertaining and tail-wagging as expected.
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Things kicked off with puck drop on the Conference Final game between the Metro”paw”litan and Atlantic Division first, but not before puppy player entrances. Logan Chompson led her Metro Mutts out of the tunnel and was dubbed the “hardest working dog in the net” during her introduction.
Chompson has indeed been working hard to prepare, training with her namesake and teammate Logan Thompson prior to the big night.
Another of Chompson’s teammates, Alex Ovechkin, also showed out to support her, making a brief appereance to say “Let’s go Stanley Pup!” before puck drop.
Chompson’s preparation paid off, as she pounced on a loose puck and rushed down the ice for a goalie goal– the Metro’s first goal of the game.
It seems Chompson may have been studying some of Tom Wilson‘s gameplay as well however, also taking the first penalty of the game for roughing against Tampa Bay’s Anthony Grrrelli and sending the Atlantic Pups to the paw-er play. She was not happy with the call, and her eagerness to get back on the ice was clear.
Grrelli was able to convert on the paw-er play to give the Atlantic Pups the lead, despite rookie Matthew Schaefurry’s — the Paw-lder Cup winner as the rookie rescue of the year– best defensive efforts. Chompson got her revenge however, sending a clear message to rufferee Mike Ploger — the Capitals’ in-game host — by chomping the head clean off a referee toy.
The Flyers’ Owen Nip-it came up big time for the Metro Mutts, scoring a hat trick to help his team secure a comeback 5-4 victory and send them to the Stanley Pup Finals.
The Western Conference showdown was a similar story, as the “Paw”cific Pups battled back from a two goal deficit to take it 6-5 in the dying seconds of the game thanks to a goal from Vegas’ Jack Eichowl.
With Eichowl’s clutch goal, the Pacific Division secured their spot in the Finals matchup against the Metropolitan.
Chompson stood tall to open the Finals game, defending her net and standing her ground when opposing goaltender Devin Collie tried to swap ends before the period change. However, Seattle’s Jaden Snorts was able to beat Chompson and get the Pacific pack on the board first.
Collie then took a play right out of Chompson’s book, grabbing the loose puck from a face-off and charging it in to increase the lead. But, Chompson wouldn’t be outdone. She fought through coverage by San Jose’s Macklin Celewienie, responding with a goalie goal of her own to once again get things started for the Metro.
After some four-on-four play, Edmonton’s Evan Boucharf made the extremely unconventional decision to remain in the box and have his team continue to play a pup down.
The play quickly came back to bite him, however, with the Metro evening things up at two.
Just like the Stanley Cup, the game had its own share of controversy. Collie attacked the net once again to open the second period, but dropped the puck right at the goal line. Rufferee Ploger called it a no-goal on the ice, but Pacific head coach Kenan Thompson (interestingly enough, the Metro did not have a coach) immediately called a Coach’s Challenge. The play was sent to Pur-onto, where Kris “the Kitty” King reviewed the replays and ultimately upheld the no-goal call.
Celewienie served the delay-of-game penalty, and Chompson set a screen for Columbus’ Bone Jenner’s go-ahead goal on the paw-er play. Celewienie was barking his frustration over his time in the kennel-ty box and backed it up with his bite, assisting on Artemi Pawnarin’s equalizer.
As the tie game got chippy, Referee Ploger had to call in Wes McPawuly for some furry backup to bark some sense into the pups on the ice.
Early in the third, Jack Chews stuck with his own rebound to give the Metro the late lead. Nip-it continued his dominant performance, going five hole to make it 5-3 for the Metro Mutts.
Collie got the zoomies once again late in the game, barreling down the ice and tipping one in just past Chompson. Chompson was fed up with the Flame’s goalie copying her moves, leaving her crease to chase Collie down.
Her ventures out of the net ended up nipping Chompson, as Eichowl scored twice more on the empty net in quick succession — the lamp and goal horn weren’t even done going for the Collie goal.
Just like that, the Pacific Pups came from behind again and took the 6-5 victory for the Stanley Pup Championship.
Between the action on the ice, kittens handled ice maintenance and cats worked the cameras and control room. Opera goat Luciano Baaavarotti performed renditions of the Canadian and American anthems, and Bad Bunny (heavy on the “bunny” part) performed before the Finals. Shane Howlander and Ilya Ruffanov were also in attendance to take in the highest level of puppy hockey, making an appearance on the kiss cam.
The Stanley Pup also featured some Hero Dog MVPs, highlighting dogs making a difference. Their final Hero Dog MVP of the night was Biscuit, the Washington Capitals 2021 team pup. Biscuit got the gig through the team’s partnership with America’s Vet Dogs, and now works with veterans in the Walter National Military Medical Center facility dog program.
Along with appearances from celebrity dog lovers, the Stanley Pup caught up with some former puppy players — Lickolaj Yellers, Mats Booparello, and David Pupstrnak — who had found their forever home through the Stanley Pup’s rescue efforts.
While the Pacific Pups were the ones drinking out of the K9 Cup at the end of the night, all of the pups were winners, with almost every puppy player scoring a forever home. After the Stanley Pup’s YouTube premiere, Brad Marchound is the only pup still up for adoption. Learn more about the scrappy 16-week old, and many more furry friends who didn’t compete, here.
