"Stanley's Cup" is the fourteenth and final episode in the tenth season of the American animated television series ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...

''. The 153rd episode of the series overall, it originally aired on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

in the United States on November 15, 2006. In the episode,

Stan Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...

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 ''The Mighty Ducks'' is an American media franchise. It features a trilogy of live-action films released in the 1990s by Walt Disney Pictures, an animated television series, a live-action sequel television series, and a real-world hockey team ...

''. 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

's bicycle is towed away for

parking violation A parking violation is the act of parking a motor vehicle in a restricted place or in an unauthorized manner. It is against the law virtually everywhere to park a vehicle in the middle of a highway or road; parking on one or both sides of a road ...

s. To reacquire it, he is forced to become the coach of a pee-wee hockey team. As

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

, he quickly runs into a whole host of problems in dealing with the small boys. One of the boys, Nelson, has

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, which has already spread to his

bone marrow Bone marrow is a semi-solid tissue found within the spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It is composed of hematopoietic ce ...

. 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. The team is invited to play at the

Pepsi Center Ball Arena (formerly known as Pepsi Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Denver, Colorado. It is situated at Speer Boulevard, a main thoroughfare in downtown Denver, and is served by two nearby exits off Interstate 25. A light r ...

, 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

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

professional ice hockey game between the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

and

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

, 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.”

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. 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.

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."'South Park': Matt Stone and Trey Parker Name Their 15 Best Episodes (and 53 Worst)
/ref> Dan Iverson of ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' 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."

References

External links

"Stanley's Cup"
Full episode at South Park Studios * {{Detroit Red Wings Colorado Avalanche Detroit Red Wings Ice hockey mass media South Park (season 10) episodes The Mighty Ducks Television episodes about cancer