Stanley's Cup

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"Go God Go XII"

"Stanley's Cup"

"With Apologies to Jesse Jackson"

"Stanley's Cup"
Episode no.	Season 10 Episode 14
Production no.	1014
Original airdate	November 15, 2006
Episode chronology Previous Next "Go God Go XII" "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson"
List of all South Park episodes

"Stanley's Cup" is the fourteenth and final episode of Season Ten, and the 153rd overall episode of South Park. It aired on November 15, 2006.

Synopsis

When Stan's bike is towed, 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.

Plot

Spoiler warning! Plot details follow.

Stan is in the office of his boss, Mr. Jarvis. He complains that Stan has not been doing his job as a paperboy properly. Stan explains how he has to go to school and explains that now he will be able to do his job. As he says this, Mr. Jarvis points out his bike is being towed. Stan fails to stop the council from towing his bike and knows he is in danger of losing his job.

Stan appeals to the council and they give him a chance to get his bike back; to coach the Park County Pee-Wee Hockey Team. At the arena, Stan meets the team and sees that the kids are very inexperienced and unable to play properly, especially Nelson Brown, a boy with cancer. Upon hearing Stan is coaching the Park County pee-wee hockey team, Randy believes Stan is doing this to make up for causing his own pee-wee hockey match to come to a draw, which Stan doesn't even remember.

Unfortunately, Nelson takes a turn for the worse, and his parents plead Stan to tell Nelson that he is going to die, instead of doing it themselves. Nelson asks one thing of Stan; to win the next match against the Adams County Pee-Wee Hockey Team, which ultimately results in a draw. According to Dr. Doctor who is treating Nelson, the draw has put him in a "cancer limbo". Nelson then puts all his hope on the team winning in the next match against Denver and if the team loses, Nelson will die for sure.

Stan then talks with the team who suggest they go and find a Canadian to play with them. He then auditions Ike for the team, despite Kyle saying how his mother will kill him if Ike gets hurt. Randy is still overreacting and explains to Stan that he won't be watching the match, but eventually changes his mind (despite not being prompted in any way from Stan).

At the Pepsi Center, the other team fails to show up, so the Colorado Avalanche lets them play their game against the Detroit Red Wings. Not only does Park County lose in a landslide but the team is thrashed and is beaten up. The Red Wings even go as far as to mutilate and wound the innocent kindergarteners. One of the kids decleares that he hates Stan. At the hospital, Nelson says he has no hope and dies. At the Pepsi Center, the Detroit Red Wings lift the trophy and excessively celebrate while Stan looks on in shock.

Controversy

Stanley's Cup was met with controversy upon its release. Many viewers of the episode accused the creators and writers of the episode of extreme distaste in the ending of the episode. As was standard for controversial South Park episodes, the more dedicated fanbase would usually disregard the opinions of critics and non-regular viewers and defend the series and its creators. Unusually, however, many regular watchers of the program criticized the ending of Stanley's Cup as well, and were particularly critical of the episode being chosen as the Season 10 finale.

Series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone defended the comedic value of the ending of Stanley's Cup in commentary. 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."

The episode remains polarizing among fans, and is considered one of the most unpopular episodes of the series.