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Shawinigan Cataractes’ Dillon Donnelly owns up to Memorial Cup damages

Neate Sager

It appears everything has been wrapped up in a neat little package insofar as finding out who damaged the Memorial Cup trophy.

Colorado Avalanche seventh-rounder Dillon Donnelly, a Shawinigan Cataractes defenceman, apologized over Twitter on Tuesday morning for causing the damage. Now some of his teammates will not get a day with the trophy, which needs repairs. (As established, it's not the real Memorial Cup.)

Accidents happen and this was not the end of the world; presumably Donnelly feels plenty embarrassed to have earned a place in the canon of championship trophy-damaging athletes. He's also being held to account for damaging the trophy, which will probably lead some people to wonder, unfairly or not, what were the circumstances of a hockey player who glides around the ice on thin blades losing his balance. Let's be fair and chalk it up to good ol' fashioned horseplay.

Cataractes general manager Martin Mondou said Donnelly will have to pay.

''You have to be responsible for your behavior,'' he said.

Mondou had not yet spoken to Donnelly about the damages, but said the issue ''will be resolved between us, the league and the kid. Nobody else.''

Two figurines of hockey players on either side of the cup were missing, but they fell off long before Donnelly had the trophy on July 13 in Montreal. A picture sent on Twitter that day showed Donnelly and the cup without the figurines. (The Canadian Press)

At least people now know wheeler-dealer GM Martin Mondou didn't include the hockey player figurines in a trade.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.