WASHINGTON, D.C—When Olli Maatta recaps his two days with the Stanley Cup, before he reaches the elementary school and the hospital and nighttime family gathering, he starts where he figures all Finns should. “I went to a sauna with it, obviously,” the Penguins' defenseman says. “That’s a cool thing, a really Finnish thing. I always thought, if I actually win the Cup, I want to take it to a sauna.”
The steaming sojourn was brief, maybe 10 minutes or so—not enough time for the alloy bowl to sweat but plenty long to savor the moment. After all, among the glut of feel-good stories on Pittsburgh’s championship roster—Matt Murray’s rookie rise, Phil Kessel’s redemptive tour, Pascal Dupuis’s behind-the-scenes influence, to name three—Maatta’s journey still stood out for all he had endured before his 22nd birthday.