Pittsburgh-born Brandon Saad brings Stanley Cup home

PITTSBURGH — When you win the Stanley Cup, you get to have a big party with it and do basically whatever you please.

That’s what happened Thursday at Treesdale Country Club with Brandon Saad, who attended Pine-Richland High School, and won the Stanley Cup this year with the Chicago Blackhawks.

“It’s the best part about it,” Saad, the first Pittsburgh-born and –trained player to win the Cup, said. “You get to win the Cup and obviously hoisting it is fun. But to be able to bring it home to your hometown and share it with family and friends makes it all come true.”

Saad was selected with the 43rd pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the Blackhawks. Two summers later, he hosted about 600 friends and family members to a celebration at Treesdale’s Cider House.

Saad’s father, George, said he’s by far his son’s biggest fan.

“I’m proud of you. Congratulations. You’ve accomplished all of your dreams and everything you worked hard for. This is well deserved,” George Saad told his son Thursday.

As his son posed for pictures with the party’s attendees and the Cup, George Saad marveled as the accomplishments of his son.

“God bless America,” George Saad said. “It's the only place on Earth where you can chase your dreams, and your dreams can come true. And honestly, this whole year has been like a dream. And for Brandon, it came true.”

George was in attendance when his son and the Blackhawks hoisted the Cup earlier this summer.

“We were just hugging each other. I think we were speechless at the moment, but we kept saying we loved each other and how exciting the moment was,” Brandon Saad said.

Saad said his day with the Cup began at 9 a.m. when he picked it up at the airport. From there, he went to his cousin’s lake house where they had a very fitting breakfast.

“We had Wheaties for the breakfast of champions. Besides that, when we go home we will have some Mediterranean and maybe some pierogies. We’ll see how it goes,” Saad said.

WPXI