‘It’s special’: Stoughton native returns home to alma mater with the Stanley Cup

STOUGHTON, Mass. — Three months after hoisting the Stanley Cup, a Stoughton High School alum and manager for the Carolina Hurricanes returned to his hometown with the beloved hardware.

Jorge Alves, the head equipment manager for the 2026 Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes, was welcomed by hundreds of students and community members at his alma mater Thursday.

Around campus, he hoisted the Stanley Cup before displaying it in the school gym for others to take pictures with it.

Alves was a goalie for the Black Knights and graduated in 1997 from Stoughton High. After four years in the Marine Corps, he returned to the ice for a brief stint in minor league hockey.

He joined the Hurricanes’ equipment staff in 2003. After more than two decades with the franchise, he was named head equipment manager for the team at the beginning of their 2025-2026 championship season.

With his name now etched into the cup and hockey history, Alves decided to spend his day with Lord Stanley in his hometown.

“As far as work ethic and passion for something, it all came from here,” he said. “That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to bring it back to the people I grew up with and people who taught me those values.”

He was given a tour around campus greeted visitors who came to see the Stanley Cup in the gym.

“It’s special,” he told Boston 25 Thursday. “To be able to share that is even more special.”

His former Stoughton High hockey coach Dan Mark added, “[Hockey’s] not win and lose. It’s about the friendships you develop and attachment to the school. Jorge bleeds black and orange and I think he always will.”

Although it wasn’t a Bruins celebration, hockey fans weren’t missing the chance to get up close and personal with the cup.

One added, “It’s amazing. I booked it out of work early for this.”

Jorge stopped at multiple locations across town Thursday with the cup.

He looks forward to the ring and banner raising ceremony in Carolina in late September.

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