After leading the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 13 goals in 25 games, Pittsburgh Penguins rookie forward Jake Guentzel got his day with the trophy on July 13, and only then did his achievement really sink in..

The Cup landed in Minneapolis, Minn., and headed to Guentzel's hometown of Woodbury as family and friends awaited its arrival. That's when he was able to truly appreciate the culmination of a rookie season which began in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.

"That's when it becomes real," Guentzel said, according to Jessi Pierce of NHL.com.

Guentzel brought the trophy to a public event at HealthEast Sports Center, where he played youth hockey.

While the Penguins' top stars in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Marc-Andre Fleury finished off their (first) career hat trick of Stanley Cup victories, Guentzel is cherishing what could be his only one.

"It's exciting. You've worked so hard for this your whole life, and to have my family and friends here and see how excited they are, it makes it fun for all of us," said Guentzel.

His father Mike, who is an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota, approached the beginning of his son's professional career with very modest expectations.

"We were just hoping he'd get to play maybe five or 10 games in the pros to start," Mike said.

Instead, Jake quickly got an opportunity on Crosby's left side, and stayed there for the remainder of the regular season and through the playoffs. Asked how he would have reacted if someone told him a year earlier that he'd be at his old rink with the Stanley Cup on Thursday, Jake echoed his father's surprise.

"I'd probably have laughed at you," he said. "You don't expect it to go like this. It's been fun. (I'm) just trying to soak it in."

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