Def Leppard star JOE ELLIOTT has apologised to U.S. ice hockey fans for placing their beloved Stanley Cup upside down during a season-opening performance last week (ends10Oct08).
The rocker outraged sports fans when he made the mistake during Def Leppard's show in Detroit, Michigan last Thursday (09Oct08) before the hometown Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs hit the ice.
But, in a statement, Elliott insists organisers of the season launch shouldn't have been so precious with the trophy.
He says, "I will, as always, take full responsibility for what happened because I have big pucks. However, someone at the NHL should have known better and informed me first instead of keeping the Stanley Cup under lock and key until the last minute.
"The practice run the day before with a coffeemaker went swimmingly because it, like every other sporting cup I've ever seen, was wider at the top than the base... Like most of my fellow Brits, I'd never seen it (Stanley Cup) before until it was handed to me sideways, by which time I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right. Whoops."