Stanley Cup road trip: 5 highlights from Thunder Bay contest winner

Superior Morning7:30Hot-Tubbing with Don Cherry

Talk about a 50th birthday present! Nina Morrow of Thunder Bay wins a contest to see game four of the Stanley Cup finals and gets birthday greeting from one of her favourite hockey players.

A Thunder Bay, Ont., woman who won at trip for two to attend Monday night's game four of the Stanley Cup final in California between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the San Jose Sharks says "it was the the most incredible experience my son and I have had, ever!"

• California dreamin': Thunder Bay hockey fan wins trip to Stanley Cup game 4

Nina Morrow won tickets for herself, and 20-year-old sonJonathan through a contest on Facebook, sponsored by Scotiabank.

These are Morrow's top five highlights from her adventure:

1. Don Cherry and the hot tub

Unable to sleep because of the excitement, Morrow decided to go down to the pool area early in the morning. She was sitting in the hot tub when she saw the 82-year-old star of Coach's Corner walk by.

"I screamed 'Oh my gosh, you're Don Cherry' and he put his hand to his heart. I thought I was going to give him a coronary!", said Morrow.

Here's how Cherry described the meeting on Twitter.

2. The Stanley Cup

"We got to see the Stanley Cup. We got to touch it. We got to take pictures with it," said Morrow, who described the event as "the experience of a lifetime."

The pair were also treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the SAP Center, which included a visit with the man who makes the ice at most the of the NHL arenas.

3. Take-home goodies from the game

"It is one of the loudest arenas I've ever been in, in my life," said Morrow of the decibel-level in the Shark Tank during game time.

"The fans are crazy, super loud. The energy in the building was unbelievable."

Reinforcing that enthusiasm were all the goodies given to the crowd attending the game. They received t-shirts, towels to wave and special glow bracelets "which are all controlled by computers. There was a light show, different colours, different music... It was really, really neat."

4. Penguins rookie sensation Matt Murray

The Morrows were seated just left of the goalie and couldwatch Matt Murray make some spectacular saves for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"We were just so excited to be able to see him in person, after the way he's been playing and we told every single person we met 'we're from Thunder Bay, Matt Murray's hometown' and the San Jose Sharks fans were, for the most part, pretty excited that we came from Thunder Bay to see him play," said Morrow.

5. Very special 50th birthday present

Morrow will celebrate her 50th birthday on June 14. Just prior to leaving for the game, two of the organizers came to her room with a box, she thought contained a pizza.

Not so much.

First they played her a special videotaped birthday greeting from her favourite defenceman, P.K. Subban, of her beloved Montreal Canadiens.

"I was speechless. I was just in shock," said Morrow, who opened to box to find an autographed Subban jersey.

"Still, every time I look at the video, I can't believe it."

But for Morrow, the true highlight was being on this adventure with Jonathan.

"It just makes it so much more special sharing it with my son."

On mobile, watch the video here.