Stanley Cup champion and Ithaca native Dustin Brown says he wasn't sure what to expect when he first decided to bring the cup home. And when it started raining an hour before the event Saturday, he was even more worried people wouldn't show up. But he couldn't have been more wrong. As our Brian Dwyer reports, thousands of people filled the Ithaca High School football field for a chance to see Brown and the history he made.

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ITHACA, N.Y. -- By 8 a.m., a couple thousand people were already in line, trying to stay dry.

An hour later, the man and the trophy they came to see appeared and the rain was forgotten.

Dustin Brown, captain of the NHL Champion Los Angeles Kings, bringing the Stanley Cup home.

Brown said, "I'm being biased sure, but that trophy is probably, if you want to bring a trophy to a town, that's the trophy you want to bring."

"I just want to touch it and get my picture taken with it," Ithaca resident Garrett Breen said.

"It's the best thing I've ever seen right now," said Ithaca resident Patrick Breen.

One of the first in line to see it, Ethan Andrews. Andrews isn't a Kings fan. In fact, he roots for the team the Kings beat in the finals, the New Jersey Devils. But Andrews says fandom aside, he's proud of Brown and wouldn't have missed this for the world.

"Yeah, you wish your team would have won, but you know what? It's better to see him with it and bring it back home than to see it on TV or see it on ESPN. It's amazing. It's a dream come true," Andrews said.

A dream for Dustin Brown that he's just starting to wake up from. Talk shows, movie premiers and more, the past few weeks have been crazy for the captain. And while he says there's not one best moment, this one may be the most popular: His boys drinking chocolate milk from the Stanley Cup, a video that went viral in hours.

"That's pretty cool as a dad. They don't understand it yet, but it'll be something cool for when they grow up," Brown said.

It's moments like that and today that Brown says he's glad he now has the time to let soak in.

"Seeing it today is a little different than seeing it the first three weeks,” Brown said. “You're so amped up and excited from your emotions. This is a little more of a reflective day with it.''

Of course, not everyone was that calm.

"It was like amazing. I got my picture with it, I got to touch it and I got to kiss it," Garrett Breen said.

Could Garrett get to do it again, soon? Maybe. The Kings will return every starter they had last season. That's pretty rare for a championship team in professional sports these days. A big help in possibly winning it all again.

The event also helped raise money for the Semper Fi Fund, which helps wounded Marines and other servicemen. A cousin of Brown's wife died from injuries he suffered in Afghanistan.

Raw interview

Watch the entire interview with Dustin Brown.

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