The Detroit Red Wings star, the first from the province to win the Stanley Cup, was flanked by hundreds of relatives, friends and fans as he entered his hometown of Harbour Grace in a motorcade with the prize.

Cleary stopped by the S.W. Moores Arena, the local hockey rink where he played as a child, before going to a soccer field where thousands were waiting for him.

"Looking out at everybody, I'm really humbled at the turnout," Cleary said as fans wailed.

"I didn't really expect all of this, but I knew there was a reason why I had to bring the Stanley Cup back to Newfoundland."

Premier Danny Williams, who also spoke to the crowd, joked that the 29-year-old's surging popularity since winning the Cup has delivered a blow to his ego.

"It's the first time since I became premier where I go over and say, 'Hi, I'm Danny Williams,' and everybody goes, 'Danny who?"' Williams said.

"Newfoundlanders and Labradorians do not give in. We do not give up. And ladies and gentlemen, I don't think anybody embodies the fighting spirit more than the young man that we are honouring here today."

Williams later treated Cleary to a slightly off-key, improvised rendition of Danny Boy.

Fans later gathered at the centre of the field to pose for pictures with the Cup as an intermittent downpour fell.

"I was shaking. I was like, 'Holy cow, I can't believe it,"' said 11-year-old Zack Fewer.

"It was bigger than I thought ... and so many names, so many teams on it. Scary."

Fewer travelled with his mother and younger brother from Marystown, N.L., about a three-hour drive away, just to catch a glimpse of Newfoundland's most famous hockey son and the Cup.

"It was worth it," said his mother, Jackie Fewer.

"I couldn't believe I was actually touching it."

Cleary became the first Newfoundland-born player to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup after the Red Wings defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL finals last month.

Only 26 players from the province have ever played in the NHL.

Cleary's path to NHL stardom is well-known throughout the province. At 14, Cleary left his hometown of 3,000 for the first time to pursue his hockey dream as a junior in Kingston, Ont.

At times, Cleary had trouble adjusting to life on the road on the mainland.

He was selected with much fanfare by the Chicago Blackhawks, 13th overall, in the 1997 NHL entry draft, but he didn't live up to the hype and his work ethic came under question.

He bounced to the Edmonton Oilers and then the Phoenix Coyotes before rediscovering his scoring touch with the Red Wings.

"Everybody knows the road hasn't been easy, but it certainly has come to a great end here as you can see," Cleary said.

"To be honest, it didn't look great for a long time, but going to Detroit was certainly something that has worked out for everybody. I've won the Stanley Cup now and no one can ever take it away from us."

Canada Day normally takes on a more sombre tone in the province, as it falls on the anniversary of the bloody First World War battle at Beaumont-Hamel in northern France.

Of the 801 members of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment who climbed out of their trenches on July 1, 1916, only 68 reported for roll call the following day.

Overlooking Conception Bay, Harbour Grace is a picturesque town that was once considered the province's second-most important trading centre. But large-scale fires, the decline of the seal hunt and collapse of the cod fishing industry dealt severe blows to the town.

It has rebounded somewhat as tourist destination, perhaps best known as the departure point for Amelia Earhart, who in 1932 became the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.