Information AboutStanley Cup |
The Stanley Cup () is the championship Trophy of the National Hockey League (NHL), the major professional Ice Hockey league in Canada and the United States . Commonly referred to as simply '''"The Cup"''', '''"The Holy Grail"''' or facetiously (chiefly by sportswriters) as "'''Lord Stanley's Mug'''",1 it is at the center of several legends and superstitions. Unlike the trophies awarded by the other three Major Professional Sports League s of North America, a new Stanley Cup is not made annually; unless the Cup winners repeat as champions in the following season, they only keep it until the new champion is crowned. It is also the only trophy in professional sports that has the name of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff engraved upon it.2 The Stanley Cup is the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America. Originally inscribed the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, the trophy was donated by Lord Stanley Of Preston , then Governor General Of Canada , in 1892 as an award for Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club, decided by the acceptances of a challenge from another league championship team. Then in 1915, a Gentlemen's Agreement between two professional ice hockey organizations, the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), was reached in which their respective champions would face each other for the Stanley Cup. After a series of league mergers and folds, it became the '' De Facto '' championship trophy of the NHL in 1926. The Cup would later become the official '' De Jure '' NHL championship prize in 1947. HISTORY Origins Frederick Stanley , Lord Stanley of Preston, was appointed by Queen Victoria as Governor General Of Canada on June 11 , 1888 , after which he and his family became highly enthusiastic about ice hockey.Podnieks, ''Lord Stanley's Cup,'' 3 Stanley's first exposure to the game occurred at Montreal 's Winter Carnival during the winter of 1888, where he saw the Montreal Victorias versus the Montreal Hockey Club . The ''Montreal Gazette'' reported that he "expressed his great delight with the game of hockey and the expertise of the players." During that time, organized ice hockey in Canada was still in its infancy, as anything resembling leagues were only based in Montreal and Ottawa . Meanwhile, Lord Stanley's entire family became very active in ice hockey. Two of his sons, Arthur and Algernon, formed a new team called the Ottawa Rideau Rebels.Diamond, ''The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book'', 10 Arthur also later played a key role in the formation of what later became known as the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA).Diamond, ''The Ultimate Prize'', 11 Soon, Arthur and Algernon started to persuade their father to donate a trophy to be "an outward and visible sign of the hockey championship." By early 1892, the Ottawa Rebels won the OHA championship, and were honoured for their title victory at a March 18 dinner at the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association.3 Unable to attend, Lord Stanley sent the following message to be read:
Soon afterwards, Lord Stanley purchased a decorative bowl, forged in Sheffield, England , from London Silversmith G.R. Collis and Company (now Boodles and Dunthorne Jewelers) for ten Guineas (ten and a half pounds sterling, or $48.67 USD at that time).4 He also had the words "Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup" engraved on one side of the outside rim, and "From Stanley of Preston" on the other side. The Stanley Cup was born, and would become one of the most revered, most popular, and most sought-after trophies in all of professional sport.Diamond, ''The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book'', 8 Originally, Lord Stanley planned for the Cup to be used as a trophy given out to the top amateur hockey team in Canada, to be decided by the acceptance of a challenge from another team. He made five preliminary regulations on how it should be governed:
Lord Stanley appointed Sheriff John Sweetland and Philip D. Ross as trustees of the Cup. Sweetland and Ross first presented the trophy in 1893 to the Montreal Hockey Club (usually referred to as the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association), the champions of the Amateur Hockey Association Of Canada (AHAC), since they "defeated all comers during the late season, including the champions of the Ontario Association Ottawa Generals ".Diamond, ''The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book'', 14 Sweetland and Ross also believed that the AHAC was the top league, and thus first place in the AHAC entitled Montreal to be called the best team in Canada.Podnieks, ''Lord Stanley's Cup'', 4 Naturally, the Ottawa Generals were upset by the decision because there had been no challenge games scheduled, and because the trustees failed to convey the rules on how the Cup was to be awarded prior to the start of the season. in Toronto , Ontario .]] As a result, the Cup trustees issued more specific rules on how the trophy should be defended and awarded:Diamond, ''The Ultimate Prize'', 17-18Podnieks, ''Lord Stanley's Cup'', 5
Lord Stanley himself never saw a game where his trophy was on the line, nor did he ever present the Cup bearing his name. Although his term of governor general ended in September of 1893, he was forced to return to England on July 15 . In April of that year, his elder brother, the 15th Earl Of Derby , died, and Stanley succeeded him as the 16th Earl Of Derby . Challenge Cup era See Also: List of Stanley Cup Challenge Games During the period when it was a challenge cup, none of the leagues that played for the trophy had an annual formal playoff system to decide their own respective championships; whoever finished in first place after the regular season won the league title. But in 1894, four teams out of the five-team AHAC tied for the championship with records of 5-3-0. This created problems for the AHAC governors and the league trustees as to which team was the champion since there was no tiebreaking system in place. After long negotiation and the withdrawal of Quebec from the championship situation, it was decided that a three-team tournament would take place in Montreal, with the Ottawa team getting a bye to the finals (being the sole "road" team). On March 17 , in the first Stanley Cup playoff game ever, the Montreal Hockey Club (Montreal HC) defeated the Montreal Victorias, 3-2. Five days later, Montreal HC beat the Ottawa Generals , 3-1, in the first Stanley Cup Final game.Podnieks, ''Lord Stanley's Cup'', 205 The next year was the first official challenge for the Cup, by Queen's University . However, this did not come without controversy. The Montreal Victorias won the league title and thus the Stanley Cup, but the challenge match, which was scheduled earlier for the next day, was to be between the previous year's champion and the university squad. Thus, it was decided by the trustees that if the Montreal HC won the challenge match, the Victorias would become the Stanley Cup champions. The Montreal HC would eventually win the match 5-1 and their cross-town rivals were crowned the champions.6 The first successful challenge to the Cup came the next year by the Winnipeg Victorias , the champions of the Manitoba Hockey League. On February 14 1896 , the Winnipeg squad defeated the champions 2-0, and became the first team outside the AHAC to win the Cup.7 As the prestige of winning the Cup grew, so did the need to attract top players. After winning the Cup in March of 1906, the Montreal Wanderers went to the annual meeting of the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) in November of that year and pushed through a resolution that would allow professional players to play alongside amateurs. Because the ECAHA was the top hockey league in Canada during that time, the Cup trustees went along and opened the challenges to professional teams.Diamond, ''The Ultimate Prize'', 19 Meanwhile, the first professional players played for the Cup one month later during the Wanderers' two-game, total goals challenge series win over the New Glasgow Cubs, 17 goals to 5.Podnieks, ''Lord Stanley's Cup'', 37 The smallest municipality to ever produce a Stanley Cup champion is Kenora, Ontario ; the town had a population of about 4,000 when the Kenora Thistles captured the Cup in January 1907.8 Aided by future Hall of Famers Art Ross and "Bad" Joe Hall , the Thistles defeated the Montreal Wanderers in a two-game, total goals challenge series. The Thistles successfully defended the Cup once, against a team from Brandon, Manitoba . In March of 1907, the Wanderers challenged the Thistles to a rematch. Despite an improved lineup, the Thistles lost the Cup to Montreal and faded into hockey obscurity. In 1908, the Allan Cup was introduced as the trophy for Canada's amateurs, and the Stanley Cup started to become a symbol of professional hockey supremacy. In that same year, the first all-professional team, the Toronto Trolley Leaguers from the newly created Ontario Professional Hockey League (OPHL), competed for the Cup.Diamond, ''The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book'', 38 One year later, the Montreal HC and the Montreal Victorias, the two remaining amateur teams, left the ECAHA, and the ECAHA dropped "Amateur" from their name to become an all-pro league. Then in 1910, the National Hockey Association (NHA) was formed. The new league soon proved to be unquestionably the top league in Canada as it kept the Cup for the next four consecutive years.Diamond, ''The Ultimate Prize'', 24 Prior to 1912, challenges could take place at any time, given the appropriate rink conditions, and it was common for teams to defend the Cup numerous times in the year. In 1912, Cup trustees declared that the Cup was only to be defended at the end of the champion team's regular season.9 PCHL/WCHL/WHL vs NHA/NHL In 1914, the Victoria Aristocrats from the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) challenged the NHA and Cup champion Toronto Blue Shirts . However, Victoria never formally submitted the challenge, and thus the Cup trustees viewed the series as illegitimate. As it turned out, the controversy was avoided as Toronto defended the Cup by sweeping the best-of-five series.Diamond, ''The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book'', 46 One year later, the NHA and the PCHA made a Gentlemen's Agreement in which their respective champions would face each other for the Cup, similar to Baseball 's World Series played between the American League and National League champions. Under the new proposal, the Stanley Cup Final series alternated between the east and the west each year, while the differing rules of the NHA and PCHA alternated each game.Diamond, ''The Ultimate Prize'', 20 The Cup trustees went along with the NHA-PCHA agreement because after the Allan Cup became the top prize of Canada's amateurs, the trustees had become dependent on the top two professional leagues to keep its trophy prominent.Diamond, ''The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book'', 45 The PCHA's Vancouver Millionaires then won the first "formal" PCHA-NHA Cup Final, three games to zero in a best-of-five series.10 After the Portland Rosebuds , an American based team, joined the PCHA in 1914, the trustees issued a statement that the Cup was not just for the best team in Canada, but it was to be symbolic of world hockey supremacy. Two years later, the Rosebuds became the first American team to play in the Stanley Cup Final.Diamond, ''The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book'', 46 Then in 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first American team to win the Cup.11 After the season, the NHA dissolved, and the National Hockey League (NHL) took its place. The first year the Stanley Cup was not awarded was 1919 , due to the Spanish Influenza epidemic which forced the cancellation of the series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Seattle Metropolitans.Podnieks, ''Lord Stanley's Cup'', 51 After the series was tied at 2-2-1, the final game was never played because Montreal players Joe Hall , Manager George Kennedy, Billy Coutu , Jack McDonald and Edouard Lalonde were hospitalized with influenza. Joe Hall died four days after the cancelled game, and the series was abandoned.Diamond, ''The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book'', 51-52 The format for the Stanley Cup Finals changed in 1922 , with the creation of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). Now, three leagues competed for the Cup; two league champions faced each other for the right to challenge the third champion in the final series.Diamond, ''The Ultimate Prize'', 20-21 This would only last three seasons as the PCHA and the WCHL would later merge to form the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1924 .Diamond, ''The Ultimate Prize'', 21 Its champion after the 1924-25 season, the Victoria Cougars , eventually became the last team outside the NHL to win the Stanley Cup.12 NHL takes over and the Cup in 1957.]] The WHL folded in 1926, leaving the NHL as the only league left playing for the Cup. Other leagues and clubs occasionally issued challenges, but from that year forward, no non-NHL team played for it, leading it to become the '' De Facto '' championship trophy of the NHL. In 1947, the NHL reached an agreement with trustees P.D. Ross and Cooper Smeaton to give control of the cup to the NHL, allowing the league to unilaterally reject challenges from other leagues that may have wished to play for the Cup.Diamond, ''The Ultimate Prize'', 4013 In the 1970's, the World Hockey Association sought to challenge for the Cup. They were denied by the Trustees. From 1926, the Cup has been awarded every year until 2005, when a Labour Dispute between the NHL's owners and the NHL Players Association (the Union that represents the players) led to the cancellation of the 2004-05 Season . As a result, no Cup champion was crowned for the first time since the flu pandemic in 1919. The lockout caused controversy among many fans, questioning whether the NHL has exclusive control over the Cup. A web site known as freestanley.com (since closed) was launched, asking fans to write to the Cup trustees and urge them to return to the original Challenge Cup format.14 Adrienne Clarkson , the then-Governor General of Canada, alternatively proposed that the Cup be presented to the top women's hockey team in lieu of the NHL season. This idea was so unpopular that the Clarkson Cup was created instead.15 Meanwhile, a group in Ontario, filed an application with the Ontario Superior Court, claiming that the Cup trustees overstepped their bounds in signing the 1947 agreement with the NHL, and therefore must award the trophy regardless of the lockout. On February 7 , 2006 , a settlement was reached in which the trophy could be awarded to non-NHL teams should the league not operate for a particular season. ENGRAVING ON THE CUP See Also: Chronology of Stanley Cup engravings Like the Grey Cup that is awarded to the winner of the Canadian Football League , the names of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff are engraved on the base and rings of the Stanley Cup. However, the Stanley Cup is the only trophy in professional sports that has names engraved upon its Chalice . This has not always been the case: one of Lord Stanley's original conditions said that each team could, at their own expense, add a ring on the Cup to commemorate their victory. Initially, there was only one base ring, the one attached to the bottom of the original bowl by the first Cup champion Montreal AAA. Clubs engraved their team names, usually in the form NAME WON , on that one ring until it was full in 1902. With no room to engrave their names (and unwilling to pay for a second band), teams left their mark on the bowl itself. The 1907 Montreal Wanderers became the first club to record their name on the bowl's interior surface, and the first champion to record the name of every member on their team.Podnieks, ''Lord Stanley's Cup'', 12 In 1908, for reasons unknown, the Wanderers, despite having turned aside four challengers, did not record their names on the Cup. The next year, the Ottawa Senators added a second band onto the Cup. Despite the new room, the 1910 Wanderers and the 1911 Senators, for reasons unknown, did not put their names on the Cup. On the other hand, the 1915 Vancouver Millionaires became the second team to engrave players' names, this time inside the bowl along its sides. The band added by the 1909 Senators would eventually be filled by the 1918 Millionaires. The 1915 Ottawa Senators, the 1916 Portland Rosebuds , and the 1918 Vancouver Millionaires all engraved their names on the trophy even though they did not officially win it under the new PHCA-NHA system. They had only won the title of the previous champion's league, and would have been crowned as Cup champions under the old challenge rules.Diamond, ''The Ultimate Prize'', 8 No further engraving occurred until 1924, when the Canadiens added a new band on the Cup. However, since then, the engraving of the team and its players have been an annual tradition that has not been broken. Originally, a new band was added each year, causing the trophy to grow in size. Because the "Stovepipe Cup" (as it was later called due to its resemblance to the Exhaust Pipe of a stove) became impractical due to its ever increasing height, the Cup was then redesigned in 1948 as a two-piece cigar-shaped trophy with a removable bowl and collar. This Cup also properly honored those teams that did not engrave their names on the Cup themselves.Podnieks, ''Lord Stanley's Cup'', 13 ]] The modern one-piece Cup design was introduced in 1958 with the replacement of the old barrel with a five-band barrel (each of which could contain 13 winning teams).Podnieks, ''Lord Stanley's Cup'', 9 Although the bands were originally designed to fill up during the Cup's centennial year, the names of the 1965 Montreal Canadiens were engraved over a larger area than allotted (and thus there are 12 teams on that band instead of 13).Podnieks, ''Lord Stanley's Cup'', 14 The bands were finally all filled in 1991, and a decision was made to preserve the top band of the large barrel in the Hockey Hall of Fame and introduce a new blank band at the bottom so the size of the Stanley Cup would not grow further. Another new band was scheduled to be added to the bottom of the cup following the 2004-05 Season . However, the season was cancelled because of a Labour Dispute . After the 2005-06 champion Carolina Hurricanes were crowned, and the new bottom ring was finally added, it was decided to also acknowledge the cancelled 2004-05 season with the words "2004-05 Season Not Played".16 It is also to be noted that since 1958, the Cup underwent several minor alterations, namely the retirement of the collar in 1963 and the bowl in 1969 in favor of duplicates because the originals were too brittle. Currently, the Cup stands at 89.54 cm (35.25 inches) tall and weighs 15.5 kg (34.5 lb).17 There are also several instances of misspellings and illegiimate names on the Cup. Those include the following: Adam Deadmarsh was spelled Deadmarch - but later was changed; the only misspelled name to be corrected. Some other misspells on the Cup that never have been corrected: Jacques Plante's name has been misspelled five times, (incl. "Jocko," "Jack" and "Plant"); Bob Gainey was spelled "Gainy" when he was a player for Montreal in the 70s; Ted Kennedy was spelled "Kennedyy" in the 40s; New York Islanders was spelled "Ilanders" in 1980/81; the Toronto Maple Leafs was spelled "Leaes" in 1962/63; the Boston Bruins was spelled "Bqstqn" in 1972. Name scratched out - "Basil Pocklington," father of former Edmonton Oilers owner, Peter, put his dad's name on the Stanley Cup in 1983/84; today, on the Cup, one can see a series of "Xs" over his name. There is only one official Stanley Cup - authenticated by the seal of the Hockey Hall of Fame in the bottom of the Cup; this seal can be seen when winning players lift the Cup over their heads. There is a second version of the Stanley Cup that remains in the Hall of Fame, which never travels, and is used for display purposes only at the Hall when the Stanley Cup is traveling; this Cup is perfect and has no misspells Stanley Cup today There are actually three Cups that exist: the original bowl and two versions. The original bowl purchased by Lord Stanley is currently displayed at the Hockey Hall Of Fame in Toronto, Ontario . A first version, the Presentation Cup, was created in 1963 by Montreal silversmith Carl Petersen, and is the one currently awarded to the champions of the playoffs and used for promotions. This version was made in secret, and its production was only revealed in 1970 after it had been "kidnapped" and held for ransom. It was returned anonymously. A second version, called the Second Version, was created in 1993 by Montreal silversmith Louise St. Jacques to be used as a stand-in whenever the Presentation Cup is not available at the Hockey Hall Of Fame .18 Currently, in order to have one's name inscribed on the Cup, a player must have played at least 41 games for the championship team during the regular season (provided the player remains with the team when they win the Cup) or at least played in one game of the Finals. However, the NHL will also permit other reasons on a case-by-case basis. As a player, Henri Richard has won the most Stanley Cups with 11. Overall, no one's name appears on the Stanley Cup more than Jean Beliveau. He has 17: 10 as a player and 7 as management. TRADITIONS AND ANECDOTES from 2002 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman . Detroit coach Scotty Bowman is at lower right.]] There are many traditions and anecdotes associated with the Stanley Cup. One of the oldest, started by the 1896 , but the practice did not become an annual tradition until the 1950s. Ted Lindsay of the 1950 Cup champion Detroit Red Wings became the first captain, upon receiving the Cup, to hoist it overhead and skate around the rink. Since then, it has been a tradition to have each member of the winning team, beginninng with the captain, take a lap around the ice with the trophy hoisted above his head. This was slightly breached by Joe Sakic and Ray Bourque when the Colorado Avalanche won the Cup in 2001. Bourque had, until requesting a trade on March 6 , 2000 , only ever played for the Boston Bruins . The seventh game of the 2001 Finals was the last of Bourque's 22-year NHL career, having never been on a Cup-winning team until that time. When Sakic received the trophy, he did not hoist it, but instead immediately handed it to Bourque for him to hoist. Sakic then followed Bourque in hoisting the trophy.19 In reverence to the Cup, NHL players will not touch the Cup until they hoist it after winning the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Although many players have unofficially had a private day with the Cup, a tradition started in 1995 wherein each member of the Cup-winning team is allowed personal possession of the Cup for a day. It is always accompanied by at least one representative from the Hockey Hall Of Fame .20 Victors of the Cup have also used it to baptize their children in it. Two players (the New York Islanders ' Clark Gillies and the Anaheim Ducks ' Sean O'Donnell ) even allowed their dogs to eat out of the Cup.21 22 Ten women have had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup. The Senior Director of Hockey Administration Charlotte Grahame 's name was added in 2001 when the Colorado Avalanche won. (Charlotte's son John later had his name engraved as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning , making them the only mother-son combination to win the Stanley Cup.)23 There have been numerous errors on the engraving on the Cup, some of which also exist on the duplicate Cup found in the Hockey Hall of Fame:. An example of an error was in the 2001-2002 season when Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. One of their goalies' names, spelled at first Manny Lagace was later corrected to Manny Legace . TRUSTEES
In early years, the trustees had various roles:
Today, decisions regarding the Cup are made by the NHL, and the Trustees are responsible for carrying them out. SEE ALSO
REFERENCES
NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|