The Stanley Cup

It all started on March 18, 1892, at a dinner of the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association. Lord Kilcoursie, a player on the Ottawa Rebels hockey club from Government House, delivered the following message on behalf of Lord Stanley, the Earl of Preston and Governor General of Canada:

Shortly thereafter, Lord Stanley purchased a silver cup measuring 7 ½ inches high by 11 ½ inches across for the sum of 10 guineas (approximately $50); appointed two Ottawa gentlemen, Sheriff John Sweetland and Philip D. Ross, as trustees of that cup; and set the following preliminary conditions to govern the annual competition:

• The winners to return the Cup in good order when required by the trustees in order that it may be handed over to any other team which may win it.

• Each winning team to have the club name and year engraved on a silver ring fitted on the Cup.

• The Cup to remain a challenge competition and not the property of any one team, even if won more than once.

• The trustees to maintain absolute authority in all situations or disputes over the winner of the Cup.

• A substitute trustee to be named in the event that one of the existing trustees drops out.

The first winner of the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) hockey club, champions of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada for 1893. Ironically, Lord Stanley never witnessed a championship game nor attended a presentation of his trophy, having returned to his native England in the midst of the 1893 season. Nevertheless, the quest for his trophy has become one of the world's most prestigious sporting competitions.

UP

Stanley Cup Notebook

The Original Bowl
The bowl that currently sits atop the Stanley Cup is a carefully constructed copy of the original bowl purchased by Lord Stanley in 1893. The original trophy was retired in 1969 because it had become brittle and easily damaged. It can still be viewed and studied at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

Growth of the Cup
In the early days, players added their names to the trophy by scratching them onto the original bowl with a knife or a nail. From the 1890s to the 1930s, various bands were added to the bottom of the bowl to hold the names of the winning teams and their players. Throughout this time, the appearance of the Cup kept changing almost from year to year. In 1939, the Stanley Cup was given a standardized form as a long, cigar-shaped trophy. It stayed this way until 1948, when it was rebuilt as a two-piece trophy with a wide barrel-shaped base and a removable bowl and collar. The modern one-piece Cup was introduced in 1958.

Women on the Cup
Seven women have had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup: Marguerite Norris (1955) was president of the Detroit Red Wings; Sonia Scurfield (1989) was a co-owner of the Calgary Flames; Marie-Denise DeBartolo York (1991) was president of the Pittsburgh Penguins; Marian Ilitch (1997, 1998) was a co-owner of the Detroit Red Wings; Denise Ilitch (1997, 1998) with the Detroit Red Wings, Lisa Ilitch (1997, 1998) with the Detroit Red Wings and Carole Ilitch Trepeck (1997, 1998) with the Detroit Red Wings.

Playoff Postponements
The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. forced the postponement of three series games during the quarterfinal rounds of the 1968 Stanley Cup playoffs. Match-ups between the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers, and Minnesota North Stars and Los Angeles Kings were delayed by a minimum of two days.

Stanley Before Calder
Tony Esposito and Danny Grant both won the Stanley Cup one year and the Calder the next with different teams. Grant was a member of the 1968 Cup-winning Montreal Canadiens before winning the Calder as the NHL's top rookie in 1969 with Minnesota. Tony Esposito won the Cup with the Canadiens in 1969 and the Calder the following season with the Chicago Blackhawks. A player remains eligible for the Calder if he has played 25-or-fewer NHL regular-season games.

Conn Smythe Trophy Update
A total of 31 different players have won the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the most valuable player to his team in the playoffs. The trophy was first awarded in 1965. Four players - Bobby Orr, Bernie Parent, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux - have won the award twice. Patrick Roy is the only three time winner. Four players - Roger Crozier of the 1966 Detroit Red Wings, Glenn Hall of the 1968 St. Louis Blues, Reg Leach of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers and Ron Hextall of the 1987 Philadelphia Flyers - have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as members of losing teams in the Finals. Twenty-year-old Patrick Roy of the 1986 Montreal Canadiens was the youngest player ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. The Conn Smythe Trophy is voted upon by the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) at the conclusion of the final game of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Shutouts
Since the NHL was established in 1917, at least one shutout has been recorded in every playoff year except 1959 (18 games).

Crease Captain on the Cup
Charlie Gardiner, captain of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1934, is the only goaltender to have his name appear on the Cup as the captain of a Cup-winning team.

U.S.-Based Teams in the Stanley Cup Championship
The 1916 Portland Rosebuds were the first team based in the United States to participate in a Stanley Cup championship, while the 1917 Seattle Metropolitans were the first to win the Cup. The Detroit Red Wings have won nine Stanley Cups, more than any other American team, and were the first to win back-to-back titles (1936 and 1937).

Sub-.500 Teams in the Stanley Cup Championship
Fifteen teams have advanced to the Stanley Cup Championship after posting regular-season records below the .500-mark. The complete list follows:

The Oldest Goalie
When Johnny Bower appeared in his last playoff game on April 6, 1969, at the age of 44 years, four months and 38 days, he became the oldest goalie to appear in an NHL playoff game. Lester Patrick at 44 years, three months, and eight days and Jacques Plante at 44 years, two months, and 19 days are more-than-honorable mentions.

Eye in the Sky
For the first time in NHL history, a playoff result was determined by a video replay during the 1992 Division Semifinals between the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota North Stars. In overtime Sergei Fedorov's shot appeared to hit the crossbar. After a stop in play, referee Rob Shick consulted the supervisor of officials and video-replay official Wally Harris, who determined that the puck had entered the net, giving the Wings a 1-0 victory.

Back-to-Back Winners
Many players have won consecutive championships in their careers, but few have ever accomplished the feat with two different teams. One player, Eddie Gerard, won the Cup with the 1921 Ottawa Senators, 1922 Toronto St. Pats and again in 1923 with the Senators. A total of 10 different players have accomplished the feat:

Penalty Shots in the Stanley Cup Championship
A total of seven penalty shots have been awarded to players in Stanley Cup Championship history:

Canadiens Own Mark for Pro Titles
The Montreal Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cup Championships, more than any other team. The total is the second greatest number of championships in the history of professional sports. Major League Baseball's New York Yankees have won 26 World Series titles.

Gold Medalist and Stanley Cup Champion
New York Islanders' defenseman Ken Morrow is the only player in hockey history to win both an Olympic Gold Medal and a Stanley Cup in the same year. After helping the United States Olympic team win the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, Morrow joined the New York Islanders and helped them win the first of their four consecutive Stanley Cup championships.

UP

The Stanley Cup: The Early Years

For a century now, the Stanley Cup has reigned unchallenged as the symbol of supremacy in the sport of ice hockey. It had humble beginnings, indeed, but over the years has become steeped in legend and lore. It is hockey's Holy Grail.

For fans across North America, the very words "Stanley Cup" have a special ring to them. A tightening of emotions. A quickening of pulse. A sense of anticipation. The promise of excitement.

Is their anything in sports to match a draining tensions of Stanley Cup sudden death? The boundless joy of victory, or the deepest gloom of a heartbreaking loss? For hockey fans, there is nothing like it anywhere.

The Stanley Cup has it all - tension, fear, pressure. For the winners, it is everything. For the losers, nothing.

Since its inception in 1892, the Cup has provided one thing above all others - drama. The once squat trophy glitters now from its silvery perch at the Hockey Hall of Fame, but is has suffered countless indignities along the way.

Men have spent small fortunes and lifetimes in pursuit of having their names engraved on one of the many silver bands that circle the famed trophy. The Cup's history had become legendary … and new chapters are added every year.

Throughout its checkered history, the Cup has been through just about everything - good and bad. But it has always gone to hockey's best team, as simple as that. It's the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America, predating by seven years the famous Davis Cup trophy of tennis.

There was no direct competition when the Cup first came into being back in 1892. At the time it was presented by Lord Stanley of Preston, later the Earl of Derby, who was then Governor-General of Canada. The fact that Canada's numerous hockey teams were playing just for fun was brought to the attention of Lord Stanley by Lord Kilcoursie, a hockey-playing member of Lord Stanley's staff.

Stanley quickly became a hockey enthusiast, and at a dinner on March 18, 1892 he expressed his wish to do something tangible for the great winter sport. He was returning to England upon expiration of his term as Queen Victoria's representative in Canada and he felt the Cup would serve to perpetuate his memory.

Not even the wildest promoter could have envisioned the future of the Cup. It originally cost less than 10 pounds sterling, though it has since gone on to become the most famous trophy in all sports.

Initially, Lord Stanley intended his trophy be granted only to amateur teams. There was no outright professional hockey at the time, although certain players "freelanced" from club to club, selling their services to the highest bidder. "I have for some time been thinking if there were a challenge cup, which could be held from year-to-year by the leading hockey club in Canada," Lord Stanley said in offering the trophy.

"There does not appear to be any outward or visible sign of championship at present, and considering the interest that hockey matches now elicit, and the importance of having the games played under recognized rules, I am willing to give a cup that shall be annually held by the winning club," he said. Lord Stanley's proposal was hailed in local circles, and he immediately arranged for an aide, Capt. Colville, then in England, to invest in a gold-lined silver bowl. The Lord also appointed a pair of trustees to care for the trophy.

The custom of Cup trustees endures to the present, although the initial appointments seemed to work against Lord Stanley's wishes. Apparently, he had hoped the initial presentation would be made to his favorite team in the Canadian capital of Ottawa. But that didn't happen.

Although the Ottawa club was indeed a championship one, the trustees held that no one be granted "squatters' rights" to the first Cup. And that a game between Ottawa and a Toronto club would decide the winner. The game was to be played in Toronto. But the Ottawa club refused. The trustees held firm, however, and Ottawa resigned from the Ontario Hockey Association in protest. A year went by before the trustees made a new announcement:

That established the first of many ironies for the Cup: Its first winner didn't really compete for the right to have it. In another historical irony, Lord Stanley left the country before ever seeing a game between two teams compete for the trophy.

Despite the initial controversy, the Cup itself was an immediate hit, serving as the catalyst that more or less turned many amateur teams into professional operations. As interest in hockey grew and crowds increased, club owners and managers naturally started to pull out all the stops in their efforts to secure the services of more and more star players. The inducements to play grew each year, and within 20 years only professional teams fought for the right to the Cup.

With Lord Stanley gone, the Earl of Aberdeen succeeded him in Canada. Although the Earl and Lady Aberdeen occasionally attended hockey games, they were bigger fans of curling, another game played on ice that endures to this day. For that reason, the name on Lord Stanley's trophy was never changed, giving him a much greater historical note in history than most of his successors.

UP

The Stanley Cup: Famous Incidents

Shaped like a punch bowl (and often used as same by celebrating champions), the Stanley Cup quickly became the prime objective of all hockey teams in Canada.

The first two decades of competition provide some of the most famous Cup incidents.

It was March 22, 1894, when the first real game for the Stanley Cup was contested. The Amateur Hockey Association standings had finished in a four way tie between Montreal AAA, Ottawa, Quebec and the Montreal Victorias. Quebec withdrew after a dispute about scheduling, so the remaining three teams played a round robin, with Ottawa getting the bye.

Montreal AAA edged the Victorias, 3-2, for the right to play for the Cup against Ottawa on March 22. The game was very well played, and won by Montreal, 3-1, with Bill Barlow starring for the victors. A newspaper talent amusing by today's standards, read as follows:

The growth of hockey was so fantastic that by the next season, in 1895, practically every village in Canada thrived on hockey. The sport had jumped from the original hotbeds of Ontario and Quebec to the west coast, and lo and behold, a prairie team from Winnipeg, also known as the Victorias, was challenging for the Stanley Cup.

It was the Victorias of Montreal versus the Victorias of Winnipeg on February 14, 1896, at Montreal. Somehow, the westerners won, 2-0. It was such an upset, that a rematch came off less than a year later.

This one was reported as "the greatest sporting event in Winnipeg history," and believe it or not, seats were supposedly "scalped" for as much as $12 apiece. The Montreal Victorias were also reported as the "much younger team ... having a more agile appearance and all were admired by ladies." It was a good scouting report, as the Montrealers overcame a 2-0 "half-time" deficit and returned the Stanley Cup to the east, with a final 6-5 victory. Ernie McLea scored the winning goal in what was modestly called "the finest match ever played in Canada."

One of the most interesting facets of hockey throughout the years has been the so-called "hat trick," referring to a player scoring three (originally three consecutive goals) in any given game. Hockey's first "team hat trick" was started with the winning of the Stanley Cup by the Montreal Victorias in December of 1896.

The "Vics" were so superior that many fans were surprised when they accepted a Cup challenge from Ottawa in December, 1897. Montreal's resounding 14-2 triumph was not quite so surprising. Originally, a two out of three series had been scheduled, but the Montreal victory was so decisive that the balance of the series was abandoned. The game received so little attention that no information on the goal scorers was published.

So powerful were the Victorias, in fact, that they made it an easy "Hat Trick" the next season by sweeping through the regular schedule with a perfect 8-0-0 record. There was no challenge to their supremacy, and the Montrealers had their three straight Stanley Cups.

Hockey in the early days was a seven-man game, 14 men on the ice in all. Today's game, six men to a side, is neater, more compact. The extra man in those days was called a "rover." He went anywhere, roaming the mostly outdoor rinks that were originally built for curling. One of the most famous rovers was Lester Patrick, who later became the first manager and coach of the New York Rangers.

Little of the sophistication of today's game was evident in the early days. A pair of portable poles, often with no net between them, constituted the goals. Goal judges, as we know them today, were practically non-existent. Certainly they were unprotected. They stood behind the poles, relatively close to the action, and wore no padding. There were, in fact, pretty good targets.

Overall, the conditions were truly rustic, almost primitive. The players, for the most part, provided their own equipment, and the games were subject to the whims of weather, which, fortunately, was almost always cold enough to maintain natural ice.

There were no sideboards in those days, and without much equipment of note, the players absorbed considerably more shock when hit with a body check. So, too, did the fans. It was a common occurrence for a player to land among the spectators after particularly successful check. At which point, the player would simply be shoved back into action by the spectators.

There were many reports, in fact, that opposing players were roughed up by partisan supporters of the opposition before being "returned" to the playing surface. Apparently, it was all considered in the spirit of the game, and anything gained at one point could be lost at another, and vice versa.

Fan enthusiasm ran so high during the early years of Cup competition that accurate attendance figures were often impossible. Patrons were often reported to have "broken down gates" in a scramble of admission.

Newspaper offices away from the locale of the game were frequently jammed with fans seeking the latest reports on the progress of Cup matches. Interest was especially high in Toronto in 1902, when the Toronto Street Railway came up with an effective, if not polished method of reporting the result of a Cup game. If the hometown Toronto Wellingtons were victorious, there would be two long blasts on their powerhouse whistle. If the locals lost, there would be three blasts. The time between the second and third blasts was especially long if you were among the gambling set.

Stanley Cup games had become a most prestigious event, indeed. It was an honor, in fact, to be able to see a deciding game, even at inflated prices. Referees, for instance, would customarily donate their services, rather than accept a monetary payment. The competing clubs, in turn, would usually present the referee with a memento of the occasion, paid for out of each club's funds.

UP

One of the most famous clubs in the early days was the Ottawa Silver Seven, which captured three straight Stanley Cup championships from 1902-05, duplicating the "hat trick" effort of the Montreal Victorias five years earlier.

Nine challenges, some at mid-season and some at the season's end, were thrown against the fabulous Silver Seven. All were repulsed, but none will ever match the one presented in 1905 by a team from Dawson City in the Yukon Territory. Such was the enthusiasm of the Yukon team, that the players themselves bankrolled part of the 4,400-mile trip out of their own pockets, hoping to regain the $3,000 cost from gate receipts. The trip has become a fantastic legend in Cup history.

A Yukon prospector by the name of Colonel Joe Boyle arranged the trip for the ambitious Klondikers. He encountered problems no modern day road secretary could ever imagine. The team traveled 46 miles by dogsled the first day and 41 miles the next. Temperatures were in the neighborhood of 20 below zero, and some players suffered blistered feet on the third day of traveling.

The team missed a boat connection on the west coast, and had to wait five days for another, which took them from Seattle to Vancouver. Then, it was a marathon train ride, Vancouver to Ottawa.

Somehow, the Dawson City team arrived, after 23 days of travel, just one day before the series with the Silver Seven was to begin. It was, and probably always will be, the longest any team ever traveled in quest of the Stanley Cup.

Sentimental favorites though they might have been, the Dawson City team was simply no match of the Silver Seven, losing the opening game, 9-2, and the second and deciding match, 22-3. Ottawa's Frank McGee scored the unbelievable total of 14 goals in the latter game, including eight tallies in just eight minutes and 20 seconds. Even more incredible is the fact that McGee had only one good eye.

Teams from Ontario and Quebec continued to dominate the Stanley Cup, although teams from the Maritime provinces, the prairies, and the west coast of Canada continued to challenge for the trophy. Most of them lost money, too, because of the travel expenses and the fact that the series were usually two out of three affairs.

Another thing that didn't change in Cup competition was the continuing series of strange and remarkable events associated with the games. Indeed, the Cup was often in jeopardy during the early years, mostly because of careless treatment by triumphant teams.

During the three-season reign of the Ottawa Silver Seven, the Cup spent a particularly harrowing night atop, of all places, the Rideau Canal near Ottawa. One of the celebrating players, fortified no doubt by several swigs of champagne from the Cup, was challenged to dropkick the trophy into the canal, a feat he promptly accomplished.

The battered old mug might have remained there, to had not the Ottawa players come to their senses the next morning and returned in search of their prize. Fortunately, for all concerned, the canal was solidly frozen, and the Cup was found, dented perhaps but certainly undaunted.

While the history of the Stanley Cup is filled with humorous, light-hearted adventures, there are many serious, somber incidents as well.

Only once in history has "no decision" been reached in Stanley Cup play. That was in 1919. The National Hockey League had been formed by then, and the Montreal Canadiens were League champions. The trustees decided on a series between the Canadiens and the Seattle Metropolitans, champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey League.

Montreal embarked on a long trip to he west, since the PCHL season had two more week's to run. The Canadiens were playing exhibition games along the way to keep sharp. The so-called "black flu" was sweeping the continent at the same time, although none of the players had been stricken.

Finally, the series began on March 19. In those days, "western rules" and "eastern rules" were used in alternate games, with the major difference being the fact that "western rules" permitted the use of a seventh skater, the rover. Accordingly, Seattle won the first game, under western rules, and Montreal won the second, under eastern rules, with the legendary Newsy Lalonde scoring all four goals in the 4-2 triumph.

Seattle won the third game, and the fourth was a scoreless tie. Montreal evened the series by winning the fifth game, but several of the Canadiens were feeling sick during the contest. Joe Hall and Jack McDonald were affected the worst, and Hall had to leave the game because of illness. Five players, in all, were sick, along with the team manager George Kennedy.

With two wins apiece, and a scoreless tie, the teams were scheduled to meet for the championship on April 1st, but the influenza epidemic intervened. Hall was now hospitalized with a fever of 105, and four other players, plus Kennedy, were all confined to bed.

Nonetheless, Kennedy gamely offered to complete the series, with the loan of several players from nearby Victoria. Seattle graciously declined, and for the first time the Stanley Cup had no bearer.

Towns like Renfrew, Haileybury and Cobalt, all in the mining area of northern Ontario, competed for the Stanley Cup with the more familiar clubs from Montreal and Ottawa. The National Hockey Association was hockey's first truly professional league, and it was the forerunner of the National Hockey League, which was organized in 1917.

NHL franchises went to the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs and Toronto Arenas. Despite having a franchise, Quebec was unable to operate the first season. The teams played a 22-game schedule, and the Toronto Arenas captured the first Stanley Cup ever won by a National Hockey League team.

This marked the start of hockey's modern era, one that has seen the sport reach incredible heights of success, culminating in the big expansion of 1967 that doubled the league's size from six to twelve teams. Further expansion brought more and more teams into play, and by 1975, the NHL would encompass 18 teams.

Continued success and growth has brought the NHL to its current 24 teams, and clearly on the threshold of a new era that may involve international competition for the Stanley Cup in the not too distant future. Not bad for "a battered old mug" that cost just $48.67 a century ago.

UP

Playoff Formats

The NHL has changed its playoff format numerous times over the years. What follows is a history of the various playoff formats:

1917-18 - The regular-season was split into two halves. The winners of both halves faced each other in a two-game, total-goals series for the NHL championship and the right to meet the Pacific Coast Hockey Association champion in the best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals.

1918-19 - Same as 1917-18, except that the NHL Finals were extended to a best-of-seven series.

1919-20 - Same as 1917-1918, except that Ottawa won both halves of the split regular-season schedule to earn an automatic berth into the best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals against the PCHA champions.

1921-22 - The top two teams at the conclusion of the regular-season faced each other in a two-game, total-goals series for the NHL championship. The NHL champion then moved on to play the winner of the PCHA-Western Canada Hockey League playoff series in the best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals.

1922-23 - The top two teams at the conclusion of the regular-season faced each other in a two-game, total-goals series for the NHL championship. The NHL champion then moved on to play the PCHA champion in the best-of-three Stanley Cup Semifinals, and the winner of the Semifinals played the WCHL champion, which had been given a bye, in the best-of-three Stanley Cup Finals.

1923-24 - The top two teams at the conclusion of the regular-season faced each other in a two-game, total-goals series for the NHL championship. The NHL champion then moved on to play the loser of the PCHA-WCHL playoff (the winner of the PCHA-WCHL playoff earned a bye into the Stanley Cup Finals) in the best-of-three Stanley Cup Semifinals. The winner of this series met the PCHA-WCHL playoff winner in the best-of-three Stanley Cup Finals.

1924-25 - The first place team (Hamilton) at the conclusion of the regular-season was scheduled to play the winner of a two-game, total goals series between the second (Toronto) and third (Montreal) place clubs. However, Hamilton refused to abide by this new format, demanding greater compensation than offered by the League. Thus, Toronto and Montreal played their two-game, total-goals series, and the winner (Montreal) earned the NHL title and then played the WCHL champion (Victoria) in the best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals.

1925-26 - The format which was intended for 1924-25 went into effect. The winner of the two-game, total-goals series between the second and third place teams squared off against the first place team in the two-game, total-goals NHL championship series. The NHL champion then moved on to play the Western Hockey League champion in the best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals.

After the 1925-26 season, the NHL was the only major professional hockey league still in existence and consequently took over sole control of the Stanley Cup competition.

1926-27 - The 10-team league was divided into two divisions -- Canadian and American -- of five teams apiece. In each division, the winner of the two-game, total-goals series between the second and third place teams faced the first place team in a two-game, total-goals series for the division title. The two division title winners then met in the best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals.

1928-29 - Both first place teams in the two divisions played each other in a best-of-five series. Both second place teams in the two divisions played each other in a two-game, total-goals series as did the two third place teams. The winners of these latter two series then played each other in a best-of-three series for the right to meet the winner of the series between the two first place clubs. This Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-three.

UP