Stanley Cup

Lore & Background

The Stanley Cup was commissioned in 1892 as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup and named after Lord Stanley of Preston, the governor general of Canada, who donated it as an award to Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. The entire Stanley family supported the sport, with sons and daughters all playing and promoting the game. The first Cup was awarded in 1893 to the Montreal Hockey Club, and winners from 1893 to 1914 were determined by challenge games and league play. Professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. In 1915, the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) reached an agreement in which their respective champions would face each other annually for the Stanley Cup. The PCHA's successor, the Western Hockey League, dissolved after the 1925–26 season, and no other leagues apart from the NHL were deemed worthy of challenging for the Cup, making it the de facto championship trophy of the NHL. It became the de jure NHL championship trophy in 1947.

There are actually three Stanley Cups: the original bowl of the 'Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup,' the authenticated 'Presentation Cup,' and the spelling-corrected 'Permanent Cup' on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame whenever the Presentation Cup is not available. While the NHL has maintained control over the trophy itself and its associated trademarks, the NHL does not actually own the trophy but uses it by agreement with the two Canadian trustees of the Cup. The NHL has registered trademarks associated with the name and likeness of the Stanley Cup, although there has been dispute as to whether the league has the right to own trademarks associated with a trophy that it does not own.

The original bowl was made of silver and is 18.5 centimetres (7+5⁄16 in) high and 29 centimetres (11+7⁄16 in) in diameter. The current Stanley Cup is topped with a copy of the original bowl, made of a silver and nickel alloy. It has a height of 89.5 centimetres (35+1⁄4 in) and weighs 15.6 kilograms (34+1⁄2 lb). Like the Grey Cup, and unlike the trophies awarded by the other major professional sports leagues of North America, a new Stanley Cup is not made every year. The winners originally kept it until a new champion was crowned, but winning teams currently get the Stanley Cup during the summer and a limited number of days during the season. Every year since 1924, a select portion of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff names are engraved on its bands, which is unusual among trophies. However, there is not enough room to include all the players and non-players, so some names must be omitted. Between 1924 and 1940, a new band was added almost every year that the trophy was awarded, earning the nickname 'Stovepipe Cup' due to the unnatural height of all the bands. In 1947, the cup size was reduced, but not all the large rings were the same size. In 1958, the modern one-piece Cup was designed with a five-band barrel which could contain 13 winning teams per band. Every 13 years when the bottom band of the Stanley Cup is filled with names of champions, the top band is removed and retired to be displayed in the vault of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The four bands below it are slid up one place and a new blank band added to the bottom. The first winning team engraved on the newest band is thus, in theory, displayed on the trophy for the next 65 years. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug. The Stanley Cup is surrounded by numerous legends and traditions, the oldest of which is the winning team drinking champagne from it.

Reader's Guide

Since the 1914–15 season, the Cup has been won a combined 106 times by 21 current NHL teams and five teams no longer in existence. It was not awarded in 1919 because of the Spanish flu epidemic and in 2005 because of the 2004–05 NHL lockout. It was held by nine different teams between 1893 and 1914. The Montreal Canadiens have won it a record 24 times and are the most recent Canadian-based team to win it, doing so in 1993; the Detroit Red Wings have won it 11 times, the most of any United States–based NHL team, most recently in 2008. The current holders of the Cup are the Carolina Hurricanes after their victory in 2026, their second in franchise history. The trophy's origins trace to Frederick Stanley, who was appointed governor general of Canada in 1888 and became highly enthusiastic about ice hockey after seeing a game at Montreal's 1889 Winter Carnival. His sons Arthur and Algernon formed the Ottawa Rideau Hall Rebels, and Arthur played a key role in the formation of the Ontario Hockey Association. Stanley donated the trophy to be 'an outward and visible sign of the hockey championship,' and his message was read at a victory celebration on March 18, 1892. The trophy was purchased for ten guineas and engraved with 'Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup' and 'From Stanley of Preston.' The name 'Stanley Cup' was used as early as May 1, 1893. Stanley appointed Sheriff John Sweetland and Philip D. Ross as trustees, and they first presented the trophy in 1893 to the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association on behalf of the affiliated Montreal Hockey Club.

Did You Know?

• There are actually three Stanley Cups: the original bowl, the Presentation Cup, and the Permanent Cup.
• The Stanley Cup was not awarded in 1919 due to the Spanish flu epidemic and in 2005 due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout.
• The trophy was originally called the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup and was purchased for ten guineas.
• Every 13 years, the bottom band of the Cup is filled, and the top band is retired to the Hockey Hall of Fame.