The Stanley Cup is the oldest trophy awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, presented annually to the NHL playoff champion. Commissioned in 1892 by Lord Stanley of Preston, it was originally the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup for Canada's top amateur hockey club. The Montreal Hockey Club won the first Cup in 1893. From 1893 to 1914, winners were determined through challenge games and league play. Professional teams began competing for it in 1906. In 1915, the NHA and PCHA agreed that their champions would compete for the Cup annually. The Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship trophy in 1926, and then the de jure NHL championship prize in 1947.
By 1902, the first base ring attached to the bottom of the original Stanley Cup bowl by the Montreal Hockey Club was completely filled with engraved team names.
In March 1906, the Montreal Wanderers pushed through a resolution at the ECAHA annual meeting to allow professional players alongside amateurs, leading to the opening of Stanley Cup challenges to professional teams.
In 1906, professional teams became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup for the first time.
In January 1907, the Kenora Thistles, representing the smallest municipality to produce a champion, won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Wanderers.
In March 1907, the Montreal Wanderers challenged the Kenora Thistles to a rematch and won the Stanley Cup.
In 1907, the Montreal Wanderers became the first club to record their name on the interior surface of the Stanley Cup bowl, and the first champion to record the names of 20 members of their team.
In 1908, for unknown reasons, the Montreal Wanderers, despite having turned aside four challengers, did not record their names on the Stanley Cup.
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 1909, the Ottawa Senators added a second band onto the Stanley Cup.
In 1910, the Montreal Wanderers did not put their names on the Stanley Cup, even with new space available.
In 1911, the Ottawa Senators did not put their names on the Stanley Cup, even with new space available.
In 1912, the Stanley Cup trustees declared that the Cup would only be defended at the end of the champion team's regular season, changing the previous practice of allowing challenges at any time.
In 1914, controversy arose when the Stanley Cup trustees initially hesitated to let the Cup travel west for the Victoria Aristocrats' challenge due to a misunderstanding about formal notification, but the challenge was eventually accepted.
In 1914, the trustees formally declared that the Stanley Cup was no longer for the best team in Canada, but now for the best team in the world, after the Portland Rosebuds (an American-based team) joined the PCHA.
In 1914, winners were determined by challenge games and league play.
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.
In 1915, The Ottawa Senators engraved their names on the trophy, even though they did not officially win it under the new PCHA-NHA system.
In 1915, the NHA and PCHA concluded a gentlemen's agreement in which their respective champions would face each other for the Stanley Cup, alternating between East and West each year and playing by alternating league rules.
In 1915, the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) agreed that their champions would annually compete for the Stanley Cup.
In 1915, the Vancouver Millionaires became the second team to engrave players' names on the Stanley Cup, doing so inside the bowl along its sides.
In 1916, The Portland Rosebuds engraved their names on the trophy, even though they did not officially win it under the new PCHA-NHA system.
In 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first American-based team to win the Stanley Cup.
In 1918, the Vancouver Millionaires eventually filled the band added to the Stanley Cup by the 1909 Ottawa Senators.
In 1919, the Stanley Cup was not awarded due to the flu pandemic.
The 1919 Stanley Cup Finals between the Montreal Canadiens and the Seattle Metropolitans were cancelled after game five due to the Spanish influenza epidemic, marking the first time the Stanley Cup was not awarded.
The Stanley Cup was not awarded in 1919 because of the Spanish flu epidemic.
In 1920, the National Football League (NFL) adopted a policy of calling its league champions the world champions, a policy later copied by the NHL.
In 1920, the winners did not put their winning team name on the Stanley Cup.
In 1922, the format for the Stanley Cup Finals changed with the creation of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), where two league champions faced each other for the right to challenge the third champion in the final series.
In 1923, the winners did not put their winning team name on the Stanley Cup.
Every year since 1924, a select portion of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff names are engraved on its bands.
In 1924, the Montreal Canadiens added a new band to the Stanley Cup. Since then, engraving the team and its players has been an unbroken annual tradition.
In 1924-25 the Victoria Cougars won the Stanley Cup, marking the last time a team outside the NHL accomplished this.
In 1925 the Victoria Cougars won the Stanley Cup, marking the last time a team outside the NHL accomplished this.
In 1926, the Stanley Cup was established as the de facto championship trophy of the NHL.
In 1926, the WHL folded and was replaced by the Prairie Hockey League. The NHL bought contracts of WHL's players for new U.S. teams: the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Cougars (now Detroit Red Wings), and New York Rangers.
Since 1926, no non-NHL team has played for the Stanley Cup, leading it to become the de facto championship trophy of the NHL. The NHL began calling its champions the world champions.
In 1932, the Stanley Cup may have first been awarded on the ice to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the practice did not become a tradition until the 1950s.
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 2005, after the 2005–06 champion Carolina Hurricanes were crowned and the new bottom ring was finally added along with the retiring of the band listing the 1940–41 champions.
In 1946, the National Basketball Association (NBA) asserted its championship policy upon its founding, similar to the NHL and NFL.
In 1947, the NHL reached an agreement with trustee J. Cooper Smeaton to grant control of the Stanley Cup to the NHL, allowing the league to reject challenges from other leagues.
In 1947, the Stanley Cup became the de jure NHL championship prize.
In 1947, the Stanley Cup trustees signed an agreement with the NHL, which later became a point of contention during the 2004-05 NHL lockout. A group in Ontario challenged the agreement in court, arguing that the trustees should award the trophy regardless of the lockout.
In 1947, the cup size was reduced, but not all the large rings were the same size.
In 1948, the Stanley Cup was redesigned as a two-piece cigar-shaped trophy with a removable bowl and collar. The redesign also properly honored those teams that did not engrave their names on the Cup.
In 1950, Ted Lindsay of the Detroit Red Wings became the first captain to hoist the Stanley Cup overhead and skate around the rink after receiving it.
In 2005, after the 2005–06 champion Carolina Hurricanes were crowned and the new bottom ring was finally added along with the retiring of the band listing the 1952–53 champions.
Since the introduction of the five-band cup, each engraved team is displayed on the trophy between 52 and 65 years, the band listing the 1953-54 winners was removed in September 2018.
In 1954, Marguerite Norris, the president of the Detroit Red Wings, won the Stanley Cup, becoming the first woman to have her name engraved on the trophy.
In 1955, Marguerite Norris, the president of the Detroit Red Wings, won the Stanley Cup.
In 1958, the modern one-piece Cup was designed with a five-band barrel which could contain 13 winning teams per band.
In 1958, the modern one-piece Stanley Cup design was introduced, replacing the old barrel with a five-band barrel.
On November 22, 1961, the Stanley Cup agreement was amended, replacing the Governors of the International Hockey Hall of Fame with the Committee of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto as the group responsible for naming the two Canadian trustees, if needed.
In 1963, Montreal silversmith Carl Petersen created the "Presentation Cup" because NHL president Clarence Campbell thought the original bowl was too thin and fragile.
In 1963, the "Presentation Cup" was created as a duplicate of the original Stanley Cup due to concerns about the original becoming too fragile.
In 1963, the original collar of the Stanley Cup was replaced due to brittleness.
In 1964, the Presentation Cup, a duplicate of the original Stanley Cup, was awarded for the first time. This version is currently awarded to the champions of the playoffs.
Since the introduction of the five-band cup, each engraved team is displayed on the trophy between 52 and 65 years, the band listing the 1964-65 winners was removed in September 2018.
In 1965, the names of the Montreal Canadiens were engraved over a larger area than allotted, resulting in only 12 teams being engraved on that band instead of 13.
In September 2018, the band listing the 1953–54 to 1964–65 winners was removed. This band only contained 12 teams because of space constraints.
In 1969, the original bowl of the Stanley Cup was replaced due to brittleness.
In 1970, the original 1892 Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, which had been physically awarded to champions, was moved to the Vault Room at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario.
In 1980, many fans urged the Montreal Canadiens to draft Denis Savard, adding to the sentiment of Guy Carbonneau handing the Stanley Cup to Savard in 1993.
In 1987, after the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, Wayne Gretzky handed the Stanley Cup to Steve Smith, a year after Smith made a costly gaffe.
In 1988, Montreal silversmith Louise St. Jacques became the fourth official Stanley Cup engraver, a position she has held since.
In 1989, Sonia Scurfield won the Stanley Cup as a co-owner of the Calgary Flames, becoming the only Canadian woman to have her name engraved on the Stanley Cup.
In 1991, when the bands on the Stanley Cup were all filled, the top band of the large barrel was preserved in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a new blank band was added to the bottom to prevent the Stanley Cup from growing further.
In 1992, the bands on the Stanley Cup were originally designed to fill up during the Cup's centennial year.
In 1993, Montreal silversmith Louise St. Jacques created the replica "Permanent Cup" to be used at the Hockey Hall of Fame when the Presentation Cup isn't available.
In 1993, after the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings, Guy Carbonneau handed the Stanley Cup to Denis Savard, a player that many fans had urged the Canadiens to draft in 1980.
In 1993, the "Permanent Cup" was created as a stand-in for the Presentation Cup at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In 1993, the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup, marking the most recent win by a Canadian-based team.
After the New York Rangers' 1994 Stanley Cup win, Eddie Olczyk took the Stanley Cup to the Belmont Stakes. Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin ate out of the Stanley Cup.
Since 1994, teams have been permitted to petition the NHL Commissioner to engrave a player's name on the Stanley Cup if the player was unavailable to play due to "extenuating circumstances".
In 1995, the New Jersey Devils initiated a tradition where each member of the Stanley Cup-winning team gets to keep the Cup for a day. Following the 1994–95 season, the NHL mandated that an official Cup handler must be present when players have the Cup in the off-season.
On June 13, 1997, Vladimir Konstantinov's career ended after a car accident.
In 1998, the Detroit Red Wings received special permission from the NHL to inscribe the name of Vladimir Konstantinov, whose career ended after a car accident on June 13, 1997, on the Stanley Cup after Detroit defended their title.
On March 6, 2000, Ray Bourque, who had played his entire career with the Boston Bruins, was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in pursuit of a Stanley Cup.
On August 22, 2001, Mark Waggoner, the Director of Finance for the Colorado Avalanche, carried the Stanley Cup to the summit of Mount Elbert, the highest point in Colorado.
In 2001, Charlotte Grahame, the Colorado Avalanche's Senior Director of Hockey Administration, had her name engraved on the Stanley Cup.
In 2001, when the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup, Joe Sakic immediately handed the trophy to Ray Bourque, whose 22-year NHL career had not included a Cup win until that point.
In 2002, the term "Triple Gold Club" entered popular usage following the Winter Olympics, which saw the addition of the first Canadian members.
In 2004, Another new band was scheduled to be added to the bottom of the cup following the 2004–05 season, but was not added because of the 2004–05 NHL lockout.
In 2004, John Grahame had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In 2004, a labor dispute between the NHL's owners and the NHL Players Association led to the cancellation of the 2004-05 season, resulting in no Stanley Cup champion being crowned.
In 2004, the Stanley Cup was displayed at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida, boosting morale for the troops.
In 2005, a labor dispute between the NHL and the NHL Players Association resulted in the cancellation of the 2004-05 season. Consequently, the Stanley Cup went unclaimed for the first time since 1919.
In 2005, after the 2005-06 champion Carolina Hurricanes were crowned, the new bottom ring was added to the Stanley Cup, acknowledging the cancelled 2004-05 season with the words "2004–05 Season Not Played".
The Stanley Cup was not awarded in 2005 because of the 2004–05 NHL lockout.
On February 7, 2006, a settlement was reached allowing the Stanley Cup to be awarded to non-NHL teams if the league didn't operate for a season. However, the NHL resumed operations before the settlement could be put into effect.
In 2006, the Stanley Cup toured Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where wounded Marines had the opportunity to see and be photographed with it.
In 2007, from May 2 to 6, the Stanley Cup made its first trip into a combat zone, Kandahar, Afghanistan, displayed for Canadian and other NATO troops. It survived a rocket attack on May 3.
In 2007, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) formalized the "Triple Gold Club", recognizing players and coaches who have won an Olympic Games gold medal, a World Championship gold medal, and the Stanley Cup.
In March 2008, the Stanley Cup was taken back to Afghanistan as part of a "Team Canada visit".
In 2008, the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, marking the most recent win for a United States-based NHL team with 11 wins.
On June 27, 2010, Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Brent Sopel brought the Stanley Cup to the 2010 Chicago Gay Pride Parade to honor Brian Burke and his late son, Brendan.
In the spring of 2010, the Stanley Cup made its fourth trip to Afghanistan, accompanied by ex-players.
In 2012, when another NHL lockout commenced, the trustees stated that the 2006 agreement did not oblige them to award the Stanley Cup in the event of a lost season and indicated they would likely reject any non-NHL challenges.
In March 2017, the Stanley Cup's 125th anniversary was commemorated with a four-day tour of Ottawa, including a visit to Rideau Hall. The Royal Canadian Mint produced two commemorative coins to mark the anniversary.
In October 2017, the Lord Stanley's Gift Monument, commemorating the donation of the Stanley Cup, was erected in Ottawa at Sparks Street and Elgin Street.
By 2017, more than 3,000 different names, including over 1,300 players, had been engraved on the Stanley Cup.
By its 125th anniversary in 2017, the Stanley Cup had had 3,177 names engraved on it; of those, 1,331 belong to players. At that time the Stanley Cup stood at 89.5 centimetres (35+1⁄4 inches) tall and weighed 15+1⁄2 kilograms (34+1⁄2 lb).
In 2017, after the crowning of the 2017-18 champions, the Washington Capitals, the band listing the 1953-54 to 1964-65 winners was removed, and a new band for the 2017-18 to 2029-30 champions was added to the bottom of the Stanley Cup.
In September 2018, following the crowning of the 2017-18 champions, the Washington Capitals, the band listing the 1953-54 to 1964-65 winners was removed, and a new band for the 2017-18 to 2029-30 champions was added to the bottom of the Stanley Cup.
In 2018, the Stanley Cup was used to improve spirits of those affected by the Humboldt Broncos' bus crash on April 6 and the Capital Gazette shooting on June 28. It was brought to the hospital for crash survivors on April 15 and to Capital Gazette employees on July 3.
In 2023, Ian "Scotty" Morrison retired as trustee of the Stanley Cup, the only trustee to resign to date.
In 2024, the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup, their first in franchise history.
In 2024, the cost of the original Stanley Cup when purchased by Lord Stanley is equivalent to $1,703.
Since the introduction of the five-band cup, each engraved team is displayed on the trophy between 52 and 65 years, a new band for the 2017-18 to 2029-30 champions was added to the bottom of the Stanley Cup in September 2018.
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