35 Facts About Stanley Cup

1.

Stanley Cup is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoff champion.

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2.

The entire Stanley Cup family supported the sport, the sons and daughters all playing and promoting the game.

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3.

The first Stanley Cup was awarded in 1893 to Montreal Hockey Club, and winners from 1893 to 1914 were determined by challenge games and league play.

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4.

The current Stanley Cup is topped with a copy of the original bowl, made of a silver and nickel alloy.

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5.

In 1958, the modern one-piece Stanley Cup was designed with a five-band barrel which could contain 13 winning teams per band.

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6.

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.

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7.

The Stanley Cup is surrounded by numerous legends and traditions, the oldest of which is the winning team drinking champagne from it.

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8.

Stanley Cup was first exposed to the game at Montreal's 1889 Winter Carnival, where he saw the Montreal Victorias play the Montreal Hockey Club.

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9.

Stanley Cup had the words "Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup" engraved on one side of the outside rim, and "From Stanley of Preston" on the other side.

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10.

Originally, Stanley intended that the Cup should be awarded to the top amateur hockey team in Canada, to be decided by the acceptance of a challenge from another team.

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11.

Naturally, the Ottawas 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 Stanley Cup was to be awarded prior to the start of the season.

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12.

The first successful challenge to the Stanley Cup came the next year by the Winnipeg Victorias, the champions of the Manitoba Hockey League.

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13.

The Stanley Cup trustees agreed to open the challenges to professional teams, because the ECAHA was the top hockey league in Canada at the time.

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14.

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.

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15.

In 1912, Stanley Cup trustees declared that it was to be defended only at the end of the champion team's regular season.

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16.

Ice hockey in Europe was still in its infancy at this time, so it was without much controversy that winners of the Stanley Cup continued styling themselves as the world champions just like in baseball.

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17.

Format for the Stanley Cup Finals changed in 1922, with the creation of the Western Canada Hockey League .

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18.

Since 1926, no non-NHL team has played for the Stanley Cup, leading it to become the de facto championship trophy of the NHL.

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19.

Adrienne Clarkson, then Governor General of Canada, alternately proposed that the Stanley Cup be presented to the top women's hockey team in lieu of the NHL season.

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20.

Meanwhile, a group in Ontario, known as the "Wednesday Nighters", filed an application with the Ontario Superior Court, claiming that the Stanley Cup trustees had overstepped their bounds in signing the 1947 agreement with the NHL, and therefore must award the trophy regardless of the lockout.

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21.

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, near the location of the dinner party announcing the Cup at the Russell House, which has since been demolished.

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22.

The modern one-piece Stanley Cup design was introduced in 1958, when the old barrel was replaced with a five-band barrel, each of which could contain 13 winning teams.

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23.

Stanley Cup is followed by Jean Beliveau and Yvan Cournoyer of the Canadiens with ten championships, Claude Provost of the Canadiens with nine, and three players tied with eight: Red Kelly and Canadiens players Jacques Lemaire, Maurice Richard.

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24.

The first woman to have her name engraved on the Stanley Cup is Marguerite Norris, who won the Cup as the President of the Detroit Red Wings in 1954 and 1955.

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25.

The only Canadian woman to have her name engraved on the Stanley Cup is Sonia Scurfield who won the Cup as a co-owner of the Calgary Flames in 1989.

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26.

The Stanley Cup is traditionally presented on the ice by the NHL commissioner to the captain of the winning team after the series-winning game; each member of the victorious club carries the trophy around the rink.

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27.

The first time that the Stanley Cup was awarded on the ice may have been to the 1932 Toronto Maple Leafs, but the practice did not become a tradition until the 1950s.

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28.

The Presentation Stanley Cup is authenticated by the seal of the Hockey Hall of Fame on the bottom, which can be seen when winning players lift the Stanley Cup over their heads, and it is the one currently awarded to the champions of the playoffs and used for promotions.

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29.

Replica "Permanent Stanley Cup", was created in 1993 by Montreal silversmith Louise St Jacques to be used as a stand-in at the Hockey Hall of Fame whenever the Presentation Stanley Cup is not available for display.

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30.

Stanley Cup has served as a valuable morale booster for both American and Canadian troops, as well as their NATO allies.

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31.

In 2004, the Stanley Cup was displayed at MacDill Air Force Base, located near Tampa, Florida.

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32.

In 2006, the Stanley Cup toured Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where wounded Marines were given the opportunity to view and be photographed with the Stanley Cup.

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33.

Stanley Cup did a second tour in Afghanistan as part of a "Team Canada visit" in March 2008.

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34.

In 2018, the Stanley Cup was used to improve the spirits of those who were affected by either of two significantly tragic events which claimed the lives of multiple individuals, the Humboldt Broncos' bus crash on April 6, and the Capital Gazette shooting on June 28.

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35.

Regulations set down by Lord Stanley call for two Trustees, who had the sole, joint right to govern the Cup and the conditions of its awarding until 1947, when they ceded control to the NHL.

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