Every hockey fan knows what the Stanley Cup is and hopes their team brings it home
Some even hope to raise the coveted silver trophy over their heads
What many people don’t think about is the history behind the Cup Most hockey fans know that Lord Stanley of Preston bought the Cup and every year a team wins the trophy and now takes it back to their hometown
It’s like baptizing two babies in a cup Or how many women’s names are on the mug?
And which team even forgot that they won the Cup?
If you’re into visuals, check out this infographic that’s all about Stanley
For the rest of you, here’s some new information to scatter the next time you chat about the goblet
Who Is Lord Stanley and Why Does He Have a Cup?
Lord Stanley of Preston, who became Governor-General of Canada in 1892, purchased the Cup on a trip to London
Three years ago, at the 1889 Winter Carnival in Montreal, he and his family fell in love with the sport of hockey
Lord Stanley has decided to donate the Cup to Canada’s best amateur hockey team
The first names engraved on the trophy belonged to the 1893 Montreal Amateur Athletic Association
Awarded to the top professional team in the National Hockey League since 1926
While two Stanley Cups get the chance to meet people, there are actually three
The original is kept in the Vault Room in the Hockey Hall of Fame
The photo above is of the original 1892 trophy awarded until 1970, known as the Dominion Hockey Challenge
In 1963, NHL President Clarence Campbell thought the Dominion Cup had become too fragile to perpetuate and created the ‘Presentation Cup’, the Cup we know and love today
The third Cup, known as the “Copy Cup”, is an exact replica of the Presentation Cup In 1993, Montreal silversmith Louise St Created by Jacques
Used as a stand-in in the Hall of Fame when the Presentation Cup is not available
So if you are visiting the Hall of Fame in the summer, any chance of seeing the Replica Cup? How heavy is the Stanley Cup?
A replica of the original bowl with newer bands below, the current Stanley Cup weighs 345lb
How old is the Stanley Cup?
The Stanley Cup is 124 years old and was first awarded to the Montreal Hockey Club in 1893
What Makes Stanley Different?
True hockey fans will be the first to say that their sport has the best trophy
First of all, it goes to the players first, not the Stanley Cup holders
Colorado Avalanche’s Ray Bourque and Joe Sakic lifted the Stanley Cup after the Colorado Avalanche defeated the New Jersey Devils in Game 7 of the 2001 NHL Stanley Cup Finals
Unlike other teams, a new trophy is not made every year
Instead, players can lift the trophy they dreamed of raising as a child
The trophy also has the names of the players, coaches, management and staff of the winning team permanently engraved
If you win the trophy, your name will go down in hockey history
Players actually get the Trophy for one day
Unlike other sports, players take the Cup to their hometown and spend a day with it
The NHL allows the winning team to have 100 days off-season with the Cup, but who was the first to give each player a day with it?
It was the 1994-95 New Jersey Devils that made the tradition as we know it today
They started giving it to every player and front desk member for a day
Since the Devils won the trophy back in 2003, the Hall of Fame has kept a diary of Stanley’s travels
Where is Stanley?
Stanley has been around the world – even in Afghanistan – accompanied of course by his keeper
Phil Pritchard has been the keeper of the Cup since 1991 and travels wherever the trophy goes
When Lord Stanley donated the Cup, he required the two trustees to ensure that the Cup was kept safe at all times
Currently, Brian O’Neill and Ian Morrison have absolute power over these two trustees and all Stanley Cup-related matters When holding the trophy, these guys always wear white gloves
In fact, during the 1962 playoffs, a Canadian fan named Ken Kilander tried to steal the Cup and went out the door with him
His response was, “I want to get him back to Montreal where he belongs “
Although the Montreal fans did not forget the Cup, the two Montreal teams definitely did not forget
First, he left it at the home of the 1907 Montreal Wanderers team photographer
The photographer’s mom didn’t realize it was the Domination Cup, deciding it would make a good pot until the team came to pick it up
The Wanderers are one of two teams whose names are engraved on the original bowl of the trophy
Montreal Travelers (Source: Wikimedia)
A few years later, 1924 Canadians forgot it by the wayside
The team realized that he was missing and had to go back and get him
Since Pritchard took over the Cup-holding duties in 1991, the Cup has been a summertime fun in a pool at least three times
The first was when the Penguins won the trophy in 1991
Mario Lemieux was having a team party at his house when former two-nine Phil Bourque decided he wanted to see if the Cup could float in the air
He recovered quickly, but swam again two years later
Phil Pritchard finally got tired of swimming with Stanley when Dominic Hašek won the Cup in 2002
When Hašek tried to retrieve the Cup for a swim, Pritchard ended Hašek’s day early by demanding that he dry the Cup and return it
When the Ottawa Hockey Club won the trophy in 1905, they had a little too much “fun” drinking and decided to try out some football skills
In their drunken state, the players forgot the trophy until they sobered up the next day
When the trophy was reclaimed, it was handed over to Harry Smith, the most responsible man on the 1905 Ottawa squad
There are over 2,300 names on the trophy and it’s constantly changing
Old rings are removed as new names are added
Names of players from 1928-29 to 1953-54 are in the Hockey Hall of Fame
These are most of the names in the Dominion Cup
It was a streamlined trophy that would receive a new group each year
It was originally called the Stovepipe Cup, but in 1948 it became too long to hold and became the tiered trophy we know today
While we’d like to think that the official engravers, of which there are only four in trophy history, are excellent, some names are misspelled
For five years, Jacques Plante’s name was spelled differently
Even team names are not safe
This misspelling is another way to distinguish the Presentation Cup from the Copy Cup Names are spelled correctly on the copy
Only 52 names can be placed in the trophy and although some exceptions have been made, these names must actually be members of the team
The 1998 Detroit Red Wings had a player who was seriously injured in a car accident the year before, allowing his name to be written on the trophy
Basil Pocklington name ambiguously removed from Stanley Cup (Wikimedia)
There are twelve women’s names on the glass
The first woman was Marguerite Norris, who was president of the Detroit Red Wings in 1954-55
Only one Canadian woman is named on the trophy: Sonia Scurfield, co-owner of the Calgary Flames during their 1988–89 wins
Stanley Records
The youngest player to win the trophy was Larry Hillman
He was just 18 years, 2 months and 9 days old when the Detroit Red Wings won the Cup in 1955
Chris Chelios was the oldest player to win the Cup He was 46 years and 6 months old when he won the trophy with Detroit in 2008
Chris Chelios, Detroit Red Wings (Dan4th: Wikipedia Commons)
Maurice Richard’s brother, Henri Richard, has his name in 11 Cups as a player
Scotty Bowman has made his name in the Cup nine times as a manager split between the Penguins, Red Wings and Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are the highest-paid team in Cup history with 24 Stanley Cup wins
They won five years in a row between 1956 and 1960
Only the 1976 – 1979 Canadians and the 1980 – 1984 New York Islanders had four consecutive wins
The only eighth-ranked team to win the Stanley Cup was the 2012 Los Angeles Kings
Dustin Brown and Los Angeles Kings team owner Philip Anschutz (Photo: Dave Sandford/NHLI, via Getty Images)
Two babies were baptized in the Cup The first was Sylvain Lefebvre’s daughter, who was baptized after winning the Colorado Avalanche in 1996
The Detroit forward allowed his cousin to baptize his seven-week-old daughter in the bowl when she won the Red Wings in 2008