Let’s talk the Stanley Cup.
If you are a hockey fan, or if you have ever played “the greatest game on ice,” this is the time of year you wait for. It is the culmination of the long 9-month grind of body checks, and slamming opponents into the boards, skillful puck control, crisp passes, swift moves and deft dekes, blazing shots, poke checks and lightning glove saves. OK, I am a former goalie, so the lightning glove saves may be top of the enjoyment list for me.
If you have ever played the game, you are probably a fan, but even those who never played the game, but who are into the artistry, athleticism, strategy, skill and speed of the game will always be fans.
The NHL playoffs are under way, and the finals should start the last half of June.
The Stanley Cup finals are the Montreal Canadiens with 24 wins in 35 finals including 10 appearances in a row from 1952-1960. And it is the Detroit Red Wings with 11 wins in 24 appearances and 13 wins by the Toronto Maple Leafs – none since 1967. It is the Columbus Blue Jackets among five teams waiting for their first final and the San Jose Sharks, who made one appearance and look to get back. It is the New York Rangers ending a 54-year drought in 1994 to win the Cup.
It is Boston’s Bobby Orr flying through the air after scoring a series-winning goal in 1970, Montreal’s Maurice “The Rocket” Richard scoring four goals in Game One in 1957 to set the tone for another Canadiens win. It is Detroit’s Ted Lindsey, Gordie Howe and Terry Sawchuck leading a Red Wings dynasty. It is Wayne Gretzky winning four cups and dominating with the 1985 and 1988 Edmonton Oilers and falling short despite one-man heroics for the L.A. Kings in 1993. It is standout performances by Patrick Roy, Ken Dryden, Mario Lemieux, Stan Mikita, Jean Beliveau, Bernie Parent, Brian Leetch, Mark Messier and hundreds of non-household hockey names who have shone brightly during the finals.
The Stanley Cup was created by Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston and originally presented to “the championship hockey club of the Dominion of Canada,” in 1892. The first team ever awarded the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association in 1893. In 1914, the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association won the league championship and played the Victoria Aristocrats of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and won the Cup. In the 1920s there was a three-way playoff that included the Western Canada Hockey League and beginning in 1926, it became the trophy and competition for the “Original Six” NHL teams. Progressing to the expanded playoff format of today, the trophy has been awarded 105 times.
But it is the trophy. Lord Stanley’s cup. The Stanley Cup is legendary and is arguably the best trophy in sports. The Lombardi trophy (NFL) is classic. The Commissioner’s Trophy in baseball is majestic. The Wimbledon Trophy, Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy, Soccer FIFA World Cup and UEFA Champions League Trophy, Webb Ellis Rugby Cup Trophy, Wanamaker Golf Trophy all have support for being the BEST trophy in sports, but I’ll vote for the Stanley Cup.
The names of every eligible player (and coach) on the winning teams are inscribed on the Stanley Cup. More than 2300 names are inscribed in panels on the Cup. Maurice Richard is on 11 cups and coach Scotty Bowman is on nine. Official engravers put the names on the Cup. And there are errors that STAY on the Cup. There is “Ilanders” instead of “Islanders” for 1980-81, and “Bqstqn” instead of “Boston” Bruins for 1971-72. When the bottom band becomes full, the oldest band is removed and preserved in the Hockey Hall of Fame and the blank band is added to the bottom.
The Stanley Cup is made of silver and nickel alloy and is 35.24 inches tall, weighing 34.5 pounds. It is tended for by an NHL attendant known as “Keeper of the Cup.” The current Keeper, Philip Pritchard, wears white gloves when touching it.
The winning team’s players carry it over their heads and skate around the ice with the Cup after their win. Each player gets to have the cup in his hometown after the playoffs for one day.
Champagne is drunk from the Cup by winners. Two babies have been baptized in the Cup. It has been used as a flower pot and as a doorstop. It has been used as a stripper’s prop in an Edmonton strip club. It was flown into an Afghanistan war zone to boost morale for Canadian and American troops in 2007.
One fan tried to steal the Cup and “take it back to Montreal, where it belongs.” The Cup has been thrown into pools and lakes by winning players to see if it could float, and in 1905, it was kicked into Ottawa’s Rideau Canal by drunken winners, where it spent the night. In 1925, Montreal winners forgot about it and left it in a road after a flat tire fix – the Cup had been in the car’s trunk and left out during the tire change.
This is a trophy with history, and more to be written. How about you? What is your favorite trophy? Let me know at mike.blake@mountvernonnews.com.
See you next time.
