Statue of Lord Stanley. Did you know the Stanley Cup is named after a person? Lord Stanley enjoyed sports. After he saw his first hockey game, he and his family were hooked!
His children convinced him there should be a trophy for the best team in the country. In , he bought a silver bowl from a shop in London, England, and donated it.
It was decided the trophy should be named after him. But only one team wins the trophy at the end of the season. And no team has enjoyed more victory laps than the Montreal Canadiens. But the Canadiens have won the most Stanley Cups ever — a whopping 24 times! The engravings on the Stanley Cup showing all the Montreal Canadien wins. In NYC! The StanleyCup checks the view from our room in Timesquare. Way back when the Cup was first donated, Lord Stanley mandated that two trustees must always be appointed to care for the Cup and ensure it was kept in proper condition.
The NHL allots each championship team one hundred off-season days with the Cup accompanied by the Keeper, of course to do with it as they wish. It was the New Jersey Devils who formalized the tradition of giving each player one personal day with the Cup during the off-season.
Once successful, they went on their drunken way and forgot all about it—until their teammates realized the next day that the trophy was missing. The players, eager to celebrate their win, quickly changed the tire and made their way to the party. When the traditional time came for each player to drink champagne from the silver bowl, the Cup was nowhere to be found.
The players had left it on the side of the road! They hopped in their car and sped back to the place where they had changed the flat and found the Cup in a snow bank on the side of the road—right where they had left it.
After the Colorado Avalanche won the championship, defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre used his personal day with the Cup to have his daughter christened in the top bowl. In addition to the players, team ownership, upper management, and coaching personnel also get their names engraved on the Cup. Because the names are permanently engraved, there are some famous errors where player and team names are misspelled on the Cup.
These have sometimes been corrected in the 21 st century. Presently, an engraver named Louise St. Jacques performs the task. She does this each September, after the players have all had their individual day with the Cup in private.
The trophy has evolved since its creation, and it is amended with the names of new Stanley Cup champions every season.
The Cup no longer changes size, however. When it is filled with names every thirteen seasons, the top band is removed, and a new band is added to the bottom of the Cup.
Ever wondered if the winners still get gifted commemorative Stanley Cup rings? Yes they do -- but they have changed massively over the years.
Will It Run Out of Space? Silversmith Carl Petersen stamping names into the Cup in the s, and the current engraver, Louise St. Jacques, at work in her Montreal studio. For about three months, I have been hip-deep in photo files, especially the stunning, massive collections of the Hall of Fame.
My breath has been taken away by many hundreds of portraits and action shots I have viewed and the scores I have downloaded, digitally restoring photos of many of my boyhood heroes who remain so to this day, the same images that together became wallpaper in my bedroom. A player's name appears on the Stanley Cup for at least 52 years and as many as 65, depending on where a team is engraved on a band. That the names of such timeless legends as Howe, Richard and others are about to be removed is an emotional farewell to icons, just as it is to the lesser known players who all played a part in at least one championship.
Next to be retired, in , will be the band featuring champions from to the Canadiens eight times , Boston Bruins two , Philadelphia Flyers two and Maple Leafs one. And with it will go the names of another large group of Hall of Famers.
Among them: Montreal center Henri Richard, whose 11 championships are a record for a player, and Boston's Bobby Orr, widely viewed as the greatest defenseman of all time. But whether on the trophy itself or in a vault among other legends, these champions will not be forgotten. The Stanley Cup has long been a monument to the NHL's greatest teams and players, superstars and journeymen pulling as one with a common goal, its scratches and dents and misspelled names only adding to its beauty.
It is a living, breathing museum whose sterling exhibits are always freshened, which is why I'd suggest it's the greatest trophy in sports. We encourage you to review it carefully.
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