The History Of The Stanley Cup
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Awarded annually to the champion of the National Hockey League playoffs, the Stanley Cup has a long and intriguing history, steeped in tradition. The Cup is the oldest award in North American professional sports and uniquely shared by all winners in the league. Unlike the coveted awards of the other major sports leagues, the Cup actually passes from the winner of the previous year to the present year's championship team, and is engraved with the names of all the players, coaches, club staff and management of each winning team.
The present day Cup is a copy of the original, which stood 7.28 inches in height. Today's Stanley Cup is 35.25 inches in height and almost 35 pounds. It contains a copy of the original Cup's bowl and is created from a nickel and silver alloy, while the original was made of pure silver.
Lord Stanley became Governor General of Canada in 1888, and he and his family quickly gained an enthusiastic appreciation for ice hockey. He is credited with elevating the sport to a professional level and giving it national exposure. He saw his first hockey game in Montreal in 1889 at the annual Winter Carnival. The match was between the Montreal Victorias and the Montreal Hockey Club. At the time, organized hockey was scarce in Canada, with leagues only existing in Montreal and Ottawa.
The entire Stanley family was actively engaged in the elevation of hockey to a more formal and organized sporting organization. Algernon and Arthur Stanley, sons of the Governor General, formed new hockey club in Ottawa, the Rideau Hall Rebels, and Arthur was involved in the creation of the Ontario Hockey Association. Arthur Stanley additionally founded the United Kingdom's ice hockey association.
First awarded in 1892, the original Stanley Cup was engraved with the inscription, Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup. The trophy was donated by the Lord Stanley of Preston, Governor General of Canada, to the nation's top amateur ice hockey team, the Ottawa Hockey Club. It was at the encouragement of his sons Algernon and Arthur that their father established a formal award in recognition of the achievements of the nation's top ice hockey club. The younger Stanleys believed it would be, in their words, "an outward and visible sign of the hockey championships." Little did they know that the award would become one of the most coveted trophies in the world.
The Cup itself is a punch bowl which was made in Sheffield, England. Lord Stanley purchased the Cup for the sum of 10 guineas, the equivalent of $48.67 dollars at the time. On the Cup, he had engraved "Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup." Dominion was in reference to the British Dominion of Canada. On the other side of the Cup was engraved, "From Lord Stanley of Preston."
Originally, Lord Stanley intended the Cup to be the award for amateur hockey champions in Canada and established a set of formal regulations to govern the process. These regulations designated that the Cup would not be owned by any one club, even if they won it more than once, and that the transfer of the trophy would be overseen by appointed trustees. These trustees would have authority to resolve any disputes which might arise. Lord Stanley's regulations also included the engraving of the Cup with the names of each of the championship team's members, owners, and association affiliation.
The first year of the Stanley Cup competition was held in 1893, with the champions of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada competing against the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association's Montreal Hockey Club. In the years that followed, Canadian hockey went through a number of organizational changes, with major leagues being established and more formal methods of competition put in place.
In 1915, the Cup became the award for the national championship match. The management of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) and the National Hockey Association (NHA) agreed in 1915 that the champion teams of each league would face one another in a final match for the title of national champion. The winner would hold the Lord Stanley Cup, as it was then known.
As the hockey leagues changed hands, competition rules changed and conflicts arose over the awarding of the Cup. The Stanley Cup Trustees formalized the regulations governing the award process further. These regulations became the basis for the contemporary National Hockey League's (NHL) rules and regulations. Since 1926, only NHL teams have competed for the Cup.
The original Stanley Cup had bands added to its base to make room for the inscription of the winning teams' names. These bands were periodically retired in order to make room for newer winners. The original Cup and bands which have been retired are on display in the Verizon Great Hall at The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada. A replica of the original serves as today's Stanley Cup and also has rings periodically added and retired in order to make room for additional inscriptions.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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