The Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup, the Holy Grail; to Hockey players around the world it is the most famous trophy in the League and one you spend your whole season working towards. Each team that wins the annual championship passes the cup along to the next team that takes home the title. It is also one of only two trophies in professional sports which have the name of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff engraved upon it. The cup was named after Lord Stanley of Preston. In 1888 Stanley was appointed by Queen Victoria as Governor General of Canada was the first exposed to the game at Montreal’s Winter Carnival the following year. He was immediately delighted with the game and became an instant fan and soon his entire family became active in ice Hockey. Two of his sons, Arthur and Algernon, formed a new team called the Ottawa Rideau Rebels. Later, Arthur became the founder of Hockey in Great Brittan and convinced his father Stanley to donate a trophy to symbolize Hockey Championship.

The original cup is used every year and never loses its traditions. One of the oldest traditions dating back to 1896 is having the winning team drink champagne from the bowl of the trophy. Another includes an on-ice presentation of the Cup to the captain of the winning team. After the Captain holds the Cup, he would pass it down his team so everyone gets a chance to hold it. In 1950 Ted Lindsay of the Detroit Red Wings became the first captain to hoist the Cup over his head and skate around the rink. After this display, winning teams after began do the same thing. Each player would have their chance to take a lap round the rink with the trophy over their head. Touching the Trophy was another famous tradition in NHL. This tradition holds the rule of not touching or hoisting the cup until it is awarded. Once awarded, the players must hoist the trophy, because “it is the trophy of champions.” Later it was known as good luck to touch or tap the trophy before or during a game for superstitious chance of winning it shortly after. In 1995 the tradition started where every player of the winning team is a awarded a of possession of the cup. They can spend a day with a cup and a representative of the Hockey Hall of Fame. It traveled with the best of them and done more than most of us can claim. In 2008 Tomas Holmstrom brought the trophy to his hometown in Sweden and used it as a baptismal font for his niece. After Tampa Bay Lightning won the cup, Prince Edward Island took the Stanley Cup out on a fishing boat for good luck. If luck was what the cup brought Tampa Bay Lightning Andre Roy wanted the best of it. He used it as an engagement ring bearer. It had the privilege to visit the White House, knocked elbows with the president (George W. Bush at the time) and traveled through the glamour of Las Angeles. The cup was taken on a roller coaster ride in Universal Studios in Hollywood, and visited the Hollywood Sign. Perhaps this was a little foreshadowing of its own; the trophy was featured in several scenes of the soap Opera Guiding light, and prime time television show Boston Legal. The fame and legend of this cup remains as the fame continuously grows.