A Salute to Hockeys Lord Stanley's Cup "A Brief History"

The Cup was first known as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup a little thereafter, during a trip to London, England, Lord Stanley took some time out from his round of official duties to do a little shopping. Walking about in a store, he spied a squat, silver bowl. Aha! Was this the cup? He picked it up, turning it this way and that, then smiled. It would do quite nicely. Taking his purchase to the counter, he had it wrapped for the journey back to Canada.

Lord Stanley purchased a silver cup measuring 7 ½ inches high by 11 ½ inches across for the sum of 10 guineas (around $50.00) and appointed two Ottawa gentlemen, Sheriff John Sweetland and Philip D. Ross, as trustees of that cup; and set the following preliminary conditions to govern the annual competition.
Note: Todays cup is -
Height: 35 1/4 inches
Weight: 34½ pounds
Base circumference: 54 inches

1 - The winners to return the Cup in good order when required by the trustees in order that it may be handed over to any other team which may win it.
2 - Each winning team to have the club name and year engraved on a silver ring fitted on the
Cup.
3 - The Cup to remain a challenge competition and not the property of any one team, even if won more than once.
4 - The trustees to maintain absolute authority in all situations or disputes over the winner of the Cup.
5 - A substitute trustee to be named in the event that one of the existing trustees drops out.2

The first winner of the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) hockey club, champions of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada for 1893. Ironically, Lord Stanley never witnessed a championship game nor attended a presentation of his trophy, having returned to his native England in the midst of the 1893 season. Nevertheless, the quest for his trophy has become one of the world's most prestigious sporting competitions.

Today there's all kinds of cool collectable trophies on the market. Sometime beverage companies will slip one mini trophy say in a case of beer as this example seen here. Or you could find Stanley on a card or a stamp. Even chains like McDonald's will put out mini trophies. And with like any other Collectible they start to rise in value. The example shown here came out of a case of beer and the best part is that each one had a serial number. That means that each one is unique and help adds value, this one is worth around $25.00 in the package...

It just began as a simple silver bowl, but as names of winning teams were engraved on it they had added 16 silver bands to the base. When a band is filled, an upper band is removed and placed at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto where there are two now.

Season Champion Coach (or Captain)
1916-17 Seattle Metropolitans Pete Muldoon
1915-16 Montreal Canadiens George Kennedy
1914-15 Vancouver Millionaires Frank Patrick
1913-14 Toronto Blueshirts Scotty Davidson*
1912-13 Quebec Bulldogs Joe Malone*
1911-12 Quebec Bulldogs C. Nolan
1910-11 Ottawa Senators Bruce Stuart*
1909-10 Montreal Wanderers Pud Glass*
1908-09 Ottawa Senators Bruce Stuart*
1907-08 Montreal Wanderers Cecil Blachford
1906-07 Montreal Wanderers Cecil Blachford
1906-07 Kenora Thistles Tommy Phillips*
1905-06 Montreal Wanderers Cecil Blachford*
1904-05 Ottawa Silver Seven A.T. Smith
1903-04 Ottawa Silver Seven A.T. Smith
1902-03 Ottawa Silver Seven A.T. Smith
1901-02 Montreal A.A.A. C. McKerrow
1900-01 Winnipeg Victorias D.H. Bain
1899-00 Montreal Shamrocks H.J. Trihey*
1898-99 Montreal Shamrocks H.J. Trihey*
1897-98 Montreal Victorias F. Richardson
1896-97 Montreal Victorias Mike Grant*
1895-96 Montreal Victorias Mike Grant*
1895-96 Winnipeg Victorias J.C. G. Armytage
1894-95 Montreal Victorias Mike Grant*
1893-94 Montreal A.A.A.
1892-93 Montreal A.A.A.

Great free games 4 ALL!

OTTAWA - 1903
A member of Ottawa's Silver Seven took the Cup home. The teammates found out, a scuffle ensued, and the Cup was tossed into a cemetery.

OTTAWA - 1905
After the Ottawa Silver Seven won the Stanley Cup, one celebrant boasted he could kick it across the frozen-at-the-time Rideau Canal (which links Ottawa on the Ottawa River with Kingston on Lake Ontario). In a day when the Cup was a football-sized bowl and when most hockey players also played rugby, he proceeded to drop kick it into the frozen canal. (Some sources list it as being submerged, however read on.) The partyers proceeded to party elsewhere, leaving the Cup behind. The next morning, the players realized that the Cup was still at the Canal, so they headed to recover the Cup and fortunately found it right where they left it On Colden Pond (or canal).

Abandonment came, abuse (or at least some really weird treatment) followed.

MONTREAL(?) - 1906 or 1907
A Montreal club (possibly the Wanderers) wanted its picture taken with the Cup in the studio of photographer Jimmy Rice. After taking the photo, the team left, and the team left behind the Cup. It stayed in the studio for some months until Rice's mother (some sources say it was his wife or his housekeeper or his cleaning lady) used it as a vase, as it held red geraniums in the Studio window.

KENORA ONTARIO(?) - 1907
The Kenora Thistles were forbidden to use two players in the 1907 series. A team official took the Cup and said, "I'm going to throw it in Lake of the Woods." He didn't.

MONTREAL, CIRCA - 1910
One of the then-champion Montreal Wanderers operated a St. Catherine Street Bowling Alley, where the Cup was "lodged in a showcase, heaped big with chewing gum to entice prospective buyers."

MONTREAL - 1924
The Montreal Canadiens went to Leo Dandurand's home for a champagne party. The car carrying the Cup had tire blow out, and the car's occupants put it on the side of the road while they stopped for repairs. After the repair, they drove off without the Cup. They realized this when only when they arrived at their destination, and they immediately left to retrace their route to try to find the Cup. They found it a mile and a half away from Dandurand's home--exactly where they left it.

OTTAWA - 1927
The Ottawa Senators won it, and it spent much of the year's summer in King Clancy's living room, where it served as a receptacle for everthing including letters, bills, chewing gum, and cigar butts.

NEW YORK CITY (?) - 1940
After the New York Rangers won the cup, Hall of Famer Lynn Patrick and teammates celebrated by urinating in it.

MONTREAL - 1947
With Montreal trailing three games to two in the best-of-seven Cup final, Conn Smythe left the Cup in Montreal after the fifth game of the finals even though game six was slated for Toronto. This would make easier the celebration of a game seven win in Montreal. Problem is, Toronto won game six at Maple Leaf Gardens, thereby winning the Cup which was still in Montreal.

CHICAGO - 1962
When the Montreal Canadiens were losing in the playoff semifinals to the then-defending-Cup-champion Chicago Blackhawks, a Montreal fan went to the the Chicago-Stadium-lobby display case where the Cup was kept, took the Cup and headed for the door. The thief almost reached the street before being stopped by a stadium police officer Later, the fan said "I was taking the Cup back to Montreal, where it belongs."

TORONTO - 1960s and 1970
The Cup was stolen twice from Hockey Hall of Fame in the late 1960s. (On December 5, 1970, Burglars stole the Cup along with the Conn Smythe trophy and the Bill Masterston Memorial Trophy.) Police would recover the trophies each time. One thief threatened to throw the Cup into Lake Ontario unless the charges were dropped.

NEW YORK CITY(?) - 1980
Clark Gillies of the 1980 New York Islanders allowed his dog to eat from it. Gillies said, "He's a nice dog." Islander Bryan Trottier took the Cup with him to bed. He said, "I wanted to wake up and find it right beside me. I didn't want to think I'd just dreamed of this happening."

MONTREAL(?) - 1986
Chris Nilan of the champion Canadiens photographed the Cup in 1986 with his infant son in it. Nilan said, "His bottom fit right in."

EDMONTON - 1987
The night after the Edmonton Oilers won the Cup, one of them [likely Mark Messier] placed it on stage with an exotic dancer at the Forum Inn, an Edmonton strip joint just across the street from the Northlands Coliseum. Messier took the Cup to various night spots and let fans drink from it.

Here is a real mini Stanley Cup that is being offered on eBay its from 1964/65 Montreal Canadians championship They are very rare and stand around one foot tall. It was presented to each player for there championship season. The cup was engraved with the year, all of the players names and coaches names. This cup was being sold on eBay with a asking price of $12.000.00. WOW what a great piece of hockey history (I could see it sitting in my place in a display)...

Note: At the time of this auction the player did not want his name known.

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