Stanley Cup - NHL Champions Trophy

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The Stanley Cup is an award given to an NHL champion at the end of a championship. This is a silver bowl with a cylinder-shaped base 90 cm high. The cup is the most expensive award in modern professional sports. Unlike other American cups, the Stanley Cup is a challenge trophy. The champion team owns it until a new championship winner is determined. Other awards are made every year.

Stanley Cup History

In 1882, the Governor General of Canada, F. A. Stanley, purchased a decorative bowl from a shop in London. There is a memorial plaque on this building. Soon, the cup began to be awarded to Canadian hockey champions. Amateur clubs participated in the tournament. Stanley introduced the first rules for the cup winner:

• trophy was awarded to the winner of the championship, which was attended by the previous cup holder;
• trophy is a rolling award;
• disputes are resolved by the trophy trustees;
• champion has the right to put the inscription on the cup.

First Winners

In 1983, the first club to win the cup was the Montreal AAA team. Throughyear the award was again presented to this club for winning the Amateur League. The following season, another hockey team from Montreal, Victoris, won the cup. At the same time, the winners ignored the final of the competition. They were replaced by the previous recipient of the award. The Montreal AAA team defeated the student team from Kingston and handed over the trophy to Victoris. Since 1908 the cup has been awarded to professional hockey teams. In 1927, the NHL champion received the cup for the first time.

In 1964, jeweler Carl Peterson made a copy of the award from a silver alloy. It is she who is awarded to the players during the awards ceremony. Trophy weight -15 kg. Since the 70s, the trophy has been played in the playoffs, in which the 16 best teams in the championship participate. The teams compete in a series up to 4 wins. Since 1993, 4 clubs from each NHL division have made it to the playoffs. Trophies are also awarded to division and conference winners. Since the 90s, 8 teams from each conference go to the playoffs. Since 2013, the top 3 teams from each division advance to the playoffs. 2 clubs from each conference are added to them. The cup is engraved with the names of the new NHL champions by year. In 1991, the ribbons with the names of the champions were removed from the cup and replaced with new ones. Old hoops are kept in the NHL Hall of Fame. They bear the full list of NHL champions. The original trophy is kept in the same building.

Traveling with the cup

Any NHL champion has the right to bring an award to his hometown. Over the past 5 years, the award has covered a distance of 640,000 km. In 1997 the Cup was brought to Russia for the first time. Its ownersbecame hockey players "Detroit" I. Larionov, V. Fetisov, V. Kozlov, S. Fedorov, V. Konstantinov.

NHL Champion Traditions

In 1986, the Winnipeg Victories celebrated their championship victory by drinking champagne from a goblet. Every NHL champion has followed this tradition ever since. Since 1950, the cup has been awarded to the captain of the winning team immediately after the decisive match. After the awards ceremony, each champion must complete a lap of honor with the award in hand. Since 1995, each player of the winning team has received a reward for personal use for a day. The trophy is accompanied by a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1998, Edmonton captain W. Gretzky gathered hockey players, coaches and team members on the ice for a joint photo. Every successive champion follows this tradition.

In 1993, the captain of "Montreal" G. Corbano lost the right to raise the cup to Dani Savaro. The veteran took part in the final for the first time. In 1997, the Detroit player V. Konstantinov had an accident. A year later, his club became the owner of the trophy. The captain of "Detroit" S. Aizerman handed the cup to Konstantinov, who made a circle of honor in a wheelchair. His name was engraved on the cup along with the names of the champions as an exception.

There is a superstition that hockey players should not touch trophies until they win the main one by right. For this reason, players do not touch division and conference win awards until the end of the championship. Althoughsome captains have hosted trophies and won the Stanley Cup thereafter. For example, this season the captain of “Washington” A. Ovechkin lifted the conference cup. This did not stop his club from winning the main trophy.

If the American team wins the trophy, they will be invited to the White House to meet with the President.

Interesting facts

The Canadian club last won the NHL Champions Cup in 1993. In 1905, an Otava hockey player tried to throw the cup across a frozen canal. The attempt was unsuccessful. The cup was found only the next day. In 1906, the Montreal Wanderers forgot their award in the photographer's studio. His mother used the bowl as a flowerpot. In 1925, the sons of the Victoria Cougars coach scrawled their names on the trophy. In 1940 they won the cup with the New York Rangers. The management of the team burned the mortgage papers in the goblet. NHL champions use trophies for more than just champagne containers. With the help of the goblet, children were baptized, various foods were cooked in it, and dogs were fed from it.