7 Sensational Facts About the Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup playoffs have been hosted by the NHL for nearly a century but how much do you know about the crown jewel of this annual hockey championship? The Stanley Cup is a massive trophy that is awarded to the NHL team that wins sixteen games over the course of the four series playoffs, with the same trophy being passed down from team to team. But there are so many more interesting facts about the Stanley Cup to know! Read on to see how this famous trophy came to be, and which NHL team has earned bragging rights for winning the Stanley Cup more than twenty times!

7 Stanley Cup facts:

1. 1. The Stanley Cup is named after Lord Stanley who created it to award the top hockey club. (source) Lord Stanley of Preston, and Canada’s Governor General, bought the cup to use as a trophy for the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The Stanley Cup was first awarded to the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association team in 1893.

2. 2. The Stanley Cup is North America’s oldest professional sports trophy. (source) Having first been commissioned in 1892, it is the oldest sports trophy that is still awarded today. It is also the only professional sports trophy that shares the same name as its playoff series.

3. 3. The Montreal Canadians have won the Stanley Cup 24 times. (source) The Montreal Canadians have won the Stanley Cup the most of any NHL team with 24 wins since 1917, making them the most successful franchise in NHL history. The Canadians also have the most dominant title run with 5 straight wins from 1956-1960.

4. 4. The Stanley Cup is the only trophy to have every member of the winning team’s name inscribed. (source) The lower portion of the trophy is made up of bands with the names of all of the winning teams and their players. As time passes older bands are retired to make room for the names of new champions.

5. 5. Player’s are superstitious about touching the Stanley Cup before winning it. (source) A prevalent superstition among NHL players is that no player should touch the Stanley Cup until their team has rightfully won it. Some player’s also refuse to touch or hoist any other conference trophies that aren’t the Cup, for fear of losing in the playoffs.

6. 6. The Stanley Cup weighs 34 ½ pounds and is 35 ¼ inches tall. (source) During it’s modest beginning, the Stanley Cup was only 7.28 inches tall but over time has grown to nearly three feet long with the addition of the bands. Even though it weighs 34 ½ pounds, it is hoisted with ease above the head of the winning team’s captain as he takes a victory lap.

7. 7. The team that wins the Stanley Cup holds it for one year and each player gets 24 hours with it. (source). Over the course of the summer each member of the winning team gets one day to do whatever they want with the Stanley Cup. The cup has traveled all over the world, had babies christened in it, served as a giant ice cream bowl, and so much more!

Featured image photo credit: Michael Righi, 2008. Originally found on Wikimedia.org. Image was resized and cropped. Creative Commons 2.0.