The Stanley Cup: The Early Years

For a century now, the Stanley Cup has reigned unchallenged as the symbol of supremacy in the sport of ice hockey. It had humble beginnings, indeed, but over the years has become steeped in legend and lore. It is hockey's Holy Grail.

For fans across North America, the very words "Stanley Cup" have a special ring to them. A tightening of emotions. A quickening of pulse. A sense of anticipation. The promise of excitement.

Is their anything in sports to match a draining tensions of Stanley Cup sudden death? The boundless joy of victory, or the deepest gloom of a heartbreaking loss? For hockey fans, there is nothing like it anywhere.

The Stanley Cup has it all - tension, fear, pressure. For the winners, it is everything. For the losers, nothing.

Since its inception in 1892, the Cup has provided one thing above all others - drama. The once squat trophy glitters now from its silvery perch at the Hockey Hall of Fame, but is has suffered countless indignities along the way.

Men have spent small fortunes and lifetimes in pursuit of having their names engraved on one of the many silver bands that circle the famed trophy. The Cup's history had become legendary ? and new chapters are added every year.

Throughout its checkered history, the Cup has been through just about everything - good and bad. But it has always gone to hockey's best team, as simple as that. It's the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America, predating by seven years the famous Davis Cup trophy of tennis.

There was no direct competition when the Cup first came into being back in 1892. At the time it was presented by Lord Stanley of Preston, later the Earl of Derby, who was then Governor-General of Canada. The fact that Canada's numerous hockey teams were playing just for fun was brought to the attention of Lord Stanley by Lord Kilcoursie, a hockey-playing member of Lord Stanley's staff.

Stanley quickly became a hockey enthusiast, and at a dinner on March 18, 1892 he expressed his wish to do something tangible for the great winter sport. He was returning to England upon expiration of his term as Queen Victoria's representative in Canada and he felt the Cup would serve to perpetuate his memory.

Not even the wildest promoter could have envisioned the future of the Cup. It originally cost less than 10 pounds sterling, though it has since gone on to become the most famous trophy in all sports.

Initially, Lord Stanley intended his trophy be granted only to amateur teams. There was no outright professional hockey at the time, although certain players "freelanced" from club to club, selling their services to the highest bidder. "I have for some time been thinking if there were a challenge cup, which could be held from year-to-year by the leading hockey club in Canada," Lord Stanley said in offering the trophy.

"There does not appear to be any outward or visible sign of championship at present, and considering the interest that hockey matches now elicit, and the importance of having the games played under recognized rules, I am willing to give a cup that shall be annually held by the winning club," he said. Lord Stanley's proposal was hailed in local circles, and he immediately arranged for an aide, Capt. Colville, then in England, to invest in a gold-lined silver bowl. The Lord also appointed a pair of trustees to care for the trophy.

The custom of Cup trustees endures to the present, although the initial appointments seemed to work against Lord Stanley's wishes. Apparently, he had hoped the initial presentation would be made to his favorite team in the Canadian capital of Ottawa. But that didn't happen.

Although the Ottawa club was indeed a championship one, the trustees held that no one be granted "squatters' rights" to the first Cup. And that a game between Ottawa and a Toronto club would decide the winner. The game was to be played in Toronto. But the Ottawa club refused. The trustees held firm, however, and Ottawa resigned from the Ontario Hockey Association in protest. A year went by before the trustees made a new announcement:

Arrangements have been completed whereby the Lord Stanley Hockey Cup will now pass into the hands of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. Since trouble arose last year about the acceptance, and the Montreal AAA has had it in their possession ever since, the Montreal team will now officially take over.

That established the first of many ironies for the Cup: Its first winner didn't really compete for the right to have it. In another historical irony, Lord Stanley left the country before ever seeing a game between two teams compete for the trophy.

Despite the initial controversy, the Cup itself was an immediate hit, serving as the catalyst that more or less turned many amateur teams into professional operations. As interest in hockey grew and crowds increased, club owners and managers naturally started to pull out all the stops in their efforts to secure the services of more and more star players. The inducements to play grew each year, and within 20 years only professional teams fought for the right to the Cup.

With Lord Stanley gone, the Earl of Aberdeen succeeded him in Canada. Although the Earl and Lady Aberdeen occasionally attended hockey games, they were bigger fans of curling, another game played on ice that endures to this day. For that reason, the name on Lord Stanley's trophy was never changed, giving him a much greater historical note in history than most of his successors.