STANLEY CUP TRIVIA

The Stanley Cup is North America’s oldest continually awarded team-sport trophy. Lord Stanley purchased the original silver bowl in England for the equivalent of $50 today. After being awarded at first to Canada’s amateur champion, starting in 1910 it has been the symbol of professional hockey supremacy. Since 1893, two trustees always have had final say on everything pertaining to the Cup. There have been only nine trustees since Lord Stanley himself appointed the first two (Philip D. Ross and Sheriff John Sweetland). The first American team to win the Cup was the Seattle Metropolitans in 1917. The Montreal Canadiens have won the Cup the most: 24 times, including a mindboggling 15 times during a 24-year period from 1955-56 to 1978-79. Oddly, the Habs reached the final in just one of the other nine years: in 1966-67, when they lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Cup has visited 25 countries. A plethora of engraving mistakes have occurred over the years, most unintentional, such as the most recent typo: Chicago Blackhawks’ Kris Versteeg’s last name in 2009-10 was first engraved “Vertseeg.” A notorious intentional error occurred in 1983-84, when Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington had his father’s name, Basil Pocklington, engraved for no qualifying reason. The NHL disapproved. Sixteen Xs scratched it out. To date 3,177 names have been engraved on the Cup. Canadiens’ Jean Beliveau’s name appears most often: 17 times, 10 as a player, seven as an executive. Henri Richard won a record 11 Cups as a player, all with Montreal. Scotty Bowman won a record nine Cups as head coach: five with Montreal, one with Pittsburgh, three with Detroit. He won five others as an executive. He told a story: “One of my 10 grandchildren was only 10 days old when we put her in the Cup. We got a perfect picture of it. I use that as my background on my phone.”