One million hockey pucks to the first person to see “Stanley Cup”
The “Stanley Cup”, as it has become now known, was contemplated by the Governor General of Canada in 1892. It was first awarded in 1893. Lord Stanley was then the appointed representative of the British Queen to Canada. It seems that this position was a gold mine for trophies as also the “Earl of Grey” held this title previously as did the “Earl of Minto” and “Lord Byng”.
For the foreign reader, the Grey Cup is the trophy given to the winner of the Canadian Football League. The Minto Cup is awarded to the champion lacrosse team. NHL viewers will know that the Lady Byng trophy is given to the most gentlemanly player in the league.
Lord Stanley was far from an instant hit when he arrived in Canada. One of his first decisions in 1890 was to cancel the tradition of the annual state ball at Government House. He was said to be “indisposed” but the press of the day reported, as stated in the New York Times on February 11, 1890 that the:
..members of vice regal household are averse to having the vulgar crowd of common people invade the privileged precincts of the vice regal residence.
Stanley was described as a man of “highly aristocratic propensities”. He was said to favour persons who could boast of “high English ancestry” and was accused of “English aristocratic snobbishness”. Stanley was alleged to have befriended a man who had been discharged from his employment for “fast habits”, yet nonetheless invited to Rideau Hall, home of the Governor General, because his father was Chief Justice in England. The general tone was one of disdain to him. The New York Times article concluded:
Expressions equally strong (as in opposition to him -ed) came from all sides and Lord Stanley has his position to-day exceedingly warm and uncomfortable.
Lord Stanley himself was not quite the avid hockey fan as one might expect. However, his two sons, Arthur and Algernon were. They formed a team in Ottawa called the Ottawa Rideau Rebels. It was his two sons who urged their father to create this trophy.
Lord Stanley proceeded to make his name an iconic hockey touchstone by donating a trophy that, ironically enough, does not show his name anywhere on the hardware at all. The name engraved on the trophy is “The Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup”. The terms of the trust which he created are reviewed here.
Lord Stanley returned to England in July of 1893. He never saw a championship game following the creation of the award, nor did he ever award the trophy. He did see the Montreal Victorias play the Montreal Hockey Club in 1888.
The Cup was first created in 1892, well before the NHL was even considered. Lord Stanley paid fifty dollars for its creation. Lord Stanley was at the time, the Governor-General of Canada, a title given to the Queen’s representative. It was, and still is, a ceremonial appointment with no actual power.
The actual price paid was not in loonies all, but rather was then 10 guineas, and was so paid to a London silversmith for what has become hockey’s most famous hardware.
The trophy, of course, was not intended for an award to professionals at all, perhaps influenced by the fact that none then existed.
Indeed, the terms of the award of the silver were strictly national in origin and limited to the best amateur team in “The Dominion”, and I am pretty sure he did not mean the grocery store.
He then appointed two trustees, Philip Dansken Ross and Sheriff John Sweetland, to administer the trust. The trophy was first awarded to the AHAC champion Montreal Hockey Club and thereafter to the champions of the same league or to any pre-approved team on a challenge basis.
Lord Stanley intended in his words, that this would be a “challengecup“, open to those who met its criteria, which were rather clearly set out as follows:
I have for some time been thinking it would be a good idea if there were a challenge cup which would be held from year to year by the leading hockey club in Canada. There does not appear to be any outward sign of the championship at present. Considering the interest that hockey matches now elicit and the importance of having the games fairly played under generally recognized rules, I am willing to give a cup that shall be held annually by the winning club.
These terms were straightforward. The hardware was to be given to the best team…slow down right here..in Canada and guess what else..it was ( and I cannot recall him ever changing this one before he set sail for the land of cricket and soccer, the latter in England still being in effect, kinda sorta, a challenge system ) a challengecup.
The name of the award engraved on its very self smacks home all these points – The Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup – surely these words alone say it all.
Such was indeed the case for the first years of the Cup’s existence.
The actual terms of the trust stated as follows:
1. The winners shall return the Cup in good order when required by the trustees so that it may be handed over to any other team which may win it.
2. Each winning team, at its own expense, may have the club name and year engraved on a silver ring fitted on the Cup.
3. The Cup shall remain a challenge cup, and should not become the property of one team, even if won more than once.
4. The trustees shall maintain absolute authority in all situations or disputes over the winner of the Cup.
5. If one of the existing trustees resigns, the remaining trustee shall nominate a substitute.
The two trustees then developed the following rules;
The Cup is automatically awarded to the team that wins the title of the previous Cup champion’s league, without the need for any other special extra contest.
Challengers for the Cup must be from senior hockey associations, and must have won their league championship. Challengers will be recognized in the order in which their request is received.
The challenge games (where the Cup could change leagues) are to be decided either in a one-game affair, a two-game total goals affair, or a best of three series, to the benefit of both teams involved. All matches would take place on the home ice of the champions, although specific dates and times would have to be approved by the trustees.
Ticket receipts from the challenge games are to be split equally between both teams.
If the two competing clubs cannot agree to a referee, the trustees will appoint one, and the two teams shall cover the expenses equally. If the two competing clubs cannot agree on other officials, the referee will appoint them, and the two clubs shall also pay the expenses equally
A league could not challenge for the Cup twice in one season.
Sheriff Sweetland died in 1907. He was replaced by William Foran who died in 1945. Upon Foran’s death, Ross, one of the two original trustees, appointed Cooper Smeaton, the NHL’s first Referee-in-Chief in 1917, as his co-trustee.
Smeaton had been an active referee until 1937. He was also a coach of an NHL team for one year, the Philadelphia Quakers. His selection as an unbiased neutral may be questioned.
In 1915, the two trustees decided that as the Cup had gained international recognition, American teams would be allowed to compete. This decision was clearly contrary to the terms of the original trust grant which had determined that the Cup was intended to be awarded to the Canadian champion. It would not be the last such violation.
in 1931 a challenge was issued by the American Hockey League to play the winner of the NHL. The trustees accepted the challenge but the NHL refused to participate. The president of the NHL, Calder, declared the AHL to be a “rogue” league. Certainly in 1931, the NHL had no legal right to make this determination. One of the trustees, Foran, was terminated from his position of president of the Ottawa Senators due to his participation in this decision.
No one will ever know….
In 1947, the surviving trustees executed an agreement to allow the NHL the right to award the Stanley Cup. Ross signed this document in 1947 in his ninetieth year.
This agreement violated the terms of the trust. Indeed the entire premise of the NHL being the custodian of the Stanley Cup is no doubt contrary to the spirit and the original terms of the trust.
The 1947 agreement threw out the terms of the original trust and caved to the NHL. This document dramatically revised the terms of the initial grant. It allowed the league to reject challenges from other leagues. It notably used this as authority to reject a challenge from the World Hockey Association to compete for the Cup.
This was the nasty trick used by the trustees to avoid the terms of the original trust. It is clearly illegal.
These newly amended terms read as follows:
1. The Trustees hereby delegate to the League full authority to determine and amend from time to time the conditions for competition of the Stanley Cup, including the qualifications of challengers, the appointment of officials, the apportionment and distribution of all gate receipts, provided always that the winners of this trophy shall be the acknowledged World’s Professional Hockey Champions.
2. The Trustees agree that during the currency of this agreement they will not acknowledge or accept any challenge for the Stanley Cup unless such a challenge is in conformity with the condition specified in paragraph one (1) thereof.
3. The League undertakes the responsibility for the care and safe custody of the Stanley Cup including all necessary repairs and alterations to the cup and sub-structure as may be required from time to time, and further undertakes to insure the Stanley Cup for its full insurable value.
4. The League hereby acknowledges itself to be bound to the Trustees in the sum of One Thousand Dollars, which bond is conditioned upon the safe return of the Stanley Cup to the Trustees in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, and it is agreed that the League shall have the right to return the trophy to the Trustees at any time.
5. This agreement shall remain in force so long as the League continues to be the world’s leading professional hockey league as determined by its playing caliber, and in the event of dissolution or other termination of the National Hockey League, the Stanley Cup shall revert to the custody of the trustees.
5. In the event of default in the appointment of a new trustee by the surviving trustee, the “Trustees” hereby delegate and appoint the Governors of the International Hockey Hall of Fame in Kingston, Ontario, to name two Canadian trustees to carry on under the terms of the original trust, and in conformity with this Agreement.
6. And it is further mutually agreed that any disputes arising as to the interpretation of this Agreement or the facts upon which such interpretation is made, shall be settled by an Arbitration Board of three, one member to be appointed by each of the parties, and the third to be selected by the two appointees. The decision of the Arbitration Board shall be final.
It is ironic that this championship trophy is founded in such clearly illegal activity.
First Challenge Cup Winners – Montreal Canadiens – don’t they look like a fun bunch of guys ? Are they sitting on 6 inch nails ? ..what do you think that they would say about the cup in LA LA land?
In the season of 1904, the Ottawa team, was then known as the Silver Seven. The players had each received a silver nugget to celebrate the team’s first championship and of course, there were then 6 skaters, all well before the forward pass and even player substitutions.
The Silver Seven successfully defended the trophy against the Winnipeg Rowing Club (was that really the name of the hockey team ?), the Toronto Marlboroughs, and a team from Brandon, Manitoba.
The following year the Silver guys defeated a team which traveled from Dawson City, of the Yukon, which was far before Air Canada or even Trans Canada Airlines…whoever remembers that name goes to the top of the old boys club, hence this was quite a road trip for a hockey tourney. They were finally beaten by the Montreal Wanderers in 1907.
Originally six skaters and one goaltender constituted the on ice team. The current six skaters came into existence with the creation of the NHL.
At this stage, the forward pass was forbidden. There were no player substitutions. The goaltenders were not allowed to hit the ice to save the puck. That rule was revised in January of 1918 to allow for this.
Goalies were required to serve their own penalties. Oddly enough, this rule remained in place until the 1941-1942 season.
When the NHA and the NHL began, the forward pass was forbidden. This was similar to the rule in rugby, the likely origin. The violation of this rule led to a stoppage in play, resulting in a face off from the point of the infraction.
The first noted easing of this rule came from the Ontario Hockey Association which allowed the defensive team to pass the puck forward within three feet of the goal, but, however, only when the puck had rebounded from their goalie.
The NHL then permitted the forward pass within the defensive and neutral zone in 1927. The rule was again revised in the 1927-1928 season to permit unimpeded forward pass, and in fact completely so. The league was then required to create a rule preventing an offensive player being permanently located in front of the opposing goalie. This led to the introduction of a version of the current blue line offside rule in late 1929.
The National Hockey Association was formed in 1910 with its membership being all Canadian, the Montreal Shamrocks, the Montreal Wanderers, the Renfrew Millionaires and also teams from Cobalt, and Haileybury, unlikely now a site to be on the radar for NHL expansion.
When the NHL came into existence in 1917, there were 4 teams established. They were all Canadian – The Montreal Canadiens, the Montreal Wanderers, the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Arenas. (what a creative name! )The actual name was the Arena Hockey Club of Toronto.
As a completely unrelated aside, this Toronto team was mired in litigation with the prior owner of the Toronto team from the N.H.A. It ceased operation at the end of the 1918-1919 season. The Toronto St. Patricks emerged in the 1919-1920 season. This team later became the Leafs.
The Wanderers home rink burned down on January 2, 1918. The Canadiens team shared the same arena and then moved in the Jubilee rink. The Wanderers folded. The league continued with just three teams.
The Quebec Bulldogs was intended as an active team but did not participate until 1919. All but the Toronto team had been members of the NHA.
Somehow I suppose it seemed natural enough to let these guys have a shot at it. After all, prior to the agreement with the PCHA, all teams were Canadian and who would then think Gary Bettman would ever be seen some 100 odd years later, in Washington DC of all places ( we just finished burning the sucker in the War of 1812 a few years earlier…Ok…. a hundred or so years earlier ) giving the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup yet, in front of a bunch of screaming foreigners, who really should have thanked us for letting them rebuild their House White. ( it was red, of course, before we burned it)
The Torontos became the NHL champions in the inaugural year by playing a two game total goals series against the Canadiens by a total score of 10-7. Interestingly the Toronto team then successfully played the winner of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, the Vancouver Millionaires in a five game series to acquire the Stanley Cup. The year prior the Cup was won by the Seattle Metropolitans, also of the PCHA.
In the following 1918-1919 season the Montreal Canadiens played the same Seattle team. The series was terminated after five games after many players fell ill due to the Spanish influenza. One of the Montreal Canadien players, Joe Hall, died a few weeks following. The Cup was not awarded that year.
An agreement was then in place between the NHA and the PCHA which allowed the respective winners of each league to play one another for the Stanley Cup.
The Western Canada Hockey League was then formed in 1922. The three leagues then competed for the Cup. This format continued for three years after which the PCHA and the WCHL merged to create the Western Hockey League in 1924. The Victoria Cougars became the last non-NHL team to win the trophy.
The WHL disbanded in 1926. After that event, all Stanley Cup winners came from the NHL.
