Stanley Cup Trivia

• Unlike the trophies awarded by the other three major professional sports leagues of North America, a new Stanley Cup is not made each year; Cup winners keep it until a new champion is crowned.
• It is the only trophy in professional sports that has the name of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff engraved on it.
• The current Stanley Cup is made of silver and nickel alloy. Today, it has a height of 35.25 inches (89.54 centimeters) and weighs 34.5 pounds (15.5 kilograms).
• The Cup was awarded every year until 2005, when a labor dispute between the NHL's owners and the NHL Players Association (the union that represents the players) led to the cancellation of the 2004–05 season. As a result, no Cup champion was crowned for the first time since the flu pandemic in 1919.
• The modern one-piece Cup design was introduced in 1958, when the old barrel was replaced with a five-band barrel, each of which could contain 13 winning teams. When the bands were all filled in 1991, the top band of the large barrel was preserved in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a new blank band was added to the bottom so the Stanley Cup would not grow any further.
• After the 2005–06 champion Carolina Hurricanes were crowned, and the new bottom ring was finally added, the canceled season was acknowledged with the words "2004–05 Season Not Played".
• Currently, in order to have one's name inscribed on the Cup, a player must have played at least 41 games for the championship team during the regular season (provided the player remains with the team when they win the Cup) or at least played in one game of the Finals. However, the NHL will also consider other reasons on a case-by-case basis. Vladimir Konstantinov, whose career ended after a car accident on June 13, 1997, had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup after Detroit defended their title in 1998. The Detroit Red Wings received special permission from the NHL to do so.
• One of the oldest traditions, started by the 1896 Winnipeg Victorias, dictates that the winning team drink champagne from the top bowl after their victory.
• Ted Lindsay of the 1950 Cup champion Detroit Red Wings became the first captain, upon receiving the Cup, to hoist it overhead and skate around the rink. Since then, it has been a tradition for each member of the winning team, beginning with the captain, to take a lap around the ice with the trophy hoisted above his head. This was slightly breached by Joe Sakic and Ray Bourque when the Colorado Avalanche won the Cup in 2001. Bourque had, until requesting a trade on March 6, 2000, only ever played for the Boston Bruins. The seventh game of the 2001 Finals was the last of Bourque's 22-year NHL career, having never been on a Cup-winning team until that time. When Sakic received the trophy, he did not hoist it, but instead immediately handed it to Bourque. Sakic then followed Bourque in hoisting the trophy. Another notable exception was in 1998, after the Detroit Red Wings had defeated the Washington Capitals to win the Stanley Cup. Red Wing captain Steve Yzerman was presented the cup by Commissioner Gary Bettman and immediately passed it to Vladimir Konstantinov, who had been seriously injured in a limo accident the previous year and had to be wheeled on the ice. Usually, the captain is the first member of the team to hoist the Cup. In reverence for the Cup, NHL players will not touch it until they hoist it after winning the playoffs.
• On May 2, 2007, the Stanley Cup arrived in Kandahar on a Canadian Forces C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. Seventeen former players played a ball hockey game versus Canadian soldiers on a concrete rink in the Afghan desert.
• The Stanley Cup has been to the White House at the invitation of presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

More Interesting Trivia

• During the 1940-41 NHL season, the mortgage on the Madison Square Garden was paid. The management publicly celebrated by burning the mortgage in the Cup. Some fans claimed this act "desecrated" the Cup, leading to the alleged Curse of 1940, which "caused" the Rangers to wait 54 years for another win.
• In the Chicago Stadium, in the spring of 1961, the Montreal Canadiens were losing the final game of a Playoff series to the Chicago Black Hawks. A Montreal fan in the stands was upset, so he left his seat, ran down to the front lobby and broke into the glass showcase where the Stanley Cup was on display. He grabbed the Cup, hoisted it over his shoulders and made for the exit before he was arrested. In court, he explained his behavior to the judge: "Your Honor, I was simply bringing the Cup back to Montreal where it belongs."
• In 1962, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup. During a party after the win, the trophy was dropped in a bonfire and badly damaged. It was repaired at the expense of the team.
• In 1957, Maurice "Rocket" Richard chipped both of his front teeth while drinking from the Stanley Cup.
• In 1964, Red Kelly of the Toronto Maple Leafs posed for a photo with his infant son sitting in the Cup, only to find the child had urinated in it. Kelly was quoted years later as saying it has always since made him laugh to see players drinking out of the Cup.
• Clark Gillies of the New York Islanders filled the Cup with dog food and let his dog eat out of it.
• In 1987, the Edmonton Oilers' Mark Messier took it to his favorite club in his hometown of St. Albert, Alberta, and let fans drink out of it. It wound up slightly bent in various places for unknown reasons. It was repaired at a local automotive shop, and shipped back to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
• In 1999 and 2003, the cup made a trip to Joe Nieuwendyk's alma mater, Cornell University, both times visiting a local college bar.
• In 2003, Martin Brodeur ate popcorn out of the Cup, and had butter stains and salt damage for the next 8 days before Jamie Langenbrunner cleaned it.
• On 2008-06-06, after the Red Wings' Stanley Cup Parade, the Stanley Cup was pushed off a table at Chris Chelios' Chili Bar in Detroit, Michigan and received a dent, which was later smoothed out. After the 2008 NHL Awards, it was revealed that the damage was more extensive than originally released.