Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup was brought into hockey by a man named Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley. Purchased in 1892, Sir Stanley bought the trophy (for $50 at the time) so that it could be presented to "the championship hockey club of the Dominion of Canada." While it was first presented to a team in 1893, the trophy gained notoriety when the NHL purchased the Cup in 1910. Since 1926, only NHL teams have competed for the trophy that epitomizes dominance in the hockey world.

The most dominant team historically is the Montreal Canadiens, winning a record 23 Stanley Cups. The second place team, the Toronto Maple Leafs,  is a rather distant second coming in with only 13. The Canadiens also hold the record for most consecutive times winning a Stanley Cup at five between 1956-1960. The Canadiens have also won it four times in a row, such as from 1975-76 to 1978-79 with author and goaltender Ken Dryden.

When the trophy first came into the NHL, it was just the the cupped portion and a ring underneath of it. As the NHL expanded and teams grew, more rings were needed to have space to engrave the names of everyone who played on that championship team. Slowly but surely, rings were added on, tiered at first, but then evened out in 1947. Due to the amount of champions, new rings are often put on and old one's retired. The Cup and the retired bands can be seen at Lord Stanley's Vault in the Esso Great Hall in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Ontario, Canada.

Even though it weighs about 35 pounds, most players don't know it. Many have never touched the Cup thinking it's bad luck and that they should wait until they win it. A quote said by Bill Clement, Stanley Cup champion with the Philadelphia Flyers back in 1973-74 and 1974-75 has said, "The Cup actually weighs about 35 pounds, but when you hold it, it weighs about as much as a feather."

Each member of the team gets 24 hours with the Cup, a tradition found in no other sport. Due to that tradition and the vast landscapes where NHL players originate from, the Cup has been all around the world, going from the US and Canada to Sweden, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, and more.