By Stephen Turk

Hockey season is starting, and this time of year reminds me of what a great game ice hockey is, and what a shame it is that it isn’t more popular.  There is only so much national attention that can be doled out to sports at a time, so to quote so many members of the pro sports world “it is what it is.”  Hockey will always have one thing no one can ever take from it, however, and that is the best trophy in the world. 

It’s a bold statement, I know, but If I could win one championship in professional sports, it would have to be the Stanley Cup.  The trophy for the NHL is simply the best around.  The reasons are many and there are some great facts here: http://www.nhl.com/cup/fun_facts.html but there are tons of great reasons to love the Stanley Cup and a great history behind it. 

First off, lets talk about physical qualities.  The Stanley Cup is huge, this immediately gives in an advantage over practically any other trophy.  The Lombardi Trophy is tiny by comparison, the World Series Trophy is a good size, but those flagpoles look awfully fragile, and the Basketball Trophy looks, as other have pointed out, like a garbage can.  The Stanley Cup however is a perfect visual representation of the struggle involved in winning a championship.  You just put your heart, soul, and body on the ice for about nine months, now lift this 30 pound trophy over your head!

Originally the cup was just the cup part, forged in Sheffield, England, and purchased in 1892 by Frederick Stanley, who was a Lord Governor of Canada and had a taken a liking to ice hockey.  It was awarded to amateur hockey teams.  It took a while, but eventually the NHL was formed, and the Stanley Cup was designated as the trophy for their championships.  Later, a long base was added, about the thickness of the bottom of the bowl, before being redesigned in1948 to feature the tiered style of the rings that we have now.  Once rings are filled, they are retired to the hockey hall of fame, so the trophy will undergo no further revisions. 

The Stanley Cup is the only trophy which is actually played for.  Meaning, there are tons of Lombardi Trophies and World Series Trophies, new ones are minted and engraved every year and given to the winning team to display.  There is only one Stanley Cup, and the previous year’s winner has to give it up if they don’t win it again.  It is also the only trophy that features engravings for everyone one the team, and everyone associated with the team.  How’s that for pushing the team concept!  It also leads to a number of amusing misspellings that are never corrected.

Also involved in this is perhaps the most charming aspect of the trophy, the traditions associated with it.  First there is the drinking of champagne from it.  This makes sense, as it is a cup after all, and it might as well be used for what it was intended.  But after hat, for one day, everyone gets to take the trophy with them and spend the day with it.  The possibilities are endless here, as ice cream has been eaten out of it, babies have been baptised in it, and any number of incidents that go unreported have seen the cup’s company, making it the most well traveled and experienced sports trophy in the world.  See the link for some details on the cup’s travel schedule.  The major sports outlets also tends to do a feature here and there on the cups exploits and what winners do with it, so that’s worth keeping an eye out for.

Also worth noting is that there have only been four engravers for the cup.  That’s a pretty small number, especially when it’s considered how mass produced everything in the sport world is today.

So as I get ready for this hockey season, I think about this totally great trophy.  I’ll think about how steeped in tradition it is, iconic it is, and wait anxiously to see who gets to hoist it this year.  Keep the tradition going strong, watch some hockey this year.