FReeper Canteen ~ Get Cup Crazy ~ April 27, 2006

Colonel_Flagg

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

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Get Cup Crazy!

It’s the oldest trophy in North American professional sports and it’s also the hardest trophy to win. Four rounds spread over six weeks – sixteen playoff wins requiring total commitment, heart and desire, but the result for the winner is a year’s custody of perhaps the most recognizable trophy in sports as well.

The Stanley Cup was the gift of this gentleman:

Lord Stanley of Preston, who bought the initial Stanley Cup for about $50 in 1892. At that time, it looked like this:

Note the height of the trophy, or rather the lack of the same. The original Cup lasted until 1948 when it was redesigned. By tradition (in fact, as a condition of the original challenge competition set down by Lord Stanley), each winning team would inscribe its name on a ring added to the cup, a tradition which, since 1924, has since been expanded to inscribe the names of the members of the winning team and their organizations. The Stanley Cup is thus the only trophy in North American professional sports so inscribed. The names of eight women are also inscribed on the Cup.

But equally as impressive as the Cup is the colorful history it carries. Tradition also dictates that each member of the Cup-winning team gets to take the trophy for a day and do what he pleases with it. That has led to some great stories, which follow. For more information, check out http://www.geocities.com/szczepanczyk/stanley.html. Enjoy!

1905 Ottawa Silver Seven

Hockey was a different game at the turn of the 20th Century – no forward passing was allowed in the offensive zone, and teams, as this picture will attest, only had seven players without substitutions. But that didn’t stop hijinks with the Cup. The story goes that after the Silver Seven won the Stanley Cup, one celebrant boasted he could kick it across the frozen Rideau Canal, which links Ottawa on the Ottawa River with Kingston on Lake Ontario. In a day when the Cup was a football-sized bowl and when most hockey players also played rugby, he proceeded to drop kick it into the frozen canal. (Some sources list it as being submerged.) The partiers proceeded to party elsewhere, leaving the Cup behind. The next morning, the players realized that the Cup was still at the Canal, and thankfully found it.

1907 Montreal Wanderers

Not to be outdone by the Silver Seven, the Wanderers added to Cup lore a few years later. The club reportedly wanted its picture taken with the Cup in the studio of photographer Jimmy Rice. After taking the photo, the team left – without the Cup. It stayed in the studio for some months until Rice's mother (some sources say it was his wife or his housekeeper or his cleaning lady) used it as a vase, as it held red geraniums in the Studio window.

1924 Montreal Canadiens

After winning in 1924, the Canadiens took the Cup to the home of their owner, Leo Dandurand, for a party. Naturally, hilarity ensued when the car carrying the Cup had a tire blowout. And equally naturally, the Cup was left behind on the roadside after the tire was fixed. Thankfully, it too was found where it was left. You’d think that the trophy would be easy to remember. Or, perhaps not.

1927 Ottawa Senators

King Clancy was a great defenseman of the 1920s. He was so great, in fact, that the Senators left the trophy in his living room for most of the 1927 off-season. There it served as a holder for letters, bills, chewing gum and cigar butts. Nothing like a useful piece of furniture.

1940 New York Rangers

The most famous instance of Cup misplay. In 1940, the mortgage on the then-new Madison Square Garden was paid off. The management publicly celebrated by burning the mortgage in the Cup. Some fans claimed that this act "desecrated" the Cup, leading to the alleged Curse of 1940. The Rangers waited 54 years for their next triumph.

1947 Toronto Maple Leafs

Legendary coach Conn Smythe was pretty sure of his Maple Leafs in 1947. Leading Montreal three games to two in the finals, Smythe left the Cup in Montreal knowing that it would be there to celebrate a Game Seven win for his Leafs. However, the Leafs won Game Six in Toronto, taking the series 4-2. When the time came to hoist the Cup – well, it was in Montreal. Oops. The NHL’s playoff MVP trophy is now named for Smythe – it’s a good thing the award has nothing to do with prognostication.

Late 1960s and early 1970s – No One

This is the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, and our story of Cup miscues continues here. For it was from this building that the Stanley Cup was stolen, twice, in the late 1960s and early 70s along with the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Bill Masterton Trophy, presented each year for perseverance and dedication to hockey. Thankfully, even though no trophy is given for dedication to police work, all three trophes were recovered on both occasions.

1980 – New York Islanders

Meet Clark Gillies, one of the better forwards of the 1980s. His highly publicized visit with the Cup after the Isles’ first of four straight wins in 1980 featured Gillies letting his dog eat from the bowl. Good dog. Teammate Bryan Trottier, on the other hand, chose to sleep with the Cup to make sure it wasn’t a dream. Trottier would go on to win seven Stanley Cup rings – six as a player and one as an assistant coach.

1986 – Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens wing Chris Nilan was known primarily for the expert way he accumulated penalty minutes during his NHL career. Renowned (or reviled) as one of the league’s great pugilists, he achieved fame after Montreal’s 1986 win by photographing the Cup with his infant son sitting in the bowl. One would hope that Gillies had cleaned out the dog food first.

[fanfan]

Na, na,
na, na, na!

See, I can do that from 'here'.

 

;-)

[MikefromOhio]

LOL

well we will see...

At least you aren't an Edmonton fan :)

[Brad’s Gramma]

We want to move but can NOT figure out where to go. Gramps grew up (part of his childhood) in Phoenix and does NOT want to go back to that heat...as I don't. That's RUTHLESS.

But. The flip side...is the cold. We've DEFINITELY been spoiled, weather-wise, out here.

BUT BUT BUT....it's NOT all about weather, is it.

[luvie]

EEEKKKK!!

Ya skeered me! ;o)

[stephenjohnbanker]

There are many great places to live. Friends and family are often the determining factor. Gotta run........happy mugging : )

[Brad’s Gramma]

Gotta run

Don't hurt yourself! ;)

Want me to ping you to any good pics?

[fanfan]

Are you kidding?

The Sens will eat the Oilers for dinner.

In the finals.

 

;-)

[MikefromOhio]

The Oilers have to get past my Wings first...that is, of course, if the Wings decide to play hockey for the entire game tonight....

[fanfan]

Sweet.

:-)

[tomkow6]

Follow US to

CIRCUS

Camp Run-A-Muk!

 

It's time for

 

 

[MozartLover]

I think I'll send that link to Ev. He loves Wisconsin trivia. He loves Wisconsin, period.

[fanfan]

Senators up 5 to 2

Go Wings!

Sens VS. Wings, Huh?

:-)

[MikefromOhio]

That would be an interesting game...

I'd have to go with my Wings though, better defense :)

[mylife]

Congratulations Darkwing!

[Brad’s Gramma]

Tell him I said howdy!

:)

[MozartLover]

Okey-Dokey.:)

[Kathy in Alaska]

[Kathy in Alaska]

Luv.....did you get to have some of the cherry kisses. I like them better than the all chocolate.

[luvie]

Yes...and my hubby found me some more of them just the other day. Aren't they WONDERFUL? I like them even more than chocolate covered cherries. Not as messy!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Fabulous pictures, EMB.....Rest In Peace Sailors!