Lord of the Rinks

His is the most famous name in hockey.

By now you’re probably familiar with his story. How he spent 10 guineas (about $50 in the early 1890s) on a silver cup to be awarded to the best amateur hockey team in Canada, and how, all these years later, the Stanley Cup is the most recognized trophy in sports.

Sir Fredrick Arthur Stanley, the First Baron Stanley of Preston, the 16th Earl of Derby, is his full name. But let’s just call him Lord Stanley.

He was born Jan. 15, 1841 in London and died June 14, 1908. He served as governor general of Canada from June 11, 1888 to July 15, 1893.

An Internet biography indicates that during his short term, he traveled extensively in Canada and, especially, the west. He was said to be an avid fisherman and keenly interested in all winter sports. It’s unclear if he was a hockey fan, however.

Lord and Lady Stanley had 10 children who spent many hours playing hockey on a rink at Rideau Hall, the official residence in the nation’s capital, Ottawa. Lady Stanley is described as “an able and witty woman” and quite a fan of hockey games.

Perhaps at the prompting of his children, but certainly not because he could have envisioned what would happen in the ensuing years, Lord Stanley decided in 1892 to have a hockey trophy made by English silversmiths.

“I have, for some time, been thinking it would be a good thing if there were a challenge cup, which should be held from year to year, by the champion club of the Dominion [of Canada],” Stanley wrote in a letter to an aide in 1892.

The cup was made in either Sheffield or London for the equivalent of $48.67 and looked like a punch bowl. It measured 7 1/2 inches high by 11 1/2 inches across. It was first awarded to the Montreal Amateur Athletic Assn., in 1893.

As the story goes, Lord Stanley never saw a championship match or the awarding of his trophy. He traveled to England to take his place as the 16th Earl of Derby after the death of his brother, the 15th Earl of Derby, and never returned to Canada.

A nobleman through and through, Lord Stanley was the son of a former prime minister. In the later years of his life he was the Lord Mayor of Liverpool and the first Chancellor of the University of Liverpool and dedicated his final years to philanthropic work.

It’s uncertain whether he saw another hockey game, although it’s a good bet he did witness the horse races held at his family’s estate. The 12th Earl of Derby organized the first sweepstakes races at Epsom in 1780.

The Epsom Derby, also known as the English Derby, is still run over the same course of one yard longer than 1 1/2 miles and attracts hundreds of thousands of fans to the estate every year. The Kentucky Derby is named for the English classic.

Meanwhile, Lord Stanley’s Cup has grown in stature -- and grown literally in the 110 years since it was first awarded. Over the years, the newer and improved version of the Stanley Cup has been treasured far beyond Canada’s borders, having traveled the globe.

In many ways, it has become a symbol of hockey itself, having visited the White House, the Kremlin and, just last week, the cafeteria of this newspaper, on countless tours. Thousands of players have fought for the right to possess the Stanley Cup, but millions more have had their photograph taken with it.

Officially, the NHL and the NHL Hall of Fame are the keepers of the Stanley Cup. In 1993, a replica was made and is on permanent display in the trophy hall at the Hall of Fame in Toronto. But it belongs to the people, making it unlike any other sports trophy.

Of course, Lord Stanley could have had no idea what would happen to his trophy over the years. In fact, he probably wouldn’t recognize it today. His Cup has undergone several physical transformations, with the barrel-shaped additions to the bottom of the bowl adding height, width and weight.

The modern Stanley Cup measures 35 1/4 inches in height, is 18 inches across at the base and weighs 32 pounds, although Mighty Duck captain Paul Kariya or New Jersey Devil captain Scott Stevens will soon swear it is as light as a feather. By tradition, the cup is awarded to the captain of the winning team, who takes it for a solo victory lap around the ice before handing it off to his teammates.

The names of some 2,200 players, coaches and officials of winning teams are engraved on several bands that make up the lower portion of the Cup. There are numerous misspellings, including the name of legendary goaltender Jacques Plante five of the six times it appears on the Cup. When he won the Cup while with the Colorado Avalanche, current King winger Adam Deadmarsh’s name was spelled Deadmarch. It has since been corrected.

When the bands are filled with names, the top one is removed and put on display at the Hall of Fame and a blank one is added at the bottom.

Since 1995, each member of the winning team has been given a day with the Stanley Cup, doing what he will with it “within reason.”

Over the years, the Cup has been to a mountaintop and to the bottom of a canal. It’s been held for ransom, used to bathe infants and left by the side of the road by a group of drunken Montreal Canadiens who stopped to fix a flat tire. One unconfirmed report had the Cup being thrown from a rooftop toward a swimming pool.

It would have hit the water if it hadn’t come up a few inches short.

What would Lord Stanley have thought?

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

History of the Finals

*--* Year Winner Opponent Series 2002 Detroit Red Wings Carolina 4-1 Hurricanes 2001 Colorado Avalanche New Jersey 4-3 Devils 2000 New Jersey Devils Dallas Stars 4-2 1999 Dallas Stars Buffalo Sabres 4-2 1998 Detroit Red Wings Washington 4-0 Capitals 1997 Detroit Red Wings Philadelphia 4-0 Flyers 1996 Colorado Avalanche Florida 4-0 Panthers 1995 New Jersey Devils Detroit Red 4-0 Wings 1994 New York Rangers Vancouver 4-3 Canucks 1993 Montreal Canadiens Los Angeles 4-1 Kings 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins Chicago 4-0 Blackhawks 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins Minnesota 4-2 North Stars 1990 Edmonton Oilers Boston Bruins 4-1 1989 Calgary Flames Montreal 4-2 Canadiens 1988 Edmonton Oilers Boston Bruins 4-0 1987 Edmonton Oilers Philadelphia 4-3 Flyers 1986 Montreal Canadiens Calgary Flames 4-1 1985 Edmonton Oilers Philadelphia 4-1 Flyers 1984 Edmonton Oilers New York 4-1 Islanders 1983 New York Islanders Edmonton Oilers 4-0 1982 New York Islanders Vancouver 4-0 Canucks 1981 New York Islanders Minnesota 4-1 North Stars 1980 New York Islanders Philadelphia 4-2 Flyers 1979 Montreal Canadiens New York 4-1 Rangers 1978 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-2 1977 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-0 1976 Montreal Canadiens Philadelphia 4-0 Flyers 1975 Philadelphia Flyers Buffalo Sabres 4-2 1974 Philadelphia Flyers Boston Bruins 4-2 1973 Montreal Canadiens Chicago 4-2 Blackhawks 1972 Boston Bruins New York 4-2 Rangers 1971 Montreal Canadiens Chicago 4-3 Blackhawks 1970 Boston Bruins St. Louis Blues 4-0 1969 Montreal Canadiens St. Louis Blues 4-0 1968 Montreal Canadiens St. Louis Blues 4-0 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal 4-2 Canadiens 1966 Montreal Canadiens Detroit Red 4-2 Wings 1965 Montreal Canadiens Chicago 4-3 Blackhawks 1964 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red 4-3 Wings 1963 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red 4-1 Wings 1962 Toronto Maple Leafs Chicago 4-2 Blackhawks 1961 Chicago Black Hawks Detroit Red 4-2 Wings 1960 Montreal Canadiens Toronto Maple 4-0 Leafs 1959 Montreal Canadiens Toronto Maple 4-1 Leafs 1958 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-2 1957 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-1 1956 Montreal Canadiens Detroit Red 4-1 Wings 1955 Detroit Red Wings Montreal 4-3 Canadiens 1954 Detroit Red Wings Montreal 4-3 Canadiens 1953 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-1 1952 Detroit Red Wings Montreal 4-0 Canadiens 1951 Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal 4-1 Canadiens 1950 Detroit Red Wings New York 4-3 Rangers 1949 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red 4-0 Wings 1948 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red 4-0 Wings 1947 Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal 4-2 Canadiens 1946 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-1 1945 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red 4-3 Wings 1944 Montreal Canadiens Chicago Black 4-0 Hawks 1943 Detroit Red Wings Boston Bruins 4-0 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red 4-3 Wings 1941 Boston Bruins Detroit Red 4-0 Wings 1940 New York Rangers Toronto Maple 4-2 Leafs 1939 Boston Bruins Toronto Maple 4-1 Leafs 1938 Chicago Black Hawks Toronto Maple 3-1 Leafs 1937 Detroit Red Wings New York 3-2 Rangers 1936 Detroit Red Wings Toronto Maple 3-1 Leafs 1935 Montreal Maroons Toronto Maple 3-0 Leafs 1934 Chicago Black Hawks Detroit Red 3-1 Wings 1933 New York Rangers Toronto Maple 3-1 Leafs 1932 Toronto Maple Leafs New York 3-0 Rangers 1931 Montreal Canadiens Chicago Black 3-2 Hawks 1930 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 2-0 1929 Boston Bruins New York 2-0 Rangers 1928 New York Rangers Montreal 3-2 Maroons 1927 Ottawa Senators Boston Bruins 2-0-2 1926 Montreal Maroons Victoria 3-1 Cougars 1925 Victoria Cougars Montreal 3-1 Canadiens 1924 Montreal Canadiens Vancouver 3-2 Maroons 1923 Ottawa Senators Vancouver 3-1 Maroons 1922 Toronto St. Patricks Vancouver 3-2 Millionaires 1921 Ottawa Senators Vancouver 3-2 Millionaires 1920 Ottawa Senators Seattle 3-2 Metropolitans 1919 No decision, flu epidemic 1918 Toronto Arenas Vancouver 3-2 Millionaires

*--*