Introduction
In 1893 (131 years ago) we see the establishment of Ice Hockey’s premier sporting trophy; the Stanley Cup! While it is now considered the premier trophy for hockey, Lord Stanley’s mug was not the first trophy awarded. The first hockey trophy and cup was awarded for winning the Montreal Winter Carnival Hockey Tournament, appropriately called the Carnival Cup.
When the AHAC was formed, it needed its own championship trophy and adopted a very ice hockey symbolized design with crossed hockey sticks crowning it. It differed from the Carnival Cup by not being a cup and was appropriately called the Senior Championship Trophy.
Since the Senior Championship Trophy was property of the AHAC, a new trophy was needed to symbolize hockey supremacy across a growing sport and growing nation.
It was in December 1889 (135 years ago) Lord Stanley of Preston was first exposed to the game of Hockey at Montreal’s 1889 Winter Carnival, where he saw the Montreal Victorias play the Montreal Hockey Club. Lord Stanley of Preston as Governor General of Canada became highly enthusiastic about ice hockey.
His enthusiasm lead Stanley’s entire family to became active in ice hockey. Two of his sons, Arthur and Algernon, formed a new team called the Ottawa Rideau Hall Rebels. Arthur also played a key role in the formation of what later became known as the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), and would go on to be the founder of ice hockey in Great Britain.
Arthur and Algernon persuaded their father to donate a trophy to be “an outward and visible sign of the hockey championship”. Stanley sent the following message to the victory celebration for the three-time OHA champion Ottawa Hockey Club:
“I have for some time been thinking that it would be a good thing if there were a challenge cup which should be held from year to year by the champion hockey team in the Dominion [of Canada].
There does not appear to be any such outward sign of a championship at present, and considering the general interest which matches now elicit, and the importance of having the game played fairly and under rules generally recognized, I am willing to give a cup which shall be held from year to year by the winning team.
I am not quite certain that the present regulations governing the arrangement of matches give entire satisfaction, and it would be worth considering whether they could not be arranged so that each team would play once at home and once at the place where their opponents hail from.”
So it was at the AHAC in 1893, the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup (known today as the Stanley Cup) was to awarded to Montreal as its inaugural champion. The Cup would become the equivalent to a ‘World Series of Hockey’ as the best teams from Canada’s hockey leagues could challenge to win the Cup.
When the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup was donated and competed for, there was officially and unofficially only amateur teams playing for it. As industrialization and wealth spread across North America, the desire to pay to see high level hockey took root and by 1909 we had an official split of professional and amateur hockey championships. The amateur teams formed their own league to play for the Allan Cup in 1909. The professional teams then challenged each other for the Stanley Cup. By 1926 the National Hockey League became the sole professional hockey league and the Stanley Cup became the league’s championship trophy. Today, the Stanley Cup is 131 years old and is considered to be one of sport’s top trophies. Hockey further cemented its love for Cups by having its top minor league compete for the Calder Cup in 1936.
I speculate that ice hockey adopted the championship cup from Britain’s sports traditions. Canada was a British colony and adopted many of its social traditions including having a cup become its championship trophy. The British cup tradition is best enshrined in its football (soccer) league competing for the FA Cup every year since 1871.
It is not lost on me the shared symbolism of sporting campaigns leading to championship cups and heroic tales of knights questing for a chalice. The Stanley Cup, Davis Cup, America’s Cup and numerous World Cups are all now famous cup-shaped/themed trophies given to sport’s winners.
Our modern society keeps alive the symbolism of a Holy Grail (a carry-over from Arthurian literature) rewarding the finder happiness, eternal youth, or food in infinite abundance. Such an accomplishment becomes retold year after year, again not unlike fairy tales that are ritually retold.
Layer
Competition Summary
| Year | Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup Champion (League) |
|---|---|
| 1893 | Montreal Hockey Club (AHAC) |
| Montreal Hockey Club | |
| Montreal Hockey Club | |
| Montreal Hockey Club | |
| Montreal Hockey Club | |
| Montreal Hockey Club | |
| Montreal Hockey Club | |
| Montreal Hockey Club | |
| Montreal Victorias | |
| Montreal Victorias | |
| Montreal Victorias | |
| Montreal Victorias |
Competition Championship Summary
# of seasons: ?
List of teams who won championships sorted by total days as championships.
| Team | Total Days as Champion | # of Cup Championships Won |
| Montreal Hockey Club | 290+ | 1+ |
| Montreal Victorias | ||
| Montreal Crystals |
The Dominion Challenge Trophy’s Legacy
The Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) would see Canada’s (and the World’s) elite hockey clubs play for supremacy between 1887 and 1898. The AHAC established Hockey through the following important events:
- The AHAC established the first balanced schedule of play in 1888 and 1890 and onwards. Previously the regular season was series of challenges against the team that held the championship title and any qualified team to issue a challenge. A balanced schedule cemented the importance of all teams being good against one another.
- The Stanley Cup would be introduced in 1893 and would be played initially by the AHAC but then the AHAC Champion would play other Hockey league champions.
- The AHAC would go on to form the CAHL in 1899 and that league would carry on to form a Hockey league lineage that continues to the present day!
Future Features
