Lord Stanley's Lore Lives On.

While I am preparing a piece on the Kontential Hockey League, a league I truly feel could develop enough of an audience to rival the N.H.L, I thought it timley to pass on the story of the Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup is of course known as the championship trophy trophy awarded to playoff winner in the N.H.L.  The cup's history and origins are not as widley known, nor the challenges and nuancies that make it the toughest trophy in all of professional sports to claim.
Lord Stanley of Preston was the general Govenor of Canada. Lord Stanley had two sons who were involved in some of the first attempts to organise ice hockey in Canada. Being the good dad he was he donated the Cup citing the following.

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.

In an attempt for the Cup challenfe to be fair he set forth the folloing rules.

1. The winners shall return the Cup in good order when required by the trustees so that it may be handed over to any other team which may win it.
2. Each winning team, at its own expense, may have the club name and year engraved on a silver ring fitted on the Cup.
3. The Cup shall remain a challenge cup, and should not become the property of one team, even if won more than once.
4. The trustees shall maintain absolute authority in all situations or disputes over the winner of the Cup.
5. If one of the existing trustees resigns or drops out, the remaining trustee shall nominate a substitute.

The first cup winners were the Montreal Hockey Club. Appropriate since Montreal has claimed the cup more times than any other city. In fact the city has a club hoist the cup 49 times since it's inception. TheStanley Cup more than any other trophy serves as true link to the past because the names of every player, coach, and important club stafferes, are forever engraved upon it's base. The Cup is ever growing as the spots fill up another ring is simply added to the base to provide more space. The Cup is a constant vagabond taking up residence in the home city of each years winners. The winning club gives evry player an alloted time to take the trophy home and do with it what they will. There are countless stories of the cup taking adventures in players pools, hotubs, bars, you name it, some player has prbably done it.
Many people describe winning the Stanley Cup as somewhat of a religious experience, so it wasn’t too surprising when Sylvain Lefebrve had his first child, Jade-Isis, baptized in the trophy. Ten years later, Andrew Hutchison of the Carolina Hurricanes wanted to do the same with his baby Cole, but the plane carrying the Cup was delayed, and the baptism went on without Lord Stanley’s hardware.Doug Weight filled the Cup “with gallons of ice cream, chocolate sauce, marshmallows, M&M's and chocolate chips decorating St. Louis's largest ice cream sundae To be continued.......................