Stanley Cup

Ice Hockey.

1. a trophy emblematic since 1926 of the championship of the National Hockey League, composed of Canadian and U.S. professional teams.

2. the best-of-seven-games series in which the champion of the Prince of Wales Conference and that from the Clarence S. Campbell Conference oppose each other for this trophy.

[named after Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston (1841-1908), governor general of Canada, who donated the trophy for the best amateur team of the 1893-94 season]

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Trophy awarded annually to the winning team of the National Hockey League championship.

Named for its donor, the Canadian governor-general Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston (1841–1908), the Stanley Cup was first awarded in the 1893–94 season. It is the oldest trophy that can be won by professional athletes in North America.

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▪ sports trophy

   Stanley Cuptrophy awarded to the winner of the world's professional ice hockey championship, an annual play-off that culminates the season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup was first awarded in the 1893–94 season and is the oldest trophy that can be won by professional athletes in North America. The cup's donor was a governor-general of Canada, Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston, for whom it is named. It was originally intended to go to the outstanding Canadian team, as determined by a play-off, and the first winner was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. Amateurs competed for the cup in the early years, but, as the number of professional teams grew, amateurs dropped out of the competition. The cup became the sole property of the National Hockey League in 1926. (For a list of Stanley Cup champions, see table (Stanley Cup).)

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