Monday 28 May 2012

NHL: A Cup full of history

The entire focus of the NHL season and particularly of those who regularly bet on hockey is the Stanley Cup.

The LA Kings are just one game away from claiming a place in the Final, while it could take a little bit longer to separate the Rangers and the Devils, who are all-square in their series at 2-2.

The Cup has a rich and detailed history full of tradition and pageantry, but there are a few little things about the Cup that are not well known.

Here are a few such facts that you may not know about.

The current Trophy is surely one of the biggest in sport but it wasn’t always that way. The original Stanley Cup was only seven inches tall and is dwarfed by the current trophy stands a massive 35 inches tall and weighs in at a hefty 34 pounds. Lifting the Stanley Cup certainly takes some effort from the players.

The Stanley Cup has the distinction of being the oldest trophy competed for by professional sports teams in North America. Originally purchased in 1892, the cup was created for the championship hockey club of the Dominion of Canada. It wasn’t until 1927 that the NHL became the sole owner of the Cup. That year, the Ottawa Senators defeated the Boston Bruins.

Winning the Cup has always been tough, but one team heads the role of honour in terms of Cup wins. The Montreal Canadiens have celebrated victory in the Stanley Cup 24 times.

Of the current crop of NHL teams, 12 have never lifted the trophy and, with the Kings playing the Coyotes in one of the Conference Finals, one of those 12 will have a chance a lifting the trophy this season.

While the current version of the Stanley Cup is much larger than the original version, it is still too small to contain the entire list of champions. There are five rings on the cup and each ring can hold 13 winners.

Once the bottom ring gets filled, they remove the oldest rings and start a new ring. Rings that have been removed are sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

So there you have it - some things you may know about the Cup and some you may not.

What everyone knows, however, is that we are going to see a fierce battle to lift the Stanley Cup once again in 2012.

Why not check out the live hockey online and join the excitement?

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