Lord Stanley Cup

Writer: Geoff Butler

Today, we visit 59 Sparks Street in Ottawa – home of ‘Lord Stanley’s Gift Monument.’

The Lord Stanley’s Gift Monument is a unique memorial commemorating Canada’s Governor General, Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley. Lord Stanley of Preston’s donation, in 1893, of a trophy to be presented to the “championship hockey club of the Dominion of Canada.”

Lord Stanley, 1889

Credit – Library and Archives Canada

The large seven-inch silver bowl was initially called the Dominion Challenge Cup and was purchased for 10 Guineas ($50 at the time and $1400 in present value). The first team to win this coveted award was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association in 1893. This was the first competition for the trophy, with the Montreal AAA defeating the Ottawa Generals in a tournament especially created for the award.

Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord of Preston and the 16th Earl of Derby, was named the sixth Governor General of Canada in 1888. Before becoming Governor-General, he served in the British House of Commons. In 1889, Stanley and his family attended his first hockey game at the Montreal Winter Carnival and became devoted fans of the sport. The Montreal Gazette reported Lord Stanley, “Expressed his great delight with the game of hockey and the expertise of the players.” Soon thereafter, on March 18, 1892, Stanley stated: “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 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.”

It was on May 1, 1893, an article first appeared in the Ottawa Journal entitled; ‘The Stanley Cup,’ “The Governor-General, in accordance with a promise made last year, has given a hockey challenge cup to be held from year to year by the winning team in the Dominion.”

In 1910 the National Hockey League Association took ownership of the Stanley Cup; since 1926, only NHL teams have competed for the coveted trophy. As a result, the Stanley Cup is one of the most recognized and oldest trophies competed for by professional athletes,” in North America.

In 2009, hockey historian Paul Kitchen organized a campaign to build a monument in Ottawa to commemorate the donation of the Stanley Cup by Lord Stanley. The ceremony was planned to mark the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup. The dream became a reality with assistance from Lord Stanley’s Memorial Monument Inc., the Canadian government, the City of Ottawa, the Ottawa Senators, the NHL and public and private donors. Forty design entries were submitted through a national competition, Lord Stanley’s Gift Public Art Competition. A distinguished panel, including Roch Carrier and Ken Dryden, selected one winner out of eight finalists. A Montreal-based architectural design team, Covit/Nguyen/NORR, submitted the winning design. On October 28, 2017, the monument was ceremoniously unveiled to a large crowd and dignitaries.

The monument stands approximately 6.1 meters high (20 feet), representing the original cup donated by Lord Stanley. A white hockey rink forms the monument’s base with silver stainless steel ribs curved in the shape of the cup and steel lines representing skate marks. The memorial has a large granite bench shaped like a puck, and there are 39 pucks embedded in the base highlighting the winning Stanley cup teams from 1893-2017.

In attendance at the unveiling was legendary hockey player and Hockey Hall of Fame Chairman Lanny McDonald, who said of the monument, “This monument fits not only the occasion but it speaks volumes about the game, all its curves. You could bring a school field trip here, and the kids can learn so much about the history of the game…all the teams that have won during the past 125 years, and where it all started.”