The Stanley Cup predates the very league that awards it. Hockey’s most famous trophy was first presented in 1893, a full 24 years before the NHL came into existence in 1917.

The Cup originated as a personal purchase by Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston, who fell in love with hockey during his time in Canada. He paid around 10 guineas for the silver bowl, the equivalent of roughly $50.

Unlike most championship trophies, the Stanley Cup is never replaced. The same physical object passes from winner to winner each year, giving it a continuity no other major sports trophy can match.

There are actually three versions of the Cup in circulation: the original 1892 bowl, preserved at the Hockey Hall of Fame; the official “Presentation Cup” used for post-championship celebrations; and a replica kept on display when the real one is on the road.

Each member of a winning team is traditionally given a full day alone with the Cup. Players have hauled it to weddings, fishing trips, hometown parades, and mountain peaks. One Colorado Avalanche executive lugged it to the summit of Mount Elbert, Colorado’s highest point.

The Cup has been treated with both reverence and remarkable carelessness over the years. It has been dented, dropped, abandoned roadside, thrown into pools, and reportedly left sitting in a bonfire by Toronto Maple Leafs players.

The tradition of drinking champagne from the bowl goes back to 1896, when the Winnipeg Victorias celebrated their title that way. Champions are still doing it more than a century later.

The NHL did not always have exclusive claim to the trophy. Teams from various leagues could compete for it until 1926, when the NHL took sole control.

The Seattle Metropolitans claimed the Cup in 1917, becoming the first American franchise to win it, at a time when hockey had barely registered in the United States.

The 1919 Finals were abandoned entirely due to the Spanish flu pandemic. Multiple players fell gravely ill, and Montreal’s Joe Hall died from flu-related complications. No championship was awarded that year.

To manage the limited engraving space, the Cup’s rings are periodically retired to the Hockey Hall of Fame as they fill up, replaced by fresh bands carrying new champions’ names.

The Montreal Canadiens hold the all-time record with 24 championships, a run of dominance that peaked during an extraordinary stretch from the 1950s through the 1970s.

The best-of-seven Finals format was not standardized until 1939. Various other structures were used in the sport’s earlier decades.

No Cup was awarded during the 2004-05 season, which was wiped out entirely by a labor lockout. It stands as one of the few gaps in the trophy’s long championship history.

The 2020 Finals, played during the COVID-19 pandemic, were held entirely within a controlled bubble in Edmonton. It was the first time since 1928 that the championship series took place in a single city.

Every name on the Cup is engraved by hand, not machine. A small group of official engravers has carried out this painstaking work over the trophy’s history.

That human process means errors occasionally become permanent. Jacques Plante’s name appears multiple times on the Cup, spelled differently each time.

In 1987, Wayne Gretzky broke with tradition by passing the Cup directly to teammate Steve Smith rather than lifting it himself. Smith had made a costly error in a prior playoff run, and Gretzky wanted him to experience the trophy without that memory hanging over him.

Some winners have let their dogs eat out of the Cup. It may be the only major championship trophy with that distinction.

The Stanley Cup Finals reached Canadian television audiences for the first time in 1953 via the CBC, cementing hockey’s place as the country’s defining national sport.

The tradition of a captain skating the Cup around the ice began in 1950, when Ted Lindsay hoisted it above his head after Detroit’s win. That image has since become one of the sport’s defining pictures.

Many consider the Stanley Cup the most difficult championship prize to earn in North American sports. Winning it requires surviving four consecutive best-of-seven series across roughly two months of playoff hockey.