This article lists a chronology of Stanley Cup engravings. A unique feature of the Stanley Cup is that, with few exceptions in the past, it is the only trophy in professional sports that has the name of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff engraved on it, but this has not always been the case as some teams did not engrave their names on the Cup for unknown reasons (which was rectified with a redesign of the Cup in 1948). When he first donated the Cup in 1892, one of Lord Stanley of Preston's original conditions was that each team could, at their own expense, add a ring on the Cup to commemorate their Cup victory (the first year being an exception). Lord Stanley's original trophy was simply a silver bowl minted with the words "Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup" on one side of the outside rim, and "From Stanley of Preston" with his family's coat of arms on the other side. The format and location of the engravings, including the addition and deletion of extra bands and rings attached to the bottom of Lord Stanley's original cup/bowl, has changed through the years. By its 125th anniversary in 2017, the Stanley Cup had had 3,177 names engraved on it, of which 1,331 belong to players.
Challenge Cup Era
During the Challenge Cup Era from 1893–1914, the Stanley Cup was a "challenge trophy"; the champions held onto the Cup until they either lost their league title to another club, or a champion from another league issued a formal challenge and subsequently defeated the reigning Cup champion in a special game or series.
Teams had to add their names to the trophy at their own expense. Initially, there was only one ring, the one added by the first Cup champion Montreal HC. Clubs then engraved their team names, usually in the form "[TEAM NAME] [YEAR WON]", on that one ring until it was full in 1902. With no room to engrave their names (perhaps unwilling to pay for a second band to the Cup), teams started leaving their mark on the bowl itself. A second ring was finally added by the Ottawa Senators in 1909. As mentioned earlier in this article, some teams during this era did not engrave their names on the Cup.
Month/Year Winning team Engravings Added Location Added 1893 Montreal HC "Montreal AAA/1893" A new base ring that the team attached to the bottom of the original bowl 1894 Montreal HC "Montreal/ – 1894 – " 1893 base ring 1895 Montreal Victorias "Victorias/ – of – /Montreal/ – 1895 –" February 1896 Winnipeg Victorias "Victorias/ – of – /Winnipeg/ – 1895 –" December 1896 Montreal Victorias "Victorias/ – of – /Montreal/ – 1896-/Winnipeg Feb 20th" 1897 Montreal Victorias "Victorias/ – of – /Montreal/- 1897 –" 1898 Montreal Victorias "Victorias/ – of – /Montreal/- 1898 –" February 1899 Montreal Victorias "Victorias/ –> of <– /Montreal/ – 1899-/Montreal Feb 15th & 18th" March 1899 Montreal Shamrocks "Shamrocks/ * of * /Montreal/ 1899/Montreal 4th & 14th March" February 1900 Montreal Shamrocks "Shamrocks/ –> of <– /Montreal/ – 1900 – /Montreal 4th & 14th March" March 1900 Montreal Shamrocks Did not add an engraving 1901 Winnipeg Victorias "Victorias/ –> of <– /Winnipeg/ – 1901 – /Montreal Jan 29th & 30th" 1893 base ring January 1902 Winnipeg Victorias "Victorias/ –> of <– /Winnipeg/ – 1902 – / Winnipeg Jan 21st & 23rd [sic]" March 1902 Montreal HC "Montreal/ –> 1902 <– / Winnipeg Mar 13th 15th 17th" February 1903 Montreal HC "Montreal/ 1903 / Montreal Jan 29th 30th Feb 2nd 4th" Outside of bowl March 7–10, 1903 Ottawa HC "Ottawa/ * 1903 * / Ottawa vs. Vics." March 12–14, 1903 Ottawa HC "Ottawa/ 1903. / Ottawa vs. Rat Portage" January 1904 Ottawa HC "Ottawa. 1904. / Ottawa vs. Winnipeg R.C." February 1904 Ottawa HC "Ottawa. 1904. / Ottawa vs. Marlboro." March 2, 1904 Ottawa HC "Ottawa/ 1904. / Ottawa vs. Wanderers." March 9–11, 1904 Ottawa HC "Ottawa/ 1904. / Ottawa vs. Brandon." January 1905 Ottawa HC "Ottawa/ 1905. / Ottawa vs. Dawson." March 1905 Ottawa HC "Ottawa/ 1905. / Ottawa vs. Kenora." February 1906 Ottawa HC "Ottawa. 1906. / Ottawa vs. Queens. / Ottawa vs. Smiths Falls." March 6–8, 1906 Ottawa HC March 14–17, 1906 Montreal Wanderers "Montreal March 15–17 Wanderers vs. Ottawa Score 12–10" Outside of bowl – above Montreal 1902, Ottawa 1903 & 1904 December 1906 Montreal Wanderers "Montreal December 27–29 Wanderers vs. New Glasgow 10–3 6–2" (mistake score was 7–2 not 6–2) Outside of bowl – above Ottawa 1904 to 1906 January 1907 Kenora Thistles "Thistles of Kenora 12 Wanderers 8 / Montreal Jan 17th & 21st 1907" Inside the rim of the bowl March 1907 Montreal Wanderers "Wanderers Defeated Kenora 12 to 8 March 25th 1907", plus players' names and executives (20 names, 5 names missing from Cup.) Inside of the bowl January 1908 Montreal Wanderers Did not add an engraving March 10–12, 1908 Montreal Wanderers March 14, 1908 Montreal Wanderers December 1908 Montreal Wanderers 1909 Ottawa Senators "* Ottawa 1909* " A new base ring that the team attached to the bottom of the 1893 base ring January 5–7, 1910 Ottawa Senators "Ottawa/ 1910 / Ottawa vs Galt / Ottawa vs Edmonton" 1909 base ring January 18–20, 1910 Ottawa Senators March 1910 Montreal Wanderers Did not add an engraving March 13, 1911 Ottawa Senators March 16, 1911 Ottawa Senators 1912 Quebec Bulldogs "Quebec / *1911–1912* / Defeated Moncton / 9–2 & 8–0" 1909 base ring 1913 Quebec Bulldogs "Quebec / 1912–1913 / Defeated Sydney / 14–3 & 6–2" 1914 Toronto Blueshirts "Torontos / 1913–14 / Defeated Victorias B.C. / 3 Straight Games"
(*) Note: The Winnipeg Victorias engraved "1895" instead of "1896" because they won their Stanley Cup Challenge against Montreal prior to the end of the 1896 season.
The "World Series" Era Before the 1914–15 season, a new agreement was reached in which the respective champions of the NHA and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association would face each other for the Cup, similar to baseball's World Series played between the American League and National League champions.
This agreement effectively ended the Challenge Cup rule in which a new champion was crowned after it won the title of the previous champion's league. However, the 1915 Ottawa Senators, the 1916 Portland Rosebuds, and the 1918 Vancouver Millionaires all engraved their names on the Cup even though they did not officially win it under the new system.
The NHA dissolved in 1917, and the National Hockey League (NHL) took its place. Then after the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) was born in 1921, it was agreed that all three league champions would play for the Cup. The PCHA and the WCHL later merged to form the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1924.
† – Engraved their name on the Cup despite only winning the league title of the previous champion.
Season Winning team Engravings Added Location Added 1914–15 Ottawa Senators† "Ottawa / NHA Champions / 1914–15" 1909 base ring Vancouver Millionaires "Vancouver, B.C. / 1914–15 / Defeated Ottawa / 3 Straight Games" Vancouver 8 of 10 players' names, plus playing-manager (2 players missing) Along the fluted sides of the inside of the bowl 1915–16 Portland Rosebuds† "Portland Ore. / PCHA Champions / 1915–16" 1909 base ring Montreal Canadiens "Canadian [sic] / NHA & World's Champions / Defeated Portland / 1915–16" 1916–17 Seattle Metropolitans "Seattle / World's Champions / Defeated Canadians [sic] / 1917" 1917–18 Vancouver Millionaires† "Vancouver / Defeated Seattle / 1917–18 / Score 1–0" Torontos Did not add an engraving 1918–19 Not awarded due to the flu epidemic. 1919–20 Ottawa Senators Did not add an engraving 1920–21 Ottawa Senators 1921–22 Toronto St. Patricks 1922–23 Ottawa Senators 1923–24 Montreal Canadiens "Canadiens of Montreal / World's Champions / Defeated / Ottawa Vancouver Calgary / Two Straight Games Each", 21 members names. (1 player who did not play in the playoff, left off.) A new band that is added between the two base rings 1924–25 Victoria Cougars Won / By / 'Cougars' Victoria, B.C. 1925"- 12 names added to Cup first initial and last name (trainer missing) A new angled ring added between the bowl and the 1893 base ring 1925–26 Montreal Maroons "Won / By Montreal 'Maroons' 1925–26", plus 18 members names. (3 players who did not play in playoffs left off.) A new ring was added between the bowl and Victoria's 1925 ring;
The NHL takes over the Cup, and the "Stovepipe"
The WHL folded before the 1926–27 season began. As a result, the Cup has since been awarded to the annual NHL champions.
Once the Cup became, effectively, the NHL championship trophy, the engraving of the Cup winner's information became a consistent annual tradition. This means that no Cup winning team has been missed since the 1922–23 Ottawa Senators chose to leave their name off the Cup.
Originally, a new band was added almost every year, causing the Cup to grow in size. Thus, it became commonly referred to as the "Stovepipe Cup" because of its resemblance to the exhaust pipe of a stove. It was also occasionally called the "cigar" Cup or the "elephant's leg" Cup for similar reasons.