Founded in 1909, the Canadiens are the longest
continuously operating professional ice hockey team and the only
existing NHL club to predate the founding of the NHL, as well as one of
the oldest North American sports franchises. The franchise is one of the
"Original Six" teams, a description used for the teams that made up the
NHL from 1942 until the 1967 expansion. Following the departure of the
rival Quebec Nordiques in 1995, and the relocation of the Montreal Expos
to Washington, D.C. in 2004, the Canadiens remain the sole team of the
four major sports leagues of Canada and the United States that is based
in the province of Quebec. The team's championship season in 1992--93
was the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup.
The
Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup more times than any other franchise.
They have won 24 championships, 22 of them since 1927, when NHL teams
became the only ones to compete for the Stanley Cup. On a percentage
basis, as of 2010, the franchise has won 25% of all Stanley Cup
championships contested after the Challenge Cup era, making it one of
the most successful professional sports teams of the traditional four
major sports of Canada and the United States. Since 1996, the
Canadiens have played their home games at the Bell Centre, which was
named the Molson Centre until 2003. Former homes of the team include
Jubilee Rink, Montreal Westmount Arena, Mount Royal Arena and the
Montreal Forum. The Forum was considered a veritable shrine to hockey
fans everywhere, and housed the team for seven decades and all but their
first two Stanley Cup championships.
The Stanley Cup (French: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy
awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff winner
after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals of the ice hockey clubs.
Originally commissioned in 1892 as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup,
the trophy is named for Lord Stanley of Preston, then-Governor General
of Canada, who awarded it to Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey
club, which the entire Stanley family supported, with the sons and
daughters playing and promoting the game. The first Cup was awarded in
1893 to Montreal HC. In 1915, the two professional ice hockey
organizations, the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Pacific
Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), reached a gentlemen's agreement in
which their respective champions would face each other for the Stanley
Cup. After a series of league mergers and folds, the Stanley
"Presentation Cup" was established as the de facto championship trophy
of the NHL in 1926 and then the de jure NHL championship prize in 1947.
There
are actually three Stanley Cups: the original bowl of the "Dominion
Hockey Challenge Cup", the authenticated "Presentation Cup", and the
"Replica Cup" at the Hall of Fame. The NHL has maintained effective
control over both the trophy itself and its associated trademarks.
Nevertheless, the NHL does not actually own the trophy, but instead uses
it by agreement with the two Trustees of the Cup. The NHL has
registered trademarks associated with the name and likeness of the
Stanley Cup, although the league's right to outright own trademarks
associated with a trophy it does not own has been disputed by some legal
experts. Unlike the trophies awarded by the other three major
professional sports leagues of North America, a new Stanley Cup is not
made each year; winners keep it until a new champion is crowned. It is
unusual among trophies, in that it has the names of all of the winning
players, coaches, management, and club staff engraved on its chalice.
Initially, a new band added each year caused the trophy to grow in size,
earning the nickname "Stovepipe Cup". In 1958 the modern one-piece Cup
was designed with a five-band barrel which could contain 13 winning
teams per barrel. To avoid the Stanley Cup from growing, when the top
band is full, it is preserved in the Hockey Hall of Fame and a new blank
band added to the bottom. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord
Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously (chiefly by sportswriters)
as Lord Stanley's Mug. The Stanley Cup is surrounded by numerous
legends and traditions, the oldest of which is the celebratory drinking
of champagne out of the cup by the winning team.
The original
bowl was made of silver and is 18.5 centimetres (7.28 inches) in height
and 29 centimetres (11.42 inches) in diameter. The current Stanley Cup,
topped with a copy of the original bowl, is made of a silver and nickel
alloy; it has a height of 89.54 centimetres (35.25 inches) and weighs
15.5 kilograms (34.5 lb / 2 st 6½ lb).
Since the 1914--15 season,
the Cup has been won a combined 94 times by 18 active NHL teams and
five defunct teams. Prior to that, the challenge cup was held by nine
different teams. The Montreal Canadiens have won the Cup a record 24
times and are currently the last Canadian-based team in the NHL to win
the cup after winning it in 1993. The Stanley Cup was not awarded in
1919 because of a Spanish flu epidemic, and in 2005, as a consequence of
the NHL lockout.
The Quebec Nordiques were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec
City, Quebec, Canada. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey
Association (1972--79) and the National Hockey League (1979--95). The
franchise was relocated to Denver, Colorado, in 1995, and renamed the
Colorado Avalanche.
The Nordiques hold the distinction of being
the only major professional sports team to have been based in Quebec
City in the modern era, and one of only two ever; the other, the Quebec
Bulldogs, played one season in the NHL in 1919-20.
