On May 31st the Detroit Red Wings earned a two-game lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals, the championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL). The hard-fought games showcased hockey at its finest and fiercest. Indeed, a fight broke out with 18.2 seconds left in the second game—something common in the regular season and nearly unheard of in the finals, when a two-minute penalty can cost a team its season.
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs passions run high. Perhaps this is because players are not competing for gaudy rings, silly trophies (designed to look like a collection of giant cocktail toothpicks) or cash bonuses, per se, unlike in other major North American sports. Rather, they are battling to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup, “perhaps the world’s best known piece of folk art,” according to the authors of the book "The Ultimate Prize".
Having one’s name etched into hockey’s century-old silver chalice is the dream of every player who has ever laced up his skates. For many the daydream extends all the way to the moment when the trophy is hoisted above their heads and champagne is sipped from its silver cup. This ritual, and many other less refined acts, can be repeated by the victorious players and management during their moments with the Cup in the off-season. Slava Fetisov, Slava Kozlov and Igor Larionov, three of the Russian players who drove the Red Wings to the championship in 1997, used their trophy time to bring the Cup to the Kremlin. The peripatetic prize has also visited Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Switzerland, Britain, Japan, the Bahamas and, most recently, Afghanistan.
First given in 1893 by Lord Frederick Stanley, the Governor General of Canada, to the top hockey team in the country, the Cup imbues the NHL playoffs with the weight of history. The Holy Grail, as it is sometimes called, is not only laden with lore, it’s actually really heavy. The nearly three-foot-tall (90cm) silver trophy weighs in at a hefty 35 pounds (16kg)—a suitably massive prize for those who survive the NHL’s gruelling 82-game season and then emerge victorious from the three-month-long playoffs, known as the “second season”.
As its trip to the Kandahar frontlines might suggest, the mythical appeal of Lord Stanley’s Mug is not limited to thirsty hockey players. Fans also have a passionate attachment to the storied trophy. During the season-long owners’ lockout in 1995, a group of irate Canadians sued the NHL for not awarding the Cup. The NHL came to a settlement with these “beer-league hockey players”, and promised “to inject $100,000 a year into hockey leagues for women and underprivileged children for the next five years”, and allow the Stanley Cup’s trustees to award the trophy to a hockey team outside of the NHL if another season is cancelled.
This year the top-priced tickets for a seat at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for Game Four on June 4th—the first night in which the silver chalice could be awarded—were going for $8,572 on StubHub. That’s $5,000 more than a similar seat for Game Three in Pittsburgh, and over a $1,000 more than the median home price in Detroit.
The Cup may indeed be awarded on Thursday if Detroit continues its dominance in the series. It certainly is a magical moment when the bruised and battered faces of the bearded victors become overcome with childlike joy as they embrace and become a part of the Stanley Cup’s long and colourful history. At the beginning of last year’s playoffs, the NHL debuted a beautiful ad that captured the essence of this transcendent ceremony. In less than a fortnight, a new group of champions will repeat the ritual.
Beyond your pathologicial adoration of "the CUP" and the fact you actually touched Lord Stanleys esteemed prize, as a native Minnesotan you were "genetically predisposed" since birth to embrace the Stanley Cup Finals as the Ultimate in sports. In a few days hopefully we will ALL get to experience a spine-tingling seventh game.
On May 31st the Detroit Red Wings earned a two-game lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals, the championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL). The hard-fought games showcased hockey at its finest and fiercest. Indeed, a fight broke out with 18.2 seconds left in the second game—something common in the regular season and nearly unheard of in the finals, when a two-minute penalty can cost a team its season.
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Stanley Cup Finals
June 4, 2009 - 23:19 — pops (not verified)Beyond your pathologicial adoration of "the CUP" and the fact you actually touched Lord Stanleys esteemed prize, as a native Minnesotan you were "genetically predisposed" since birth to embrace the Stanley Cup Finals as the Ultimate in sports. In a few days hopefully we will ALL get to experience a spine-tingling seventh game.