User:Alaney2k/Stanley Cup Finals

The Stanley Cup Finals are the championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, emblematic of the professional club championship of ice hockey. The original Stanley Cup Final originated as a 'World Series' between the National Hockey Association and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. Today, the Final is contested as the championship series of the National Hockey League.

History

The Stanley Cup had been won and contested since 1893, when the Montreal Hockey Club was the first winner, for winning the 1893 AHAC season. The Cup winner would then have to defend its championship both through league championships and challenge games or series organized by the Stanley Cup trustees.

This changed in 1914 with the inauguration of the first "World Series" of ice hockey, a series between the Stanley Cup and league champion Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association and the Victoria Aristocrats, champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. Since the Aristocrats never formally submitted a challenge, the Cup trustees viewed the series as illegitimate. However, the controversy was moot as Toronto successfully defended the Cup by sweeping a best-of-five series. This was the start of the end of the influence of the Stanley Cup trustees on the challengers and series for the Cup.

Victoria vs. Toronto

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Rules	Notes
March 14, 1914	Toronto Blueshirts	5–2	Victoria Aristocrats	NHA
March 17, 1914	Toronto Blueshirts	6–5	Victoria Aristocrats	PCHA	15:00, OT
March 19, 1914	Toronto Blueshirts	2–1	Victoria Aristocrats	NHA
Toronto wins best-of-five series 3 games to 0

All games played at Arena Gardens in Toronto.

One year later, the NHA and the PCHA concluded a gentlemen's agreement in which their respective champions would face each other for the Cup. Under the new proposal, the Stanley Cup championship finals alternated between the East and the West each year, with alternating games played according to NHA and PCHA rules. The Cup trustees agreed to this new arrangement, because after the Allan Cup became the highest prize for amateur hockey teams in Canada, the trustees had become dependent on the top two professional leagues to bolster the prominence of the trophy. After the Portland Rosebuds, an American-based team, joined the PCHA in 1914, the trustees issued a statement that the Cup was no longer for the best team in Canada, but now for the best team in the world. Two years later, the Rosebuds became the first American team to play in the Stanley Cup championship final. In 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first American team to win the Cup. After that season, the NHA dissolved, and the National Hockey League (NHL) took its place.

In 1919, the Spanish influenza epidemic forced the Montreal Canadiens and the Seattle Metropolitans to cancel their series tied at 2–2–1, marking the first time the Stanley Cup was not awarded.

The format for the Stanley Cup championship changed in 1922, with the creation of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). Now three leagues competed for the Cup and this necessitated a semi-final series between two league champions, with the third having a bye directly to the final. In 1924, the PCHA and the WCHL merged to form the Western Hockey League (WHL) and the championship reverted to a single series. After winning in the 1924–25 season, the Victoria Cougars became the last team outside the NHL to win the Stanley Cup.

The WHL folded in 1926, and its assets were bought by the NHL. This left the NHL as the only league left competing for the Cup. Other leagues and clubs have issued challenges, but from that year forward, no non-NHL team has played for it, leading it to become the de facto championship trophy of the NHL. In 1947, the NHL reached an agreement with trustees P. D. Ross and Cooper Smeaton to grant control of the cup to the NHL, allowing the league itself to reject challenges from other leagues that may have wished to play for the Cup. A 2006 Ontario Superior Court case found that the trustees had gone against Lord Stanley's conditions in the 1947 agreement. The NHL has agreed to allow other teams to play for the Cup should the league not be operating, as was the case in the 2004–05 NHL lockout.

Series format

The championship series began with the 'Worlds Series' played in one city. The series alternated between a rink of the NHA and later the NHL and a rink of the PCHA and later the WCHL/WHL. It was not until the demise of the WHL, that the Final series alternated games between the two finalists' home ice.

The series allowed ties until 1928. As the two and later three leagues differed, the series would alternate using each league's rules. The PCHA continued to use seven-man team play, and games would alternate with six and seven-man games.

The first NHL-only Final took place in 1927, between the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators, it was planned to be a best-of-three series, although the series allowed ties. The series ended after four games, when the Senators defeated the Bruins in the fourth game.

Years	Format	Notes
1914	best-of-five	Unofficial
1915–1922	best-of-five
1923–1924	best-of-three
1925–1926	best-of-five
1927	best-of-three	Ties allowed, series ended in four games.
1928	best-of-five
1929–1930	best-of-three
1931–1938	best-of-five
1939–present	best-of-seven

Champions

For the full list, see List of Stanley Cup champions.

These are the most recent Stanley Cup Finals.

Season	Winning team	Coach	Losing team	Coach	Games	Winning goal
2005–06	Carolina Hurricanes (EC)	Peter Laviolette	Edmonton Oilers (WC)	Craig MacTavish	4–3	Frantisek Kaberle (4:18, second)
2006–07	Anaheim Ducks (WC)	Randy Carlyle	Ottawa Senators (EC)	Bryan Murray	4–1	Travis Moen (15:44, second)
2007–08	Detroit Red Wings (WC)	Mike Babcock	Pittsburgh Penguins (EC)	Michel Therrien	4–2	Henrik Zetterberg (7:36, third)
2008–09	Pittsburgh Penguins (EC)	Dan Bylsma	Detroit Red Wings (WC)	Mike Babcock	4–3	Maxime Talbot (10:07, second)
2009–10	Chicago Blackhawks (WC)	Joel Quenneville	Philadelphia Flyers (EC)	Peter Laviolette	4–2	Patrick Kane (4:06, OT)

Appearances

Appearances	Team	Wins	Losses	Win %	Years of Appearance
34 [3]	Montreal Canadiens (NHA/NHL)	24	9	.727	1916, 1917, 1919, 1924, 1925, 1930, 1931, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986, 1989, 1993
24	Detroit Red Wings	11	13	.458	1934, 1936, 1937, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008, 2009
21	Toronto Maple Leafs [1]	13	8	.619	1918, 1922, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967
17	Boston Bruins	5	12	.294	1927, 1929, 1930, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1988, 1990
11	Chicago Blackhawks [2]	4	7	.323	1931, 1934, 1938, 1944, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1971, 1973, 1992, 2010

Notes

^ 1. The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Cup in 1918 as the Toronto Blueshirts, and in 1922 as the Toronto St. Patricks.
^ 2. The Chicago Blackhawks were known as the Chicago Black Hawks prior to the 1986–87 season.
^ 3. The Montreal Canadiens totals include the 1919 Stanley Cup Finals that ended with a no-decision because of the Spanish flu epidemic.

Records

• Most consecutive appearances: Montreal Canadiens (10 in 1951–1960)
• Most consecutive wins: Montreal Canadiens (5 in 1956–1960)
• Most consecutive losses: St. Louis Blues (3 in 1968–1970)
• Most appearances without a loss: Montreal Canadiens (9 from 1968 to 1986)
• Most appearances without a win: Toronto Maple Leafs (6 from 1933 to 1940), Detroit Red Wings (6 from 1956 to 1995), Philadelphia Flyers (6 from 1976 to 2010)
• Most seasons between wins: New York Rangers (53 between 1940 and 1994)
• Most seasons between appearances: Toronto Maple Leafs (44 between 1967 and present)

Stanley Cup Final consecutive appearances

This table includes consecutive appearance streaks from the first Stanley Cup Final, predating the NHL. Teams are from the NHL, unless indicated otherwise.

Team	Stanley Cup Final appearance streak	Consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances	Stanley Cup championships during streak
Montreal Canadiens	10 seasons	1950–51 through to 1959–60	6 : 1952–53, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60
Montreal Canadiens	05 seasons	1964–65 through to 1968–69	4 : 1964–65, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69
New York Islanders	05 seasons	1979–80 through to 1983–84	4 : 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83
Montreal Canadiens	04 seasons	1975–76 through to 1978–79	4 : 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79
Detroit Red Wings	03 seasons	1940–41 through to 1942–43	1 : 1942–43
Toronto Maple Leafs	03 seasons	1946–47 through to 1948–49	3 : 1946–47, 1947–48, 1948–49
Detroit Red Wings	03 seasons	1947–48 through to 1949–50	1 : 1949–50
Detroit Red Wings	03 seasons	1953–54 through to 1955–56	2 : 1953–54, 1954–55
Toronto Maple Leafs	03 seasons	1961–62 through to 1963–64	3 : 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64
St. Louis Blues	03 seasons	1967–68 through to 1969–70	none
Philadelphia Flyers	03 seasons	1973–74 through to 1975–76	2 : 1973–74, 1974–75
Edmonton Oilers	03 seasons	1982–83 through to 1984–85	2 : 1983–84, 1984–85

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• List of NHL franchise post-season droughts

See also

• List of Stanley Cup challenge games

References

Bibliography

• "List of winners of the Stanley Cup". NHL.com. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
• "List of Stanley Cup Playoff Formats". NHL.com. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
• "Stanley Cup-winning goals". NHL.com. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
• "STC List of winners of the Stanley Cup". LegendsofHockey.net. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
• "Stanley Cup Playoffs – Winners and Finalists Since 1893". The Sports Network. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
• Coleman, Charles (1964–1969). The Trail of the Stanley Cup vols. 1–3. Sherbrooke Daily Record Company Ltd., NHL.
• McCarthy, Dave, ed. (2008). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book/2009. Dan Diamond Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
• Podnieks, Andrew (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 1-55168-261-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Diamond, Dan (2003). The Ultimate Prize: The Stanley Cup. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 0-7407-3830-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Dan Diamond (ed.), ed. (1992). The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book. Firefly Books. ISBN 1-895565-15-4. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)

Notes