A to Z Stanley Cup primer

Jamie Langenbrunner jersey can hardly contain the 13 letters of his last name. (Photo by Graig Abel/ NHLI via Getty Images)

Ken Campbell
2008-04-09 13:52:53

Need a compendium of Stanley Cup tidbits to impress your friends? You’ve come to the right place. Here’s a lot of what you need to know about the Stanley Cup from A to Z.

A>    As in A.A.A. The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association won the first-ever Stanley Cup in 1893.

B>    Babando, Pete. He became the first player to ever score in overtime of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final, accomplishing the feat in 1950 with the Detroit Red Wings. It has only been done once since then.

C>    Charron, Guy. The NHL journeyman played 734 regular season games in the NHL, zero in the playoffs.

D>    Dynasties. Thanks to the salary cap era, we may have seen the last of them for a while. (Anaheim who?)

E>    Erickson, Aut. He played just one NHL game in 1966-67, but it was in the Stanley Cup final, so he got his name on the Cup with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

F>    Frank McGee. The Ottawa Silver Seven superstar scored 14 goals in one Cup final game in 1905.

G>    Gretzky, Wayne. If you don’t know why, please stop reading immediately.

H>    Habs. The winners of 24 Stanley Cups.

I>    Influenza. An outbreak of which canceled the 1919 final and took the life of ‘Bad’ Joe Hall.

J>    Johnson, Tom. The Hall of Fame defenseman quietly won six Stanley Cups with the Canadiens.

K>    Kenora Thistles. Formerly the Rat Portage Thistles, a town of 6,000 that won the 1907 Stanley Cup with Art Ross as a ringer. Yeah…the guy whose name is on the regular season scoring championship.

L>    Langenbrunner, Jamie. With 13 letters, his is the longest surname engraved on the Cup.

M>    Montreal. The city is home to a staggering 42 Stanley Cup champions with the Canadiens, Maroons, Wanderers, Victorias, Shamrocks and A.A.A.

N>    Nighbor, Frank. The four-time Cup winner originated the pokecheck.

O>    Overtime. A part of the game we used to love, now we dread due to the NHL’s defensive mentality.

P>    Pocket Rocket Richard. He won 11 Stanley Cups, more than any other player.

Q>    Quebec Nordiques. Their poor fans watched the team win the Cup one year after leaving town.

R>    Rocket Power. He won the Cup with the Quebec Bulldogs in 1913. Best hockey name ever.

S>    Stanley, as in Lord Stanley of Preston. The father of the Stanley Cup.

T>    Toronto. The permanent home of the Cup at the Hockey Hall of Fame. For Leaf fans, however, the Cup might as well be permanently located on Jupiter.

U>    Upsets. The playoffs are good for one every year.

V>    Vezina, Georges. The ‘Chicoutimi Cucumber’ backstopped the Canadiens’ first Cup win in 1916, becoming the first in a long line of legendary Habs goaltenders.

W>    Women’s names on the Cup: Marguerite Norris, Carole Marian and Lisa Illitch, to name a few. What is it about those women from Detroit?

X>    XXXXXX. That’s what is engraved over the name of Basil Pocklington on the Cup. It turns out Peter’s father really had nothing to do with the Oilers’ triumph in 1984. The X’s do not appear on the replica Cup.

Y>    Yzerman, Steve. The consummate playoff performer.

Z>    Zzzzz. Sometimes, fans just can’t make it all the way through those West Coast multiple-overtime games.

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