Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who was the first Stanley Cup winner?
Several days after the Victoria Aristocrats – Toronto Hockey Club series, Stanley Cup trustee William Foran wrote to NHA president Emmett Quinn that the trustees are "perfectly satisfied to allow the representatives of the three pro leagues (NHA, PCHA, and Maritime) to make all arrangements each season as to the series of matches to be played for the Cup." Maritime league did not challenge for cup in 1914, and folded after 1915 season.[20] The Stanley Cup championship finals alternated between the East and the West each year, with games played alternately under NHA or PCHA rules.[21] 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.[22] After the New Westminster Royal moved to Portland in the summer of 1914 becoming the Portland Rosebuds, an American-based team, 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.[21] In March 1916, the Rosebuds became the first American team to play in the Stanley Cup championship final.[23] In 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first American team to win the Cup.[24] After that season, the NHA was suspended and the National Hockey League (NHL) took its place.[21]
The 1926–27 season saw the NHL divided for the first time into two divisions, and they made the playoffs, winning the Canadian Division title. They advanced to the semi-finals and defeated the Canadiens, 4–0, and 1–1, en route to facing the Boston Bruins for the Cup. In the first series for the Stanley Cup with only NHL opponents, Ottawa defeated Boston with scores of 0–0, 3–1, 1–1 and 3–1, with the final game taking place in Ottawa; it would be the Senators' final Stanley Cup championship. Alex Connell led the way in goal, allowing only three goals in the four games. Cy Denneny led the way in scoring with four goals, including the Cup winner. The Senators won three trophies as NHL champions, along with the Stanley Cup, the club also won two other trophies, the O'Brien Cup and the Prince of Wales Trophy, the last time the trophies were given to winners of the NHL championship. They would be given out to divisional winners in the following season. After the series, the Senators players received a parade in Ottawa, a civic banquet and an 18–carat gold ring with fourteen small diamonds in the shape of an 'O'. "See the article 1927 Stanley Cup Finals."
On May 24, 1980, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers, Bobby Nystrom scored the game winner at 7:11 of overtime on national television throughout the United States to secure the first Stanley Cup in Islanders' history. Nystrom was part of the first NHL team (1979-80 New York Islanders) to win a Stanley Cup with Europeans on its roster.
It was the Rangers' first appearance in the Final since their Stanley Cup victory in 1940. Two games were played in Toronto as the circus had taken over Madison Square Garden in New York.
New York's Don Raleigh scored two overtime winners and Detroit's Pete Babando scored the Cup-winning goal in overtime of game seven, the first time ever in which the stanley cup was won in extra frames in game seven. Detroit won the Cup without Gordie Howe, who was injured in the first game of the playoffs. As Stanley Cup runner-up, the Rangers would be awarded the O'Brien Cup, the last team to win the trophy, at one time the National Hockey Association championship trophy, which was retired after the season.
The Blackhawks also became the first Presidents' Trophy winners to win the Stanley Cup since the Red Wings in 2008. They are the most recent NHL team to accomplish this feat.
With Vegas' trip to the 2018 Finals, a brand-new team in the league has now reached the Stanley Cup Finals every 50 years dating back to 1918. The Toronto Arenas reached the 1918 Stanley Cup Finals and won the Cup, but this was the first year of the new NHL (after every team except the Toronto Blueshirts left the National Hockey Association). The St. Louis Blues reached the 1968 Stanley Cup Finals and got swept by the Montreal Canadiens, but this was a year in which six brand-new expansion teams all entered the league at the same time and were all placed in the same division and the winner of that West Division would face the winner of the East Division. As such, 2018 was the first of these three occurrences where a team in their inaugural season was not guaranteed a chance to reach the finals beforehand.
This is a complete alphabetic list of all players who won the Stanley Cup ice hockey trophy with years and total wins. The Stanley Cup was first awarded in 1893, and since 1926 it has been the championship trophy of the National Hockey League (NHL). The list includes all known players from each winning team from 1893 to 1923. Since 1924, all players whose names were actually engraved on the Stanley Cup are listed. The list also includes any player who qualified but whose name was not engraved on the Stanley Cup, and any player who did not qualify but who dressed in the playoffs
Colorado progressed to the playoffs and won the series against the Vancouver Canucks, the Chicago Blackhawks and Presidents' Trophy winners Detroit Red Wings. In the Stanley Cup Final, the Avalanche met the Florida Panthers, who were also in their first Stanley Cup final. The Avalanche swept the series 4–0. In Game Four, during the third overtime and after more than 100 minutes of play with no goals, defenceman Uwe Krupp scored to claim the franchise's first Cup. Joe Sakic was the playoff's scoring leader with 34 points (18 goals and 16 assists) and won the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the most valuable player to his team during the playoffs. The 1996 Stanley Cup was the first major professional championship won by a Denver team. With the Stanley Cup win, Russians Alexei Gusarov and Valeri Kamensky and Swede Peter Forsberg became members of the Triple Gold Club, the exclusive group of ice hockey players who have won Olympic gold, World Championship gold, and the Stanley Cup.
Colorado's picks at the 1995 NHL Entry Draft in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Prior to organized ice hockey expanding to any serious extent outside Canada, the concept that the Stanley Cup champion ought to be recognized as the world champion was already firmly established – Stanley Cup winners were claiming the title of world champions by no later than the turn of the century. After the Portland Rosebuds, an American-based team, joined the PCHA in 1914, the trustees promptly issued a formal statement that the Cup was no longer for the best team in Canada, but now for the best team in the world.[35] Ice hockey in Europe was still in its infancy at this time, so it was without much controversy that winners of the Stanley Cup continued styling themselves as the world champions just like in baseball. Two years later, the Rosebuds became the first American team to play in the Stanley Cup Final.[37] In 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first American team to win the Cup.[38] After that season, the NHA dissolved, and the National Hockey League (NHL) took its place.[35]
The 2000–01 NHL season was the 84th regular season of the National Hockey League. Thirty teams each played 82 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Colorado Avalanche, who won the best of seven series 4–3 against the New Jersey Devils. The focus of Colorado's Stanley Cup run was on star defenseman Ray Bourque, who was on a quest to win his first Stanley Cup championship in his illustrious 22-year career.
In hockey, the Stanley Cup was initially open only to Canadian teams, but in 1914, the Cup's trustees allowed American teams to compete, with the provision that the Stanley Cup winners were to be recognized as "World's Champions". The phrase was repeatedly engraved on the Cup, and continued to be used, when the NHL began admitting American franchises. When the NHL assumed formal control of the Cup in 1947, the resulting agreement required "that the winners of this trophy shall be the acknowledged World's Professional Hockey Champions" (in contrast to the IIHF's Ice Hockey World Championships, at the time contested only by amateurs). When the World Hockey Association commenced play in the 1970s, they sought to challenge for the Stanley Cup, referring to the 1947 agreement. Both the NHL and the Cup trustees rejected the WHA's challenges; nevertheless, the NHL quietly stopped calling its champions the "World Champions", as by this time, the Soviet Championship League was regularly beating the NHL in interleague competitions and the IIHF World Championship was opened up to professionals by 1976. Since then, the NHL has preferred to call their champions the "Stanley Cup Champions". The NHL has never resumed using the phrase "World Champions" to honor Stanley Cup winners.
In ice hockey, the "Stanley Cup Final" (also known as the "Stanley Cup Finals" among various media) is the championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL) to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup. The series is played in a best of seven format, meaning that a team must win four games in order to win the series and the Cup. Games that are tied at the end of regulation time go to overtime. In the history of the NHL, there have been 17 series which have ended on a game-winning goal in overtime. 
The 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs for the National Hockey League began on April 7, 2004, following the 2003–04 regular season. The playoffs ended with the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the Stanley Cup with a seven-game series win over the Calgary Flames on June 7. It was Tampa Bay's first Stanley Cup victory. It was the Flames' third final appearance, as they came this far in and , winning the latter. The 16 qualified teams, eight from each conference, played best-of-seven games for Conference Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals. The winner of each conference proceeded to the Stanley Cup Finals. The format was identical to the one introduced for the 1999 playoffs.
The Kings clinched their second Stanley Cup in franchise history, their first since 2012, by defeating the Rangers 3–2 on home ice. This was the first Stanley Cup–clinching game since 2010 to be determined in overtime, and the first time that the home team had the overtime Stanley Cup winner since 1980. The Kings played 26 playoff games on their road to the trophy, more than any previous Stanley Cup–winning team.
Donated in 1892 by Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada, the Stanley Cup was originally awarded to the top amateur team in Canada, who would then accept challenges from the winners of other leagues. From its inception until 1912, the Cup was nearly always won by teams from Montreal, Winnipeg, and Ottawa. In 1903 Ottawa won the Cup, after finishing the season tied for first in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League with the Montreal Victorias. They played a two-game, total-goal series for the league championship. The Montreal Hockey Club, who had held the Cup, finished third in the league and therefore lost the right to keep it.
The Stanley Cup (French: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff winner. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise, and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) considers it to be one of the "most important championships available to the sport".[1] Originally commissioned in 1892 as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, the trophy is named after Lord Stanley of Preston, then–Governor General of Canada, who donated it as an award 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.[2] The first Cup was awarded in 1893 to Montreal HC, and subsequent winners from 1893 to 1914 were determined by challenge games and league play. Professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. 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 annually for the Stanley Cup. After a series of league mergers and folds, it was established as the de facto championship trophy of the NHL in 1926 and then the de jure NHL championship prize in 1947.
The 1967 expansion saw the number of teams double from six to 12 in the 1967–68 season, and with it the creation of the Western and Eastern divisions. The playoff format remained largely the same, with all series remaining best-of-seven, and the division champions battling for the Stanley Cup. The 1970–71 season, because of fan demand, brought forth the first inter-conference playoff matchup outside of the Stanley Cup Finals since the pre-war expansion, which had the winner of the second-place versus fourth-place matchup in one conference take on the winner of the first- versus third-place matchup in the other conference for a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals. The following year had one minor change to its playoff format: a stronger team would face a weaker opponent. Thus, instead of a first-place versus third-place and a second versus fourth-place matchup in the first round, the first round had the first-place versus the fourth and the second versus the third-place. This practice of having stronger teams facing weaker opposition has continued to the present day.
The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media,[nb 1] French: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League (NHL)'s championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America's oldest professional sports trophy.[1]
The 1996–97 NHL season was the 80th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games and won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 42 years.
The winners of both First Round series advance to the Second Round. The reseeding in the previous format, which ensured the top seed would play the lowest remaining seed, was discarded. The winners of these series advance to the Conference Finals and the two Conference Final winners move on to the Stanley Cup Finals.
With the merger of the PCHA and WCHL in 1925 and the merged league's collapse in 1926, the NHL took de facto control of the Stanley Cup. While the Cup would not be formally deeded to the league until 1947, from 1926 onward the NHL playoffs and the Stanley Cup playoffs are considered synonymous. The NHL was subsequently divided into the Canadian and American divisions for the 1927–28 season. For 1927, six teams qualified for the playoffs, three from each division, with the division semifinals and finals being a two-game total goals affair, and the Stanley Cup Finals becoming a best-of-five series. In 1928, the playoff format was changed so that the two teams with identical division ranking would face each other (i.e. the division winners played each other, the second place teams play each other, and likewise for the third place teams). The first place series was a best-of-five affair, with the winner proceeding to the best-of-three Stanley Cup Finals, while the others were a two-game total goals series. The winner of the second and third place series played each other in a best-of-three series, with the winner earning the other berth to the Stanley Cup Finals. This format had a slight modification the following year, where the semifinal series became a two-game total goals affair and the Stanley Cup Finals became a best-of-five series. The two-game total goals format was abolished in 1937, with those series being changed to best-of-three affairs.
Fifteen women have had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup. The first woman to have her name engraved on the Stanley Cup is Marguerite Norris, who won the Cup as the President of the Detroit Red Wings in 1954 and 1955. The only Canadian woman to have her name engraved on the Stanley Cup is Sonia Scurfield (born in Hafford, Saskatchewan) who won the Cup as a co-owner of the Calgary Flames in 1989.[5]
For the first four seasons of the NHL, the winner of the league playoffs had faced the winner of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) for the Stanley Cup. That changed this season with the introduction of another professional hockey league called the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). Now, three leagues were competing for the coveted Stanley Cup. The winner of a playoff between the PCHA and the WCHL travelled to Toronto to play off for the Stanley Cup. The St. Patricks defeated the Vancouver Millionaires to win the Stanley Cup.
Twice in Stanley Cup history has a team won the Cup on an overtime series winner one season, and then lost the same way the next season. The Canadiens won the series in overtime, only to lose it the following year to Detroit. The Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup vs the Buffalo Sabres, only to lose it the following year to the New Jersey Devils.
The 2012 Stanley Cup Finals started on May 30 and ended on June 11, with the Los Angeles Kings defeating the New Jersey Devils in six games to win their first Stanley Cup title. Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, having recorded a 1.41 goals against average, was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP. After clinching a postseason spot in their 81st game of the regular season, the Kings became the first eighth seeded team to win the Stanley Cup in NHL history (and the second eighth seed to reach the Cup Finals after the 2005–06 Edmonton Oilers), also being the second team to eliminate the first, second and third seeds from the playoffs in the same postseason after the 2003–04 Calgary Flames (and the first team to do so in that order). In addition, the Kings became the first team to make the Final undefeated on the road (with their 8-0 record). As the sixth seed in their conference, the Devils were the lowest-seeded team to have home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals, breaking a record they held when they won the Cup as a fourth seed in 2000.