Do Not Let This Cup Pass
By ANIL ADYANTHAYA

Published: February 18, 2005


rookline, Mass.

THE National Hockey League took a giant step on its inexorable march toward oblivion this week. Still, while Commissioner Gary Bettman has canceled the current season because of a labor dispute, there is hope for hockey's future. It is in the hands of the trustees who control the Stanley Cup, the oldest and most prestigious trophy in North American sports.

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The trustees, Brian O'Neill and Ian Morrison, have "absolute power over all matters regarding the Stanley Cup," according to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. They should invoke that power and award the Cup to this year's champion of the American Hockey League, which is the best league in North America now that the N.H.L. is gone for the year.

By awarding the Cup to the A.H.L. champion, the trustees can preserve the Cup's pre-eminence by demonstrating that athletic achievement, not financial success, remains the sport's holy grail. This can only help to restore the N.H.L.'s legitimacy if and when it resumes play.

Contrary to what many may assume, the Stanley Cup is not a creation of the N.H.L. The Cup was first awarded in 1893, while the N.H.L. did not play its first game until 1917. Lord Stanley, who was then the governor general of Canada, donated the Cup to further the sport of hockey in Canada. In bestowing the Cup, Lord Stanley wrote:

"There does not appear to be any such outward sign of a championship at present, and considering the general interest which matches now elicit, and the importance of having the game played fairly and under rules generally recognized, I am willing to give a cup which shall be held from year to year by the winning team." Lord Stanley, who returned to England before the first Cup was awarded, appointed trustees to oversee the trophy.

Rare among professional sports trophies, the Cup is engraved with the winning players' names, and the players can take the Cup home for a day. This latter tradition has spawned countless stories - it once spent the night in an Ottawa canal and Pamela Anderson has sipped from it - and significant generosity. Over the last three years, according to the N.H.L., approximately $4 million in charitable donations has been raised in connection with Cup appearances.

For the first years of its history, the Cup was awarded to amateur teams, and the trustees often determined which teams would play for it. As hockey grew in popularity, professional teams emerged, and beginning in 1917, the Cup went to the winner of a challenge series between the champions of the N.H.L. and rival professional leagues. Not until 1927 did the Cup go to the winner of the N.H.L. championship. And it continued to do so for the next 77 years.

Now that the N.H.L.'s season has been canceled, Mr. O'Neill and Mr. Morrison should award the Cup to the 2005 champion of the best remaining North American league. They clearly have the power to do so (as a Canadian group calling itself "Free Stanley" has documented exhaustively on its Web site). By awarding the Cup to the A.H.L. champion, they will be fulfilling Lord Stanley's wish that it "shall be held from year to year by the winning team." What's more, awarding the Cup in 2005 will mean that the game of hockey itself transcends the monetary issues that divide the N.H.L.

So, Mr. O'Neill and Mr. Morrison, how about it? Granted, the A.H.L. champion already gets something called the Calder Cup, but surely no hockey team on earth would pass up the opportunity to play for the Stanley Cup. By awarding it this year, the trustees can show that hockey has a prize larger than any league. What other sport can say that