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 (NHA) and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). Today, the Final is contested as the championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is a best-of-seven series played between the champions of the Eastern and Western Conferences.

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 (NHA) and the Victoria Aristocrats, champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). 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

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.

Broadcasting
The first television broadcast of a Final was in. It was broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), with the play-by-play called by Danny Gallivan and colour commentary by Keith Dancy, hosted by Wes McKnight. The Hockey Night in Canada team would cover the next eight Finals. Gallivan would call his last Final in. At the same time, CBC's Télévision de Radio-Canada (TRC) division broadcast the series in French, called by René Lecavalier, with colour commentary by Jean-Maurice Bailly. CBC remains the exclusive English-language broadcaster of the Finals. TRC broadcast the Finals until when Réseau des sports (RDS) took over the broadcast.

The first United States broadcast of a Stanley Cup Final was in, covered by Chicago station WGN. Network broadcasts started in on NBC. The Finals have been broadcast by NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox and Hughes broadcast networks and the ESPN, USA, SportsChannel America and the current Versus cable networks. Several Finals were carried on syndication through the 1970s NHL Network and the 1966 RKO General network. In, several games were carried on NBC and several on Versus. This splitting of coverage on cable/broadcast networks originated in with a partnership of ESPN and Fox.

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.

Champions
These are the most recent Stanley Cup Finals.

Appearances in a Final
1. The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Cup in 1918 as the Toronto Blueshirts, and in 1922 as the Toronto St. Patricks.
 * Notes

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.

Team

 * 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)

Individual

 * Career
 * Most years in Finals (12) - Maurice Richard, Red Kelly, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard
 * Most games played in Finals (65) - Red Kelly, Henri Richard
 * Most consecutive games in Finals (53) - Bernie Geoffrion
 * Most career points in Finals (62) - Jean Beliveau
 * Most career goals in Finals (34) - Maurice Richard
 * Most career assists in Finals (35) - Wayne Gretzky
 * Most career game-winning goals in Finals (9) - Jean Beliveau
 * Most career shutouts in Finals (8) - Clint Benedict


 * Series
 * Most points, one series (13) - Wayne Gretzky ( 1988)
 * Most goals, one series (9) - Cyclone Taylor ( 1918), Frank Foyston ( 1919 ), Babe Dye ( 1922 )
 * Most assists, one series (10) - Wayne Gretzky ( 1988)
 * Most shutouts, one series (3) - Clint Benedict (1926), Frank McCool (1945)