Sir Frederick Stanley announces his intention to…
March 1892 CE
Stanley's sons had become avid ice hockey players in Canada, playing in amateur leagues in Ottawa, and Lord and Lady Stanley have become staunch hockey fans.
The Stanley Cup is known originally as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup.
Stanley, Governor General of Canada, donates the trophy as a challenge cup for Canada's best amateur hockey club, but in 1909, it will become contested by professional teams exclusively.
In 1915, professional ice hockey organizations National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) will reach a gentlemen's agreement in which their respective champions will face each other annually for the Stanley Cup.
It will be established as the de facto championship trophy of the NHL in 1926 and then as the de jure NHL championship prize in 1947.
After the Lord Stanley of Preston was appointed by Queen Victoria as Governor General of Canada on June 11, 1888, he and his family had become highly enthusiastic about ice hockey.
Stanley was first exposed to the game at Montreal's 1889 Winter Carnival, where he saw the Montreal Victorias play the Montreal Hockey Club.
During this time, organized ice hockey in Canada is still in its infancy and only Montreal and Ottawa have anything resembling leagues.
Stanley's entire family has become active in ice hockey.
Two of his sons, Arthur and Algernon, had formed a new team called the Ottawa Rideau Hall Rebels.
Arthur also plays a key role in the formation of what later became known as the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), and will become the founder of ice hockey in Great Britain.
Arthur and Algernon had persuaded their father to donate a trophy to be "an outward and visible sign of the hockey championship".
Stanley will never see a Stanley Cup championship game, nor will he ever present the Cup.
Although his term as Governor General will end in September 1893, he will be forced to return to England on July 15, following the death, in April, of his elder brother Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby, who Stanley succeeds as the 16th Earl of Derby.