| Stanley Cup Facts |
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| Since the NHL implemented the best-of-seven Stanley Cup championship series format in 1939, the following winning trends have developed: |
- Teams winning Game 1 have won the title 46 of 58 times (79 per cent).
- Teams winning Games 1 and 2 have won the title 35 of 38 times (92 per cent).
- Teams winning Games 1, 2 and 3 have won the title 22 of 23 times (96 per cent).
- Teams winning Game 3 after splitting the first two games have won the title 17 of 20 times (85 per cent).
- Teams holding a 2-1 series lead have won the title 30 of 35 times (86 per cent).
- Teams winning Game 5 after splitting the first four games have won the title 12 of 15 times (80 per cent).
- Teams holding a 3-2 series lead have won the title 21 of 25 times (84 per cent).
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| The Stanley Cup: |
| The bowl that currently sits atop the Stanley Cup is a carefully constructed copy of the original bowl purchased by Lord Stanley in 1893. The original trophy was retired in 1969 because it had become brittle and could be easily damaged. It can be viewed at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. |
| In the early days, players added their names to the trophy by scratching them onto the original bowl with a knife or a nail. From the 1890's to the 1930's, various bands were added to the bottom of the bowl to hold the names of the winning teams and their players. Throughout this time, the appearance of the cup kept changing almost from year to year. In 1939, the Stanley Cup was given a standardized form as a long, cigar-shaped trophy. It stayed this way until 1948, when it was rebuilt as a two-piece trophy with a wide barrel-shaped base and a removable bowl and collar. The modern one-piece Stanley Cup was introduced in 1958. |
