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The Stanley Cup is the award for the winners of the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff series.

• The Stanley Cup is North America's oldest professional sports trophy.
• The Stanley Cup (at the time named the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup) was first awarded in 1893 to the Montreal Hockey Club of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC).
• One of the oldest traditions, started by the 1896 Winnipeg Victorias, is that the winning team drinks champagne from the top bowl after their victory.
• Professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906.
• The 1919 series between the Montreal Canadiens (NHL) and the Seattle Metropolitans (PCHA) was canceled after the fifth game because of the flu epidemic, and the Stanley Cup was not awarded.
• After winning in the 1924–25 season, the Victoria Cougars became the last team outside the NHL to win the Stanley Cup.
• The 1927 Stanley Cup Finals was the first to have games played in both Canada and the United States.
• The first live broadcast of the Stanley Cup Finals was in 1953 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It was hosted by Wes McKnight, play-by-play by Danny Gallivan and color commentary by Keith Dancy.
• The best-of-seven series was introduced in 1939.
• There was no Stanley Cup playoffs in 2005 due to the 2004-05 season being canceled due to the NHL lockout.
• The 2020 season was upended with the coronavirus pandemic. This was the first Stanley Cup Finals series since 1928 to be played entirely in one location, Rogers Place indoor arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was also the first Stanley Cup Finals to be played in the month of September.

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• About the Stanley Cup Playoff Tournament
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