Stanley Cup
Americannoun
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a trophy emblematic since 1926 of the championship of the National Hockey League, composed of Canadian and U.S. professional teams.
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the best-of-seven-games series in which the champion of the Prince of Wales Conference and that from the Clarence S. Campbell Conference oppose each other for this trophy.
noun
Etymology
Origin of Stanley Cup
Named after Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston (1841–1908), governor general of Canada, who donated the trophy for the best amateur team of the 1893–94 season
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I had to turn off automatic Pittsburgh Penguins updates during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, because the Sports app was repeatedly sharing developments before I saw them on my streaming package.
From Slate • Jun. 10, 2026
This is his third Stanley Cup Finals with the Golden Knights, who won the championship in 2023.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb was forced to leave Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Thursday after taking a puck to his face on a slap shot midway through the first period.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026
He turned into a 5-foot-8 scoring machine and, in 2004, became the first man to win MVP and the Stanley Cup in the same season since Wayne Gretzky in 1987.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
After the first couple of hours of nothing, you stop waiting for somebody to yell “Eureka!” and haul a Brachiosaurus femur out of the dirt, holding it over their head like the Stanley Cup.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
