Stanley Cup

American  

noun

Ice Hockey.

1. a trophy emblematic since 1926 of the championship of the National Hockey League, composed of Canadian and U.S. professional teams.

2. 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.

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Stanley Cup British  

noun

1. (in North America) the trophy presented annually to the champions of the National Hockey League

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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

A five-time All-Star, Kopitar won the Stanley Cup twice with the Kings in 2012 and 2014.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 14, 2026

Hiller went 93-58-24 with the Kings but didn’t win a postseason series for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff series since winning the Stanley Cup in 2014.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2026

Rieder was spotted at a White House event on Thursday honoring the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup championship.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

Bobby Rousseau:, external Canadian ice hockey player was a four-time Stanley Cup champion and claimed Olympic silver in 1960.

From BBC • Dec. 18, 2025

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