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50 free Stanley Cup trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Stanley Cup is the oldest trophy awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the only one that is never replaced: the same barrel is handed from champion to champion, with names engraved on it every year since 1924. This 50-question quiz covers the whole strange life of Lord Stanley's bowl, from the ten-guinea purchase in 1892 to the Carolina Hurricanes' 2026 win. Expect questions on the challenge era and the first winners, the Seattle Metropolitans and the 1919 flu cancellation, the 1947 deal that handed control to the NHL, the 2005 lockout, the five-band redesign, the Stovepipe Cup, the three physical versions of the trophy, engraving errors and scratched-out names, and the traditions, including champagne, hoisting, the day-with-the-Cup and the racehorse that drank from it. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone, share your score, or print it for a hockey night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Stanley Cup is named after which office-holder who donated it?
A governor general of Canada
Frederick Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston, later succeeded his brother as the 16th Earl of Derby.
Q 02In which year was the trophy commissioned as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup?
1892
It was first awarded the following year, 1893, to the Montreal Hockey Club.
Q 03Which team was the first to be awarded the Cup, in 1893?
Montreal Hockey Club
Ottawa were upset because no challenge games had been scheduled and the rules were not known in advance.
Q 04How much did Lord Stanley pay for the original bowl?
Ten guineas
That is about US$48.67 at the time, or roughly $1,744 in 2025 dollars.
Q 05In which English city was the original bowl made?
Sheffield
Silver expert John Culme identified it as a rose bowl rather than the punch bowl it is often called.
Q 06How did silver expert John Culme classify the original trophy?
A rose bowl
It is frequently and wrongly described as a decorative punch bowl.
Q 07Lord Stanley first saw hockey at the 1889 Winter Carnival in which city?
Montreal
He watched the Montreal Victorias play the Montreal Hockey Club and was reportedly delighted.
Q 08Which of Lord Stanley's sons is regarded as the founder of ice hockey in Great Britain?
Arthur
Arthur and Algernon Stanley formed the Ottawa Rideau Hall Rebels and persuaded their father to donate a trophy.
Q 09How many Stanley Cup championship games did Lord Stanley himself see?
None
He had to return to England in July 1893 to succeed his brother as Earl of Derby and never presented the Cup.
Q 10Which trustee served an unsurpassed 56 years overseeing the Cup?
Philip D. Ross
Lord Stanley appointed Ross and Sheriff John Sweetland as the first two trustees.
Q 11Which team made the first successful challenge for the Cup, in 1896?
Winnipeg Victorias
Their 2–0 win made them the first team from outside the AHAC to win it, and they started the champagne tradition.
Q 12Which institution was the first official challenger for the Cup, in 1895?
Queen's University
The Montreal HC beat them 5–1, which handed the title to cross-town rivals the Victorias.
Q 13The smallest municipality to produce a Cup champion is which Ontario town?
Kenora
The town had around 4,000 people when the Thistles, led by Art Ross, won it in January 1907.
Q 21Which trophy was created after a 2005 plan to give the Cup to a women's team flopped?
Clarkson Cup
Governor General Adrienne Clarkson had floated the idea during the lockout.
Q 22Which team has won the Cup a record 24 times?
Montreal Canadiens
They are also the most recent Canadian-based winner, in 1993.
Q 23Which US-based franchise has won the Cup the most times, with 11?
Detroit Red Wings
Their most recent win came in 2008.
Q 24How tall is the current Stanley Cup?
Q 14Professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Cup in which year?
1906
The Montreal Wanderers had pushed through a resolution allowing pros to play alongside amateurs.
Q 15Which trophy was introduced in 1908 for Canada's amateur champions?
Allan Cup
From then on the Stanley Cup became a symbol of professional supremacy.
Q 16Which was the first American-based team to win the Cup, in 1917?
Seattle Metropolitans
The Portland Rosebuds had been the first US-based team to reach the final a year earlier, with an all-Canadian roster.
Q 17Why was the Cup not awarded in 1919?
A Spanish flu outbreak
The Canadiens–Metropolitans final was abandoned at 2–2–1; Montreal's Joe Hall died four days later.
Q 18Which was the last non-NHL team to win the Cup, in 1924–25?
Victoria Cougars
The Western Hockey League folded in 1926 and no other league was deemed worthy to challenge afterwards.
Q 19In which year did the NHL formally gain control of the Cup from its trustees?
1947
The agreement with trustee J. Cooper Smeaton let the league reject challenges from other leagues.
Q 20Why was no Cup champion crowned in 2005?
An NHL lockout
A 2006 settlement allows the Cup to go to non-NHL teams if the league ever sits out a season.
89.5 cm
It weighs 15.6 kilograms, or about 34 and a half pounds.
Q 25Which nickname did the ever-growing Cup earn between 1924 and 1940?
Stovepipe Cup
A new band was added almost every year, making it resemble a stove's exhaust pipe.
Q 26The modern one-piece Cup, introduced in 1958, has how many bands on its barrel?
5
Each band holds 13 winning teams, so the top band is retired to the Hall of Fame roughly every 13 years.
Q 27Where are retired bands of the Cup displayed?
Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto
When the bottom band fills, the top one is removed and the others slide up.
Q 28How many distinct physical versions of the Stanley Cup exist?
3
The original bowl, the authenticated Presentation Cup and the Permanent Cup displayed at the Hall of Fame.
Q 29Who made the authenticated 'Presentation Cup' in 1963?
Carl Petersen
NHL president Clarence Campbell ordered it in secret because the original bowl was becoming fragile.
Q 30How is the Presentation Cup authenticated?
A Hall of Fame seal on the bottom
You can see it when winning players lift the Cup overhead.