A few years back, I’d written a blog about hockey and some of its most surprising facts and trivia. For those of you who are unaware, I’m a major hockey fan, and so I shared some of the most interesting facts about the sport. Because of the sport’s long history, there are an endless amount of facts, and I wanted to share just a few more with you all.
The Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is the ultimate prize for any hockey player. After countless years of hard work and dedication, every hockey player wants to receive the much-lauded award. And while it may seem like a pristine award forged by the holy hockey gods themselves, it’s actually seen some pretty strange and dirty scenarios. Specifically, the Stanley Cup is given to every single member of the winning team for a single day, and the player is free to do what he wishes with the cup. Many of the players use the cup as a bowl for food. It’s seen everything from cereal to ice cream.
It’s Not so Perfect
As previously mentioned, a lot of hockey players believe that the Stanley Cup is some sort of flawless prize meant only for the chosen ones, but in reality, the cup is incredibly flawed. There are over 20 spelling errors within the engraved text of the cup. What’s worse, many of those spelling mistakes are the names of the winning teams. How upsetting must it be to have your team’s name misspelled on the ultimate trophy?
Rained Out
Most of today’s major league sports are played in arenas with wide open roofs to let in the sun and fresh air; unfortunately that also lets in the elements. Several Major League Baseball games have been rained out due to an excessive amount of rain, and a few NFL games are postponed due to severe weather conditions. However, since hockey is a sport played almost exclusively indoors, there isn’t much of a chance for inclement weather to get in the way. However, in March 1995, due to a severe amount of rain, a river near the San Jose Sharks’ arena flooded and made conditions unsafe for spectators to arrive. This is, to this date, the first and only time that an NHL game was cancelled due to rain.