Which team won the first Stanley Cup awarded in 1893?

The Montreal Hockey Club won the first Stanley Cup awarded in 1893.

The championship was decided after Montreal won the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada title. Lord Stanley of Preston, Canada’s governor general, had donated the trophy earlier that year for the country’s top amateur hockey club. The Montreal Hockey Club therefore became the first name associated with the new silver cup.

This team was not the same organization as the modern Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens were founded in 1909, sixteen years after the first Cup presentation. The 1893 Montreal club played under the amateur structure that governed hockey before the NHL existed.

The Stanley Cup later became the championship trophy of professional hockey and was adopted by the NHL after its formation in 1917. Early winners are sometimes confused with later NHL champions because the Cup’s competition format changed several times before becoming an NHL playoff prize.