Back in March there was a groundbreaking ceremony done at this location on Sparks Street for a new monument. I came upon it at the time and posted on it here. It was close to here that Russell House once stood, and in that hotel, Lord Stanley, the Governor General at the time, proposed the awarding of a championship for hockey on the 18th of March, 1892. Stanley is long gone, but his name stuck to the trophy that has been awarded ever since, mostly to the winner of the NHL playoffs. It was proposed some years ago to erect a sculpture commemorating that occasion, and since 2017 was the 125th anniversary for that first championship and the centennial of the National Hockey League, it all came together last year, with this sculpture being placed here by November. When I first heard of the plans, my only concern was that the sculpture should not detract from the National War Memorial, which can be seen in the background here. Some of the other designs would have detracted, but the selected design as seen here does not do that. It's not overwhelmingly big, and its look reflects the original Stanley Cup in a stylized way. Lord Stanley's original cup resides today in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. A bench nearby is done deliberately in the shape of a hockey puck. Not visible beneath the snow are small circles marking the names of championship teams.
I like its design. It's built for photography, with people able to walk through and pose beneath it. Its surroundings- with the National Arts Centre seen below in this shot, or the Memorial and Chateau in other perspectives- suit it well. And most importantly, it is not a distraction from those surroundings. The project, it turns out, works well at this spot.
It is particularly appealing by night, when lights are shining on it.
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