1924 Montreal Canadiens Almost Lost The Stanley Cup

Published on March 15th, 2025 3:11 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


It was April 1st, 1924, and the Montreal Canadiens were in a celebratory mood.

Just days earlier, the Canadiens defeated the Calgary Tigers to win the Stanley Cup. In those days, the Stanley Cup wasn't presented after the game and hoisted by the players - instead, there was a formal ceremony to hand over the Cup, which took place at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal on April 1st, 1924.

A group of four people - Jos Cardinal (the driver), Leo Dandurand (owner, manager), Sprague Cleghorn (player) and Georges Vezina (player) hopped into a Model-T Ford after the event.

They took the Stanley Cup with them.

The Model-T Ford had trouble making it up a steep hill in the area and stalled out.

The four men got out of the car in order to help push it up the hill.

Sprague Cleghorn was holding onto the Stanley Cup when the car stalled and hopped out to help push. Cleghorn set the Stanley Cup down on the side of the road so that he could help push.

The four men, who were likely in various states of drunkenness, hopped back into the car when it re-started and drove away.

The problem? They had left the Stanley Cup behind.

Fortunately for the four men, snow was falling that evening. After about an hour, the four men realized that they had forgotten the Stanley Cup on the side of the road and panicked.

They quickly drove back to the hill where they had stalled their vehicle and saw that the Stanley Cup was still there, buried under a fresh pile of snow.

The four men cleared off the Cup, hopped back into their car and drove away.

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At the time, the Stanley Cup didn't have nearly the stature that it does in this day and age.

The Stanley Cup is closely followed by a "keeper" that is paid by the NHL, and this man makes sure that the Cup is accounted for at all times.

If this had happened in this day and age, the "keeper" of the Stanley Cup would have remained in the car with the Cup. There is no way that it would have been left on the side of the road.