1907 Montreal Wanderers Forgot Stanley Cup at Photographer's House

Published on January 10th, 2024 3:06 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


The Stanley Cup is likely the most prestigious trophy in all of sports.

The Cup is big, heavy and filled with the names of players that previously hoisted the trophy over their shoulders.

In this day and age, the Stanley Cup is well-protected. During the offseason, winning players are allotted a couple of days to take the Cup to their hometowns. An employee of the NHL is tasked with protecting the Cup and following it everywhere that it goes.

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The Stanley Cup wasn't always treated with such care.

In fact, the 1907 Montreal Wanderers forgot the Stanley Cup and lost it for a while.

Over a hundred years ago, there were various professional hockey leagues.

Back in those days, teams could challenge other teams at the drop of the hat for the Stanley Cup. As a result, the Cup changed hands regularly. 1912 was the first year in which the Stanley Cup was competed for on an annual basis.

With the Cup changing hands so often, it's no wonder that teams didn't respect the Stanley Cup as much as they do in this day and age.

Case in point: the 1907 Montreal Wanderers.

After defeating the Kenora Thistles for the Stanley Cup, the Montreal Wanderers thought that they would hire a photographer to permanently record their accomplishment.

The members of the 1907 Montreal Wanderers went to the photographer's house, along with the Stanley Cup.

The pictures were taken and everything went well.

One problem - the players forgot to take the Cup home with them!

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Nobody bothered to come back to get it immediately, so the photographer's mother decided to make use of it.

When the team returned to the house to reclaim the Cup, they found that it was now being used as a flower pot.

The photographer's mother was upset that her geraniums were being uprooted, but the Wanderers wanted their precious Cup back.

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In this day and age, something like that would never happen.

This incident just adds to the quirky history of the Stanley Cup.