Page:Hockey, Canada's Royal Winter Game.djvu/14

 his desire to give a perpetual challenge cup to be emblematic of the championship of the Dominion.

This was made known at a dinner tendered the Ottawa Hockey team, of which His Excellency was patron, when Lord Kilcoursie, who represented Lord Stanley, read a letter in which the latter said, "I have for some time been thinking that it would be a good thing if there were a challenge cup which would be held, from year to year, by the leading hockey club in Canada. There does not appear to be any such outward or visible sign of the championship at present, and considering the interest that hockey matches now elicit, and the importance of having the games fairly played under rules generally recognized, I am willing to give a cup that shall be held from year to year by the winning club."

The cup was subsequently entrusted to Sheriff Sweetland and Mr. P. D. Ross, of Ottawa, who were instructed to hand it over to the Montreal A.A.A. Hockey Club, as winners of the Amateur Hockey Association championship.

In view of the fact that there were several hockey associations in Canada, Lord Stanley asked the trustees to suggest some means of making the competitions for the cup open to all, and thus, as representative as