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Allan Cup

The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded to the national senior (21 and over) amateur men’s hockey champions of Canada. The trophy was donated in 1908 by Sir H. Montague Allan to replace the Stanley Cup, whose tournament had become a professional competition, as a trophy for amateur teams.

The trophy was originally presented to the Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal to present to the champion of their league, who then could be challenged by champions of other leagues. The first winners of the Cup were the Ottawa Cliffsides, and the first challengers (who were successful) were the Queen’s University club of Kingston, Ontario.

In the early years of the Cup its trustees quickly came to appreciate the difficulties of organizing a national competition in so large a country. In 1914, at the suggestion of one of the trustees, Claude Robinson, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) was formed as a national governing body for the sport. One of the CAHA's first decisions, in 1915, was to replace the challenge system with a series of national playoffs. In 1928 the trustees turned over responsibility for the Cup to the CAHA. In 1994 the CAHA merged with Hockey Canada to form the Canadian Hockey Association.

Since 1984 the Cup has been competed for by teams in the Senior AAA category. The original Cup has been retired to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a replica is presented to the champions.

The Cup has been won by teams from every province and from the Yukon, as well as by two teams from the United States which played in Canadian leagues.

Winners of the Allan Cup