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The NHL Stanley Cup Odds

The Stanley Cup is the most coveted ice hockey club championship trophy in the world. It is commonly referred to as The Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug. Numerous legends and traditions surround he Stanley Cup, the oldest of which is the celebratory drinking of champagne out of the cup by the winning team. Unlike the trophies awarded by the other three major professional sports leagues of North America, a new Stanley Cup is not made each year; Cup winners keep it until a new champion is crowned. It is the only trophy in professional sports that has the name of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff engraved on it.

2007 NHL Playoffs & Stanley Cup Championship

The 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs of the National Hockey League began on April 11, 2007. The sixteen teams that have qualified, eight from each conference, will play best-of-7 series for conference quarterfinals, semifinals and championships, and then the conference champions will play a best-of-7 series for the Stanley Cup. June 11 is the last possible date for the series to end. For the first time in NHL history, neither of the two teams that played in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals are in the playoffs.

After the 2006-07 NHL season, a total of 16 teams qualified for the playoffs. The Buffalo Sabres were the Eastern Conference regular season champions and were also the Presidents' Trophy winners with the best record at 113 points (53 wins, 22 regulation losses, 7 overtime losses), while the Detroit Red Wings earned the Western Conference regular season crown.

2007 Stanley Cup Winner: The Anaheim Ducks

Anaheim Ducks' Website

Based in Anaheim, California, the are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League defeated the Ottawa Senators in 5 games in the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, becoming the 2006-07 Stanley Cup champions. Since their inception, the Ducks have played their home games at Honda Center (formerly Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim).

The club was founded in 1993 by The Walt Disney Company as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, a name based on the film The Mighty Ducks. Disney sold the franchise in 2005 to Henry & Susan Samueli, who changed the name of the team to Anaheim Ducks prior to the 2006-07 season. In their 14 year existence, the Ducks have made the playoffs five times, winning two Western Conference Championships (2003 and 2007) and one Stanley Cup (2007).

The Stanley Cup

It all started on March 18, 1892, at a dinner of the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association. Lord Stanley, the Earl of Preston and Governor General of Canada, purchased a silver cup measuring 7 ½ inches high by 11 ½ inches across for the sum of 10 guineas (approximately $50); appointed two Ottawa gentlemen, Sheriff John Sweetland and Philip D. Ross, as trustees of that cup; and set the following preliminary conditions to govern the annual competition.

The Stanley Cup was originally known as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup.

The first winner of the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) hockey club, champions of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada for 1893. Ironically, Lord Stanley never witnessed a championship game nor attended a presentation of his trophy, having returned to his native England in the midst of the 1893 season. Nevertheless, the quest for his trophy has become one of the world's most prestigious sporting competitions.

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