Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals are the championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup , emblematic of the professional club championship of ice hockey . The original Stanley Cup Final originated as a ' World Series ' between the National Hockey Association ( NHA ) and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association ( PCHA ) . Today , the Final is contested as the championship series of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . It is a best - of - seven series played between the champions of the Eastern and Western Conferences . History . The Stanley Cup had been won and contested since 1893 , when the Montreal Hockey Club was the first winner , for winning the 1893 AHAC season . The Cup winner would then have to defend its championship both through league championships and challenge games or series organized by the Stanley Cup trustees . This changed in 1914 with the inauguration of the first " World Series " of ice hockey , a series between the Stanley Cup and league champion Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association ( NHA ) and the Victoria Aristocrats , champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association ( PCHA ) . Since the Aristocrats never formally submitted a challenge , the Cup trustees viewed the series as illegitimate . However , the controversy was moot as Toronto successfully defended the Cup by sweeping a best - of - five series . This was the start of the end of the influence of the Stanley Cup trustees on the challengers and series for the Cup . Victoria vs . Toronto " All games played at Arena Gardens in Toronto . " One year later , the NHA and the PCHA concluded a gentlemen ' s agreement in which their respective champions would face each other for the Cup . Under the new proposal , the Stanley Cup championship finals alternated between the East and the West each year , with alternating games played according to NHA and PCHA rules . The Cup trustees agreed to this new arrangement , because after the Allan Cup became the highest prize for amateur hockey teams in Canada , the trustees had become dependent on the top two professional leagues to bolster the prominence of the trophy . After the Portland Rosebuds , an American - based team , joined the PCHA in 1914 , the trustees issued a statement that the Cup was no longer for the best team in Canada , but now for the best team in the world . Two years later , the Rosebuds became the first American team to play in the Stanley Cup championship final . In 1917 , the Seattle Metropolitans became the first American team to win the Cup . After that season , the NHA dissolved , and the National Hockey League ( NHL ) took its place . In 1919 , the Spanish influenza epidemic forced the Montreal Canadiens and the Seattle Metropolitans to cancel their series tied at 2 – 2 – 1 , marking the first time the Stanley Cup was not awarded . The format for the Stanley Cup championship changed in 1922 , with the creation of the Western Canada Hockey League ( WCHL ) . Now three leagues competed for the Cup and this necessitated a semi - final series between two league champions , with the third having a bye directly to the final . In 1924 , the PCHA and the WCHL merged to form the Western Hockey League ( WHL ) and the championship reverted to a single series . After winning in the 1924 – 25 season , the Victoria Cougars became the last team outside the NHL to win the Stanley Cup . The WHL folded in 1926 , and its assets were bought by the NHL . This left the NHL as the only league left competing for the Cup . Other leagues and clubs have issued challenges , but from that year forward , no non - NHL team has played for it , leading it to become the " de facto " championship trophy of the NHL . In 1947 , the NHL reached an agreement with trustees P . D . Ross and Cooper Smeaton to grant control of the cup to the NHL , allowing the league itself to reject challenges from other leagues that may have wished to play for the Cup . A 2006 Ontario Superior Court case found that the trustees had gone against Lord Stanley ' s conditions in the 1947 agreement . The NHL has agreed to allow other teams to play for the Cup should the league not be operating , as was the case in the 2004 – 05 NHL lockout . Broadcasting . The first television broadcast of a Final was in . It was broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ( CBC ) , with the play - by - play called by Danny Gallivan and colour commentary by Keith Dancy , hosted by Wes McKnight . The Hockey Night in Canada team would cover the next eight Finals . Gallivan would call his last Final in . At the same time , CBC ' s Télévision de Radio - Canada ( TRC ) division broadcast the series in French , called by René Lecavalier , with colour commentary by Jean - Maurice Bailly . CBC remains the exclusive English - language broadcaster of the Finals . TRC broadcast the Finals until when Réseau des sports ( RDS ) took over the broadcast . The first United States broadcast of a Stanley Cup Final was in , covered by Chicago station WGN . Network broadcasts started in on NBC . The Finals have been broadcast by NBC , ABC , CBS , Fox and Hughes broadcast networks and the ESPN , USA , SportsChannel America and the current Versus cable networks . Several Finals were carried on syndication through the 1970s NHL Network and the 1966 RKO General network . In , several games were carried on NBC and several on Versus . This splitting of coverage on cable / broadcast networks originated in with a partnership of ESPN and Fox . Series format . The championship series began with the ' Worlds Series ' played in one city . The series alternated between a rink of the NHA and later the NHL and a rink of the PCHA and later the WCHL / WHL . It was not until the demise of the WHL , that the Final series alternated games between the two finalists ' home ice . The series allowed ties until 1928 . As the two and later three leagues differed , the series would alternate using each league ' s rules . The PCHA continued to use seven - man team play , and games would alternate with six and seven - man games . The first NHL - only Final took place in 1927 , between the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators , it was planned to be a best - of - three series , although the series allowed ties . The series ended after four games , when the Senators defeated the Bruins in the fourth game . Champions . These are the most recent Stanley Cup Finals . 1 . The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Cup in 1918 as the Toronto Blueshirts , and in 1922 as the Toronto St . Patricks . Appearances in a Final . 2 . The Chicago Blackhawks were known as the Chicago Black Hawks prior to the 1986 – 87 season . 3 . The Montreal Canadiens totals include the 1919 Stanley Cup Finals that ended with a no - decision because of the Spanish flu epidemic .