This Day in Hockey History – July 10, 2006 – Equal Cup for Equal Play

In 2005, Canada’s Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson, publicly wondered why a women’s team could not take home the Stanley Cup. After all, the women kept playing while the men’s NHL had cancelled their 2004-05 season due to a lockout. As she learned, the women actually had their own hockey trophy, albeit one without a name. Clarkson took the initiative to commission a new cup to reward the best women’s team. She first presented the Clarkson Cup on July 10, 2006.

Like her Governor-General predecessors, Lord Stanley and Lord Grey, Clarkson would donate an athletic trophy. In her announcement in September 2005, she said, “The Clarkson Cup is something that has evolved in the most wonderful and meaningful way. I thought [it was] an intriguing idea of giving the Stanley Cup to women’s hockey if no men were going to get it. It seemed to be perfectly logical — the women were still playing. I’m very pleased I’m going to be connected with women’s hockey and the [Clarkson Cup] is a personal gift from me.”

The silver cup was designed by a Canadian silversmith (Beth Biggs) and three Inuit artists (Okpik Pitseolak, Therese Ukaliannuk, and Pootoogook Qiatsuk). They were affiliated with the Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit. The decorations feature Inuit designs, Arctic animals, and Canadian flowers.

Clarkson was so keen to reward Canada’s finest female hockey players that she presented the Clarkson Cup as soon as it was finished, rather than wait for a challenge or championship tournament system to determine the winner. At the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel at Toronto, Clarkson named the Olympic Team that had just won gold at Turin/Torino as the first recipient. She told them, “We will give it to the best in women’s hockey this year because I wanted to do it as soon as the Cup was done and what is better than what you have done as a team?”  Cassie Campbell, as team captain, accepted the Clarkson Cup and said, “It’s definitely a first step. This is going to be our Stanley Cup in the future, there’s no question about that. It’s truly an honor to have Adrienne Clarkson step up and give us this and it gives women’s hockey the legitimacy that it deserves.” 

The Olympic Team also received their rings. They were joined in receiving rings by the sledge hockey team and the national junior team, both of whom also took home gold. For the first time, Canada had clinched all three international competitions.

After the inaugural presentation, the Clarkson Cup was meant to become more like the Stanley Cup. As Clarkson explained, “I’m hoping very much that in the future we’ll be able to have this as a challenge Cup so it will be played for across the country in an annual way.” The Western Women’s Hockey League and National Women’s Hockey League (and then the Canadian Women’s Hockey League) were meant to work out a tournament to determine the champion.

Unfortunately, it took three years for the Clarkson Cup to be put to its intended use. The artists and Hockey Canada had legal issues over licensing rights. Clarkson wanted the rights turned over to Hockey Canada, but the artists wanted royalties. They finally resolved the issue in 2009.

Beginning in 2009, the Clarkson Cup has been presented to the top women’s hockey team, the winner of the Canadian Women’s Hockey Championship. With the dissolution of some of the women’s leagues, time will tell the fate of the Clarkson Cup.

Additional Sources:

• Mike Commito, Hockey 365: Daily Stories from the Ice(Toronto: Dundurn, 2018), kindle edition.
• https://web.archive.org/web/20070614025651/http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2005/09/14/clarkson_cup.html#skip300x250
• Matt Flemming, “Clarkson Cup adds silver to women’s hockey gold,” Toronto National Post, 11 July 2006, p. S8.
• Donna Spencer, “Women’s Olympic team win first Clarkson Cup,” Victoria Times Colonist, 11 July 2006, p. B4.