Lord Stanley’s Gift Memorial Monument Inc. (LSMMI), a non-profit charitable organization, has announced that the Canadian design team Covit/Nguyen/NORR (Montréal QC) has been selected as the winner of the national design competition for a monument to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup.
The winning design—inspired by the historic, simple silver bowl donated by Lord Stanley of Preston, Canada 6th Governor General in 1892 to recognize the “champion hockey team in the Dominion”—is an elegant 3.45 M high chalice fabricated from silvered aluminum bands, parted to invite visitors to pass through it with framed views to the National War Memorial.
The sculpture would rise from a white paved “hockey rink” with imbedded stainless steel lines evoking skate marks and 39 granite discs engraved with the names of the Stanley Cup winners from 1893 to 2017. A 1.4 M diameter black granite bench in the form of a “hockey puck” would complete the ensemble.
The winner was chosen by the Board from eight finalists, having considered the advice from a jury of eminent Canadians, highly respected in the fields of public art, culture, history, and hockey.
“We believe that this design magnifies and abstracts the Stanley Cup’s original, modest form, giving it a glittering and iconic presence overlooking Confederation Square, the place of the Stanley Cup’s birth”, said George Hunter, LSMMI Chair. “Our Board found the Covit/Nguyen/ NORR design to be an elegant, contemporary, subtle but extraordinarily powerful tribute to Lord Stanley’s original gift: the modest cup that grew up to be the world’s most sought after hockey trophy, hockey’s holy grail.”
The Board of LSMMI also congratulated the other finalists: Coupland/Leinster/ Mills (Vancouver BC / Toronto, ON); Integral Jean Beaudoin + Novalux (Montréal, QC); Ja Architecture Studio & Sebastian Errazuriz Studio (Toronto, ON / New York, USA); Myros Trutiak / Pellettier / vanderGaast (Toronto, ON ); North Design / Blackwell / Mulvi & Banani (Toronto, ON); SPMB/1×1 Architecture (Winnipeg, MB); Studio West / Exp. (Cochrane / Calgary, AB). The finalists were selected from the forty entries reviewed in Phase 1 of the competition.
The monument will be donated to the City of Ottawa and unveiled in December, 2017 in downtown Ottawa at the corner of Elgin and Sparks Streets, just steps from the site where Lord Stanley of Preston (the 6th Governor General of Canada) gifted the Stanley Cup on March 18, 1892.
The unveiling will be part of the 2017 celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary, the 100th anniversary of the National Hockey League, and the 25th anniversary of the Ottawa Senators. A Groundbreaking Ceremony is planned for March 18, 2017 on the 125th anniversary of Lord Stanley’s original gift.
The monument is expected to become a prominent new landmark in Canada’s capital.