Before Game 2 of the Isobel Cup Final, the NWHL and NWHLPA unveiled the league’s championship chalice, the Isobel Cup, for the first time.
“We used our relationship with the Hockey Hall of Fame to conceptualize and create the Isobel Cup,” said Commissioner Dani Rylan, who unveiled the trophy with director the NWHLPA Erica Lawler. “The Cup itself represents the founding four teams and is inscribed with a message noting its awarding to the greatest professional women’s hockey team in North America.”
The trophy comes with plates to engrave the names of 15 championship teams before another layer will need to be added. It also sports a photo of its namesake across the front, with a photo of Isobel, daughter of Lord Stanley of Stanley Cup fame.
From the league on the naming of the trophy:
The Isobel Cup is the championship trophy of the National Women’s Hockey League. It received its name from Lord Frederick Arthur Stanley’s daughter, Isobel, who shared his love of the game and is known to be one of the first female hockey players in Canada. Isobel, along with her brothers, encouraged her father to purchase a silver cup to award to the best amateur hockey team in Canada. The Stanley Cup, as it was later named, became the championship trophy of the National Hockey League (NHL).
The front of the Cup reads, “The Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Cup 1875-1963.” Above the bottom, where the founding teams names are engraved, the trophy says,
This Cup shall be awarded annually to the greatest professional women’s hockey team in North America. All who pursue this Cup, pursue a dream; a dream born with Isobel, that shall never die. EST. 2016
Commissioner Rylan said at a pre-game press conference that there was never another option for the name. When she discovered the story of Isobel, the Cup was named.
While details are still being worked out, players will have the opportunity to do something similar to the NHL’s day with the Cup. During the offseason, the Isobel Cup will be housed at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
The Cup will be unveiled to players when its awarded after a champion is determined. The trophy will be presented by Commissioner Rylan and Lawler.