Ah, amid the sucker punches, elbows, spears and crosschecks, there is dewy-eyed, supermarket-tabloid romance in hockey, after all.
Besides a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers and Devils are playing for the trophy donated by the royal who later stepped down as King of England to become Wallis Simpson’s third husband in the Romance of the (20th) Century.
Eastern Conference champs often treat the Prince of Wales Trophy as a jinx, refusing to touch or hoist it because they haven’t yet won the Stanley Cup.
The trophy that Bill Daly will wheel out, probably to be disdained by the winner of the Battle of the Hudson in the coming week, was donated to the NHL in 1925 by Edward David, the Prince of Wales, who would become King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom in January 1936.
Edward VIII abdicated the British throne in December 1936 to marry Simpson, an American divorcee.
As Prince of Wales, he represented his father, King George V, on foreign tours. He bought an Alberta ranch in 1919 during a tour of Canada.
The NHL guide says His Royal Highness donated the trophy to the NHL in 1925 and that it was originally awarded to the winner of the first game in Madison Square Garden on Dec. 15, 1925, when the Canadiens beat the fledgling New York Americans (no Rangers yet) 3-1. The Canadiens, who then engraved their 1924 Stanley Cup victory on the Prince of Wales trophy, lost the Stanley Cup to Victoria of the Western Canada Hockey League in 1925.
The Prince of Wales Trophy was then awarded to the NHL’s playoff champs from 1925-26 through 1926-27, while the Stanley Cup was still being contested with the Western league. From 1927-28 through 1937-38, it was awarded to the regular season winner of the NHL’s American Division with the O’Brien Trophy going to the Canadian Division champ. From 1938-39 until 1966-67, it went to the regular-season champ of the one-division league.
After expansion, it went to the Eastern Division regular-season champ through 1973-74, when it was given to the regular-season winner of the re-named Prince of Wales (East) Conference through 1980-81. From 1981-82 through 1992-93, it was presented to the Wales (East) Conference playoff champ and since to the Eastern Conference playoff champ.
Amid these varied formats, the Rangers won the Prince of Wales Trophy in 1932, 1942 and 1994. The Devils won in 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003. The Islanders won it in 1982, 1983 and 1984.