Canada Post celebrates the country’s most beloved sport on new stamp

By Molly Goad

Before the 2018 Mastercard Memorial Cup Championship junior ice hockey tournament commenced on May 18, Canada Post scored a goal of its own by revealing a new stamp.

The commemorative for the 100th anniversary of the tournament features a hockey player from days of old facing off against a modern-day player, with an image of the trophy between them.

The players on the stamp hail from the Regina Pats, a team that competed in the first Memorial Cup against the University of Toronto Schools in 1919 and also are hosts of this year’s championship tournament (May 18-27 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada).

The background of the stamp is red and white, the colors of Canada’s flag.

To add to the sports theme, the nondenominated permanent-rate (85¢) stamp comes in a pennant-shaped booklet of 10.

According to the Memorial Cup website, the trophy was donated by the Ontario Hockey Association in March 1919 in remembrance of the Canadian soldiers who died in World War I. In 2010, the cup was rededicated to the memory of all fallen Canadian military personnel.

“What others have given us endures through our acts of remembrance, such as the Memorial Cup,” said Carla Qualtrough, Canada’s minister of public services and procurement. “Over the decades, competing for this cup has shaped the characters and lives of thousands of young men.”

The trophy is awarded annually to the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) champion, following a four-team, round-robin tournament between the host team and the champions of the CHL’s member leagues: the Western Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League. The players are from 16 to 21 years of age.

“The CHL is very proud to be celebrating this special year in Regina,” said CHL president David Branch. “We thank Canada Post for commemorating this event and over the next 10 days, we’ll see some of the best junior players in the world compete for the ultimate prize in junior hockey.”

The stamp was illustrated by Louis Hebert and designed by Paprika, a graphic design and strategic marketing firm based in Montreal, Quebec.

Canada Post also is offering a first-day cover. The FDC includes the stamp image centered on a retro ice hockey rink design and is canceled May 18 in Regina.

The Canada Post product numbers are 414085111 for the booklet of 10 and 414085131 for the FDC.

Connect with Linn’s Stamp News: 

    Sign up for our newsletter
    Like us on Facebook
    Follow us on Twitter

These items are available online. Stamps and FDCs are available by mail order from Canada Post Customer Service, Box 90022, 2701 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, ON K1V 1J8 Canada; or by telephone from the United States or Canada at 800-565-4362, and from other countries at 902-863-6550.

Canada’s stamps and stamp products also are available from many new-issue stamp dealers, and from Canada Post’s agent in the United States: Interpost, Box 420, Hewlett, NY 11557.