Clarence S. Campbell is a former president of the National Hockey League. He was the league president from 1946 to 1977.
Throughout an NHL season, players and teams are judged by how well they do and some are rewarded for their accomplishments in the regular season, while the last team standing gets to hoist the Stanley Cup trophy. The Clarence S. Bowl/trophy is another one of the awards but it specific to one division in the NHL in particular.
That division is the Western Division. The team who gets this trophy finished the postseason by making it to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Colorado Avalanche won this award after sweeping the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 in the Western Conference Finals. During this season, the Avalanche won 56 of 82 regular season games, three more than the next team, the Minnesota Wild. They finished second in the NHL in terms of overall regular season wins, second to the Florida Panthers, who had 58.
Although it is now awarded to the West team that makes it to the Stanley Cup final, that hasn’t always been the case. It used to be awarded to the champions of the Western Division.
That regular season, the Colorado Avalanche saw four goaltenders win at least one game, with three of them winning more than that. Darcy Kuemper, Pavel Francouz, Justus Annunen, and Jonas Johansson were the team’s netminders that year with Kuemper winning 37 games and a .921 save percentage.
The Avalanche have won the trophy three times in their existence and have won the Stanley Cup each time.
What is the superstition about the Clarence S. Campbell trophy?
Some players in all sports have some sort of superstition, whether it be wearing lucky socks, eating a specific meal before a game, or pretty much anything you can think of. When it comes to trophies, there is also one superstition in particular that is pretty common.
Players and coaches are pretty much told not to lay hands on the division-winning trophy as to not jinx themselves. It’s because their journey is not over just after they finish the regular season. Their end goal is to win it all. In football, it is the Vince Lombardi Trophy. In the NBA, it is the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.
For the NHL, it is, of course, the Stanley Cup.
The NHL season is extremely long and whether you believe in the jinx or not, it is best to stay on the safe side.