There will be no Stanley Cup winner this year because of squabbles over money, which seems trivial compared to the life-and-death drama that was played out the only other time that hockey's most coveted trophy stayed on its shelf.

The Spanish Flu, or La Grippe, claimed more than 21 million lives in 1918-1919, including as many as 50,000 in Canada, and it remains the worst epidemic in recorded world history. It's easy to understand then why, for the first time since its introduction in 1893, the Stanley Cup was not presented in 1919.

In that era, the National Hockey League champions faced the Pacific Coast Hockey Association winners for the Stanley Cup, alternating as hosts.

The Montreal Canadiens, led by five-foot-nine centre Newsy Lalonde of Cornwall, Ont., won the trophy for the first time in 1916 when, on home ice, they edged the Portland Rosebuds 3-2 in a best-of-five final that ended with a 2-1 Montreal victory on a goal by Goldie Prodgers, a five-foot-10 forward from London, Ont.

In the 1917 final in Seattle, the host Metropolitans prevailed over the Canadiens 3-1 to become the first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup. It was a bitter series. In Game 2, Lalonde was assessed five penalties including a game misconduct and was fined $25 for butt-ending referee Jock Irvine during a brawl. The MVP was Seattle's Bernie Morris, a five-foot-seven forward from Regina who scored 14 goals, including six in the 9-1 clincher.

After Toronto edged Vancouver 3-2 in the 1918 series in Toronto, a Montreal-Seattle rematch emerged for the 1919 final in Seattle, where the Canadiens looked to get even for the 1917 disappointment.

The flu epidemic was raging. Doctors had yet to learn that it was caused by a virus. Unlike today, there were no antibiotics to treat bacterial infections such as pneumonia that attacked weakened bodies and contributed to death.

The First World War (1914-1918), with its mass movements of men in armies and aboard ships, had been responsible for spreading the virus.

People wore gauze masks in public. It was illegal to spit, cough or sneeze in public in some cities. Theatres and other gathering places were often closed. Department stores were not allowed to hold sales. Funerals were limited to 15 minutes. Some towns wouldn't allow entry without signed health certificates.

Oh, and hockey was being played.

On the afternoon of the first game of the 1919 series, Morris was informed that he was being sought by police on charges of draft evasion. He turned himself in, figuring it was a misunderstanding. The subsequent investigation kept him out of hockey and he was detained for a year.

The spotlight was left to Seattle's Frank Foyston, a five-foot-nine forward from Minesing, Ont., and Montreal's Lalonde, two of the greatest scorers of the early 20th century who were at their best in the 1919 final.

Seattle won the opener 7-0, Montreal rebounded with a 4-2 victory, Seattle went back ahead with a 7-2 win and, after a 0-0 tie, Montreal evened the series with a 4-3 overtime triumph. It had turned out to be a sensationally competitive series.

Foyston scored nine goals and Lalonde six through five games, and that's where it ended.

The deciding game was scheduled to be played April 1 but the Canadiens were unable to continue because all of their players except Odie Cleghorn of Montreal were ill with the flu. The series was abandoned.

"The great overtime games of the series have taxed the vitality of the players to such an extent that they are in poor shape indeed to fight off such a disease as influenza,'' the Montreal Gazette reported. Among those admitted to hospital were Lalonde, manager George Kennedy and Manitoba-raised Joe Hall. The five-foot-10 defenceman, known as Bad Joe Hall for being one of the roughest players in the NHL, died of pneumonia in a Seattle sanatorium four days later at the age of 36.

A grieving Montreal contingent returned home by rail, while Lalonde, Billy Coutu of North Bay, Ont., and Louis Berlinquette of Papineau, Que., deboarded in Manitoba to serve as pallbearers at Hall's funeral. Kennedy died from flu complications the following year.

The Stanley Cup was originally a silver cup purchased for $48.67 by Lord Stanley, the Earl of Preston and governor general of Canada. The inaugural winners represented the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association hockey club. Lord Stanley had returned to his native England in the middle of the season. He never witnessed a championship game or attended a presentation of his trophy.

The NHL took control of the trophy after the 1926 season.

In the early days, players added their names to the trophy by scratching them onto the bowl with a knife or a nail. Various bands were added from the 1890s to the 1930s to hold all the names.

An etching in 1919 notes the year, the teams and, in block letters, Series Not Completed.

The appearance of the Cup changed often. In 1939, it was given a standardized form as a long, cigar-shaped trophy. In 1948, it was rebuilt as a two-piece trophy with a wide barrel-shaped base and a removable bowl and collar. The modern one-piece cup was introduced in 1958.

The original Stanley Cup was retired in 1969 because it had become brittle. It is kept at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

It remains to be seen whether a band will or will not be added to the trophy to record the cancellation of the 2004-2005 season.