Louise St. Jacques may have the softest touch in hockey.

St. Jacques is the person who engraves the names on the Stanley Cup. If she's taps her hammer too hard, she could dent the most famous trophy in the sporting world. If she is too soft, then the letters don't show up as well as she -- and more important the individual whose name is going on the Cup -- would like.

"When I punch in the name, you do not want to punch too hard and you can't be too soft," she says. "I use a special hammer and you have to be consistent with the banging of your hammer. It is a controlled touch and it takes a lot of eye-hand co-ordination."

Every September, the Hall of Fame delivers the Stanley Cup to her office in Old Montreal along with a list of names approved by the NHL to be engraved on the Cup. There are certain criteria for approval -– games played during the regular season and games in the Finals to mention two of them. The NHL will allow no more than 52 names on the Cup and last season, the New Jersey Devils submitted and had approved 52 names.

St. Jacques has a passion for hockey, but she doesn't cheer for any particular team and she doesn't follow the League close enough to rhyme off the names of the Cup winners after they've clinched the ultimate team prize in all of pro sports.

"At playoff time, people come up to me and say, 'Who are you going to be putting on this time?' I just say whoever wins," says St. Jacques. "I have been doing it for the past 20 years, so I recognize some of the names from previous years. Some of the names keep coming up, but you always have new players and different spellings.

"You want to double check (some of the spellings) because we are not used to some of those names, the way they are written out. It's not as if it is a French-Canadian name. It's not Henri Richard (who is on the Cup 11 times) or Maurice Richard. It's not Wayne Gretzky . . . you want to be sure."

Then there's the odd time when a friend jokingly asks her to be discreet and engrave their name on the Cup. St. Jacques always laughs off the suggestion, but deep down she's somewhat offended. In her mind, the only names she will engrave on the Cup are the ones who deserve to be there.

"It is the Stanley Cup," she says.

Once the Cup is in front of her, the first thing St. Jacques does is remove all the bands from the trophy. The Cup is carefully disassembled, separating the bowl, the neck and the five rows of rings that make up the body of the trophy.

The Stanley Cup is hollow but has a cylindrical foundation that kept it sturdy through the wear and tear it goes through in a season.

The band being engraved is clamped into a circular jig that creates a steel background for stamping. Special hammers of different weights are used to strike against a letter-punch to sink each letter into the silver. A line held by a piece of metal keeps the names as straight and level as possible.

It is meticulous work, but worth every second of concentration.

It's not easy being the Cup's engraver. "You have to measure; you have to make sure the letter does not get on to the other letter. Every letter has to be in the right position," says St. Jacques. "You have to make sure you do not put it upside down and not inverse it."

"You have to measure; you have to make sure the letter does not get on to the other letter. Every letter has to be in the right position," says St. Jacques. "You have to make sure you do not put it upside down and not inverse it.

"I do not do it in one stretch. I break it up and you do not want to make a mistake, so I space it out. I do a little at a time and I stop and then I do more. Usually I have the Cup for a week, but it does not take a week to do. I do a little bit every day. I don't want to be stressed out. It is quite exciting."

Once her work is done, the Cup is put back together. Once a ring is filled with the names of championship teams, the bands on the Cup are moved. The second ring becomes the first ring and they all move up, with a new ring put on the bottom of the Cup. The ring that's removed goes to the Hall of Fame.

St. Jacques knows the pride players and their families take in seeing the name of the Cup winner finally engraved on the trophy. It's proof of the sacrifice they made to get to the NHL and payment for the rigors a player, managers and team staff go through in winning the Cup.

While she doesn't like to admit it, mistakes have been made.

Adam Deadmarsh was spelled Adam Deadmarch but was later changed and his name is the only misspelled name to be corrected.

There are some other names on the Cup that never have been corrected. Jacques Plante's name has been misspelled five times. Bob Gainey was spelled Gainy when he played for Montreal in the 1970s; the Toronto Maple Leafs were the Leaes in 1962-63 and the Boston Bruins was spelled Bqstqn in 1972.

Deadmarsh was the only mistake that can be attributed to St. Jacques.

"It takes a long time to repair a mistake so you try not to make a mistake," she says.

St. Jacques is the fourth official engraver of the Stanley Cup. The company she works for, Boffey Productions, also engraves the NHL's other trophies and it does the mini Stanley Cups for each member of the Cup-winning team.

Boffey also does all manner of metal engraving, from jewelry to watches and special gifts.

But of all the work St. Jacques does, engraving the Cup has a special place in her heart.

This is the most prestigious thing. It is my most prized item and I have a friend who introduces me as the Stanley Cup engraver," she says. "I think it is quite exciting. It is a privilege to have such a trophy in your hands and I have it every year, which makes it even more special."