The team has played since the 199899 season and reached its only Cup final in 2017. The other finalists included Rubber Puckies, Screaming Squids, Salty Dogs, and Blades. Once a member of the Central Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League, this Columbus franchise now plays in the Southern Professional Hockey League.
Learn the story behind each franchise. Seattle hockey fans have been buzzing about their new team's name since the NHL picked the city to have its 32nd franchise back in 2018. This AHL team existed from 1996-2001. The resulting 14,000 entries became 10; then 10 became two, with Justice as the other contender. The newest franchise in the NHL explored over 1,200 different team names and logos since 2018, when it was announced that Seattle was getting the hockey leagues 32nd team. See AlsoNHL Expansion and Relocation, 1942-Present, 2022 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved, NHL Expansion and Relocation, 1942-Present. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. The longest-running fan bases are those of the iconic Original Six teams in the league, and their logos, mascots, and colors are easily the most recognizable: The yellow and black of the Bruins; red and black of the Chicago Blackhawks; red and white of the Detroit Red Wings; blue and white of the Toronto Maple Leafs; and the red, white, and blue of both the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers. The 1973-74 season started a string of 14 straight playoff appearances which included four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983. Like the toy manufacturer Mattel, "Fincup" is a combination of names. The Flyers also have a storied history, most notably with the, The history of NHL hockey in Pittsburgh dates back to the 1920s when the Pirates (not the baseball team) called the city home. format after the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to become the Winnipeg Jets in 2011. The name is creative, but really doesn't make sense; did the team wear pure-bred ice skates? They won their sixth Cup in 2011 and returned to the Final in 2013, losing to Chicago in six games. Metropolitan Los Angeles currentlyhas 11 major league professional teams between football, basketball, soccer, and hockey. The image of a place on fire makes perfect sense when thinking about the city of Atlanta, Ga., which burned during a Civil War battle in 1864. Finochio and Cupido were the last names of the team's owners. The now-defunct ECHL team missed the concept that nothing about salmon is scary. With the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, a hot topic was figuring out what the team's name would be. There are a few guidelines and
When grocery store tycoon Charles Adams brought a team to Boston, he hired former hockey great Art Ross to serve as his general manager. "I was thinking of something with a P. And I said to Jack, 'What do they call the Civic Arena?'
Related: 8 Unbreakable Detroit Red Wings Records, Related: The Founding of the Montreal Canadiens, Related: The Demise of the Hartford Whalers, Related: Martin Brodeur Immortalized in New Jersey, Related: A Tribute to the Magnificent Mario Lemieux. It's just a name.". Although there is some dispute over where exactly hockey was born, everyone can agree it was somewherein Canada. In 1990, a thunderstorm served as inspiration for then-president of the Tampa Bay Hockey Group Phil Esposito's decision to name his team the Lightning. After years of failure, they went on a run of 14 consecutive playoff appearances beginning in 1983. There are 16 teams in the Eastern Conference, and only 14 in the Western conference due to that more teams are located well east of the Quack! Rickard incorporated elements of their attire into his team's logo. Smythe eventually decided on Maple Leafs, for a couple possible reasons.
This former ECHL team seriously used three "R's" in the nickname. Such was the case in Nashville, where a downtown excavation project in the 1970s uprooted the fang and leg bone of a saber-tooth tiger. The name conveys zippiness, speed, skill, and above all, joy. A member of the marketing group responsible for naming the team replied: "This is the NHL, a rough and tough sport, and Avalanche is something that matches the 'on the edge' feel they want to create. 
, and top-secret meetings between owners and sponsors of the team, Kraken was chosen as the winner, and its logo and branding pays homage to the sea and mountains that are characteristic to Seattles landscape. restrictions, which you can review below.
The Portland Pirates of the AHL were previously a Baltimore team named after nothing quite specific. That was also the last time they reach the Cup Final. So when you read about the Ottawa Senators, a founding member of the NHL from 1883, it shouldn't be a surprise. The original Ottawa Senators, founded in 1883, won 11 Stanley Cups. Pacific and Central divisions in the Western Conference. And a seriouslyhefty stick to stave off hungry sharks and orcas. But logos with predatory mammals and birds of prey were eventually replaced by the milder but still feisty red wing. How does a team come to be known as a bear, fish, bird, plant, or a historical figure, anyway?
Sometimes team names reflect events in a city that captured the public's imagination. The Capitals entered the league the same year as the Kansas City Scouts (now the New Jersey Devils). Founded by the Walt Disney Company in 1993, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks were named after the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks. When Disney sold the team in 2005, the new owners dropped the adjective from their team's name.
In their 25 years as a franchise, the Senators have made the playoffs 16 times, including a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007 when they lost to the Anaheim Ducks. The Canadiens are often referred to as "The Habs" or "Les Habs," an abbreviation of "Les Habitants," the name for the early settlers of New France. Theyve never reached a Cup final. In 1917, the Canadiens were a founding member of the NHL. You may also like: Major sports headlines from the year you were born. If the name and colors matched the yellow-and-brown color scheme of his store, he was happy. Heinz, Steelers owner Art Rooney, and a member of the Mellon family. Scary. Handy's song, "St. Louis Blues. the county sought to bring an NHL franchise to the county instead. The Maple Leafs have won 13 Stanley Cups, second-most to only the Canadiens, but havent won one since 1967. Ever wonder what a Canuck is? The Bruins were founded by Charles Adams (the Adams Division was named in his honor), who was the owner of a large grocery store chain. Mississippi River. Norris chose a winged wheel as the team's logo, a nod to Detroit's growing reputation as the heart of the automobile industry. When the nickname was chosen, seven shark species made their home in a stretch of the Pacific Ocean off the California coast called The Red Triangle. After three seasons, the team relocated to Hartford but kept the New England location name until the WHA/NHL merger in 1979.
The World Hockey Association (WHA) gave the NHL a run for its money in the 1970s, but eventually the older of the two organizations prevailed. Tex Rickard founded this Original Six team in 1926. After the Hartford Whalers moved to Raleigh in 1997, new owner Peter Karmanos, Jr. named his team after the devastating storms that regularly ravage the region. According to the team's website, the name "celebrates patriotism, pride and the rich Civil War history in the state of Ohio and, more specifically, the city of Columbus.
Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, is also the oil capital of Canada. In total, the Rangers have won four Cups, with their last one coming in 1994. The golden era of New England whaling is long gone, but the era of the hurricane shows no sign of going extinct in Raleigh, N.C. The Americans folded in 1942, while Tex's Rangers remain. In 1999, Dallas won its only Stanley Cup. This ECHL team represents oil drillers who create wells in spots where oil is not expected to be found. In his book, Pittsburgh Penguins: The Official History of the First 30 Years, Bob Grove describes how Carol McGregor came up with the name. Ambrose wanted his team, a charter member of the National Hockey Association, to appeal to Montreal's francophone population and he hoped to drum up a rivalry with the city's established team, the Wanderers. Nothing exemplifies a group of men focused on winning than a name like "Wanderers.". The nickname was changed to Ducks and the logo was changed in 2005 after Disney sold the team. However, they have heightened name recognition in non-tropical areas because of the hockey team, which was part of the owner's goal all along. MSG president George Tex Rickard recognized the success of the Americans and wanted a second team in the city. The Winnipeg Jets were part of the WHA from 1972 to 1979, when they became part of the NHL.
(Voyageurs were the working-class employees of fur trading companies in the region during the 1700s.). The name beat out Freeze and Northern Lights, among others. Management originally wanted to name the team Extreme, but received all sorts of negative feedback, and justifiably so.
When the city was awarded an NHL franchise in 1972, naming-contest voters made the logical choice. Rickard's team was immediately dubbed "Tex's Rangers" as a pun referencing the paramilitary force founded in Texas during the 1830s. Word origins and naming decisions are often not straightforward. In each conference are two divisions - the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions in the Eastern Conference and the The Arizona Coyotes began as the former World Hockey Associations Winnipeg Jets in 1971. The Hurricanes have been to two Stanley Cup finals, winning in 2006. The "Black Hawk Division" was named after Chief Black Hawk of the Sauk American Indian tribe, who fought the Illinois militia in 1832. For English-speakers, "Nordiques" is weird enough. Edmonton won five Stanley Cups between 1984and 1990. Find out how NHL teams in the Western Conference got their nicknames from the Colorado Avalanche Origins of all the NHL Western Conference Clubs, convinced league president Frank Calder to grant him a franchise, Sabres joined the league for the 1970-71 season. The logo was a goat. Adams tasked Ross with coming up with a nickname, with one of the requirements being that the team's colors would be the same as his grocery store chain's: brown and yellow. publi[emailprotected]. Using a combination of fan polls, social media stalking, and top-secret meetings between owners and sponsors of the team, Kraken was chosen as the winner, and its logo and branding pays homage to the sea and mountains that are characteristic to Seattles landscape. "Skipjack" could refer to either a type of fish or a type of boat. The current version of the Senators is the second edition after the original Senators left Ottawa in 1934 after winning four Stanley Cups. The franchise won its only Stanley Cup in 2004. to the Ottawa Senators.
Stacker distribution partners receive a license to all Stacker stories, and more. Many teams in our nation's capital have self-referencing names like Nationals, Whips, and Potomacs. While the team moved, the nickname remained. The logo of a buffalo appearing to leap over a pair of crossed sabres evokes daring and agility. The quick and cunning brown bear, or bruin in Old English folk tales, was a good fit for the colorand for the temperament of the Original Six team. The Los Angeles Monarchs played in the Pacific Coast Hockey League during the 1930s and Cooke's new team adopted the same royal color scheme as the Lakers. World War I veteran and coffee tycoon Frederic McLaughlin was Chicago's owner when it entered the NHL in 1926. Cougars were sold by Lester and Frank Patrick to a group of Detroit investors in May. When team owners moved the franchise to the Phoenix area in 1996, a more appropriate geographic name was chosen by fans in a naming contest, beating out the Scorpions. 30 famous athletes who received lifetime bans, Major sports headlines from the year you were born, Iconic sports moments that defined the '80s, History of the NFL from the year you were born, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/?ref=chooser-v1. Recent success in the past decade has led to sustainability, with three Stanley Cups since 2009. One of the Original Six members of the NHL, the Red Wings began as the Cougars in 1926, then became the Falcons in 1930. The Lightning joined the league during the same round of expansion as the Ottawa Senators. The Toronto Arenas, founded in 1917, the final member on this list of the Original Six, were reborn as the St. Patricks in 1919, and then, in 1927, as the Maple Leafs. share our stories with your audience. Prior to the 1926-27 season, he was granted an expansion team and MSG was its owner. "Silvertip" is a type of bear, but without the logo it sounds questionable for those unfamiliar with the animal. Penguins. Reborn in 1990 under the moniker of its predecessor, all in a nod to Ottawa as the capital city, the new Senators franchise has never won a title. Their 24 championships are the most of any NHL team and the second most in North American sports after the New York Yankees. The Kings won their two Cups in 2012 and 2014. There were the Flyers in Edmonton, Scotland, Niagara Falls, and so forth. People shouldn't get so excited about Avalanche being a disrespectful name or something. The Sabres have never won a Stanley Cup but have been to two Stanley Cup Finals, most recently in 1999 when they lost to the Dallas Stars. The team joined the NHL in 1970 and has never won a title. According to legend, a harmless creature known as the Leeds Devil, or the Jersey Devil, roamed the Pine Barrens in the southern part of the state from 1887 until 1938. If a current team had a through-line in any of these leagues, we found out when and where they played, what they were called, and why. republish under a Creative Commons License, and we encourage you to In total, the Penguins have won five Cups in six Finals. The Winnipeg Jets, formed in late 1971, got their moniker from a team of the same name that played in Canada's Western Hockey League. The late Jack Kent Cooke, who owned the Los Angeles Lakers and later the Washington Redskins, settled on Kings as the team nickname from entries submitted in a fan contest. You may also like: History of the NFL from the year you were born. The name referred to a military landmark in the city. In 1909, John Ambrose O'Brien created the Club de Hockey Canadien. How about a Blue Jacket? Through expansion, league merger, and relocation, the conference increased from five of the Original Six teams in the north to having teams in Florida. Golfers who lost major money on a final stroke, 25 ways the NBA has changed in the last 50 years, Ranking every quarterback performance in Super Bowl history, The newest franchise in the NHL explored over. To that end, most Stacker stories are freely available to The Guelph-located team was sponsored by the Biltmore Hat company, but that still doesn't explain what exactly a "Mad Hatter" is. The OHL's Erie Otters went by this name in the mid-1970's. A "jackalope" is a mythical animal that is basically a rabbit with antlers. This smart decision by True North stands out from a number of poor choices in hockey history.
In 1998, Wild was chosen from a field of six finalists, which also included the Blue Ox, Northern Lights, Voyageurs, White Bears, and Freeze. You may also like: Famous baseball players from every state. That team, which relocated to St. Louis in 1934, had won 11 Cups. Using a combination of fan polls. Two relocations later, they are now the Worcester Sharks. The current franchise is actually the second incarnation; the first relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in 1996 and became the Phoenix Coyotes. McLaughlin named the team after the 86th Infantry Division in which he served. Regardless, the cartoon character Johnny Canuck has been a known figure in Canada since 1869.
Team owners tried out several ideas that conjured the outdoors flavor of their new location in Denver: Extreme, Blizzard, and Black Bears. Fans in the Rocky Mountain region ultimately supported the choice of Avalancheespecially when they won their first of two Cups in their debut Colorado season. The San Francisco Seals were a team in the Western Hockey League before being renamed the California Seals and joining the NHL. You can email me directly at kyle@thehockeywriters.com. The Islanders joined the league the same year the WHA started. This summer the franchise won its first ever Stanley Cup, defeating the Bruins in seven games. Scorpions was the runner-up. That's why Montreal's official hockey team name, le Club de hockey Canadien, is easy to understand. The Panthers have played in the Miami metro area since 1993 and have reached one Stanley Cup final. The Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996 and Coyotes was the winner in a name-the-team contest that attracted more than 10,000 entries. There was also a period between 1988 and 2001 in which Lemieux or Jaromir Jagr won the Art Ross Trophy all but three times. Between professional and college ranks, the Washington D.C. area is home to 15 sports teams. When a sports team makes an island its home, some reference to that feature of geography in its name makes sense. ", "Kootenay Ice" sounds a bit like a cheap alcoholic beverage. For those with less knowledge of French, the team's nickname Habs is a bit puzzling. A number of strange, inappropriate, or silly nicknames have been used for hockey teams in popular North American leagues. Blades was the most popular entry, but ultimately rejected because of its gang implications. The name might not seem ridiculous just yet, but in time it's going to be difficult explaining the Anaheim Ducks originally had "Mighty" in their name and shared the likeness of a children's movie. The people in Philadelphia thought so in 1966, and the name and logo have continued almost unchanged since then. You may also like: Highest-paid players in the NBA. QMJHL's Acadie-Bathurst Titan were called the Laval Voisins from 1979-1985. Given that New Jersey has never been known for its mountains, the team needed a new nickname after the Colorado Rockies relocated to the Garden State in 1982. Team colors, logos, images of players, and heroic maneuvers on the ice are ubiquitous with fandom, as die-hards spend money traveling to games, purchasing tickets and merchandise, and generallyserving as walking advertisements for the team they support. The Sabres have reached three Stanley Cup finals but have never won. Two years of mediocrity got the franchise started but the 1973 and 1974 drafts yielded Denis Potvin, Clark Gilles, and Bryan Trottier, and the rest was history. After considering a few names, the franchise stuck to what had worked before and announced the team would be named the Winnipeg Jets. After witnessing the 1924 Stanley Cup Final, he. They won their only Stanley Cup in 1989. The other player to win it was Wayne Gretzky. Hopefully, that's how we will be on the ice.". The idea for this name must have struck like a bolt of lightning. connection to the law enforcement officers in Texas, folded quickly after having one of the worst seasons in NHL history, when they won four games, used their influence to convince fellow team owners to vote in favor of Pittsburgh as a market, A Tribute to the Magnificent Mario Lemieux, beating the cities of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Indianapolis, Phoenix, and San Diego, NHL Rumors: Oilers, Flames, Avalanche, Senators, Blue Jackets Pursuit of Matthew Tkachuk Hinges on Laine Trade, How the Red Wings Could Add Matthew Tkachuk in Massive Trade, Ranking the Sharks 2022 NHL Free Agency Signings, Devils Vanecek Contract Gives Solid Tandem Now & Future Upside, Maple Leafs News & Rumors: Matthews, Tkachuk, Knies & Villeneuve, Darryl Sutter May No Longer Be the Right Fit for the Flames, Sabres Face Tough Decision When Weighing Potential Tkachuk Trade, Although the Bruins are considered a member of the NHLs Original Six, they didnt enter the league until 1924, seven years after the league began play.
Avalanche, which eventually beat out Black Bears, Outlaws, Storm, Wranglers, Renegades, Rapids, and Cougars, drew some criticism, as well, given their deadly nature. Founded in 2009, The Hockey Writers is a premier destination for news and information on everything hockey.
The brothers sponsored a name-the-team contest and decided on Sabres, with a buffalo featured prominently in the team's logo. The translation doesn't help make the nickname seem any more normal; it means "Northmen.". Washington owner Abe Pollin decided on the perfectly apt nickname Capitals after staging a name-the-team contest. The Red Wings have 11 Stanley Cups, the most of any American franchise, including four different decades with two championships. What do Blades, Breakers, Breeze, Condors, Fog, Gold, Golden Gaters, Golden Skaters, Grizzlies, Icebreakers, Knights, Redwoods, Sea Lions, and Waves have in common? The team name was founded there in 1972, and in the short span from 1980 to 1984 a dynasty was born when they won four consecutive Stanley Cups. The Canadiens are one of the Original Six and have won a record 24 Stanley Cups. What more effective way than to invite fans to submit names? The team sponsored a name-the-team contest after Ed Snider, then-vice president of the Philadelphia Eagles, brought hockey back to the City of Brotherly Love in 1966. as well as image rights, data visualizations, forward planning tools,
The Panthers joined the league for the 1993-94 season along with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim after being awarded a franchise in 1992.