Quench Your Hockey Thirst

So I think to be a hockey fan it is important not just to follow your favorite team, but to know a lot about the sport itself. I've given you the basic history before and even the origins of the team names. Now I just want to give you some fun facts and important information I feel as a hockey fan you should know. 

-The NHL was founded on November 22, 1917. 

-The Montreal Canadiens have won the most Stanley Cups in league history with 23. 

-The fastest recorded slapshot was by Bobby Hull at 118 miles per hour.

-The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario.

-Hockey pucks are frozen before games to keep them from bouncing on the ice.

-Regulation hockey nets are 6 feet wide and 4 feet tall. 

-The Stanley Cup got its name after a former Governor General, Lord Stanley of Preston donated the trophy in 1893. 

-The "Original Six" hockey teams are the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.

-In 1919 the Stanley Cup was not awarded to any teams because the final two teams, Montreal Canadiens and Seattle Metropolitans had several players hospitalized for the Spanish influenza. One player, Joe Hall died from the illness.

-In 1971, Bobby Orr signed the first million dollar NHL contract with the Boston Bruins. The contract was for $200,000 a season for five years. 

-The true Stanley Cup is not located in the Hall of Fame. To know if it is the real Stanley Cup you can look at the bottom of the cup and if there is a Hall of Fame seal, it is the real cup. 

-Forward passing was approved in the attacking zone during the 1929-30 season. The move that was originally not allowed was implemented to increase scoring. 

-Longest name in NHL history is Jarome Iginla who still plays today for the Boston Bruins. His full name is Jarome Arthur Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla. 

-Mario Lemieux scored on the first shot he ever took in an NHL game.

-A Gordie Howe hat trick is when a player gets a goal, assist and a fight in the same game. 

-In a single game Mario Lemieux holds the record for scoring a goal five different ways in one game. He scored at even strength, shorthanded, on powerplay, on a penalty shot and an empty net. 

These are just a short list of the crazy, interesting, unbelievable fun facts in hockey history. 

I must give credit to the two sites who helped me compile my short list of important facts including:

OneMillionSkates.com and Bleacher Report. 

Keep Calm and always have your Hockey knowledge On :)

NHL Standings Breakdown Part 2

Alright so I think its time for another standings breakdown since we're about 15 games into the season (per team). I have a feeling the western conference might take the cup this year. There are a ton of rising teams from the central and pacific divisions that are not going to back down easily.

The Colorado Avalanche are still clenching the top of the central division with 12 wins and 1 loss. Following them are the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues. I have to say I'm surprised the Blackhawks are doing better than the Blues this year, but the season is still young.

San Jose is narrowly ranked above Anaheim in the pacific division. Both teams have 23 points, although the Sharks have played one less game than the Ducks. I think they'll be battling back and forth for that top stop all season. San Jose and Anaheim have the potential to make it far into playoffs this year. I could honestly see the Avalanche, Sharks or Ducks win the cup.

In the atlantic division the Toronto Maple Leafs are still ranked first with a record of 10-5-0, trailing behind them with a slightly worse record of 9-4-2 is the Detroit Red Wings. I would love to see the Red Wings do something this season they are long overdue for a comeback. Not that I have anything against the Maple Leafs, it'd be great to see a Canadian team win. If any Canadian team had the best odds of going all the way it'd be the Leafs.

Last, but certainly not least we've got the metropolitan division which is quite frankly a mess. The Pittsburgh Penguins are dominating the division. The Pens have 22 points while the Rangers, ranked second in the division, have 12. Granted the Rangers have played two less games than Pittsburgh, the points from those games still wouldn't come close to that. It is mind boggling to me how poorly the Flyers are doing. They haven't really lost any key players this year, but they just can't manage to recover from the recent coaching change. The NY Islanders are doing well this season aside from being ranked fourth, I am surprised they aren't closer to the top of the division.

If there is one thing I know about sports is that they change constantly. They've changed since the last time I assessed the standings and they will change a ton more before the season concludes. But hey that's what makes them so thrilling and intriguing!

Check out the standings for yourself here: NHL Standings.

Trivia: This man is known as Mr. Hockey.

Click here for all you want to know about this hockey legend and your trivia answer: Mr. Hockey.

It's Sunday relax so keep calm and watch hockey all day long!

A Taste of Hockey History

I'm a big history buff if you couldn't tell already and I also enjoy neat fun facts about anything and everything, but especially hockey. So I figured I would pick a few interesting teams and talk about how their names came about.

Some more recent clubs allowed fans to vote for team names such as the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators. Although it is unoriginal, I kind of like the idea. It is quite diplomatic of them.

The Florida Panther was in the running for the Tampa Bay baseball team, but instead chosen by president Bill Torrey for the second Florida hockey team. The Florida Panthers are an endangered species. Torrey told reporters, "A panther, for your information, is the quickest striking of all cats. Hopefully, that's how we will be on the ice."---Unfortunately the team has not lived up to the high expectations behind the name and has never won a Stanley Cup. But as we've seen every year a team can completely 180 in a year for the good or bad.

The city of Atlanta, Georgia has had no luck with hockey teams. Twice NHL teams have transitioned from Atlanta to Canada. In 1980 the Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary. Again, in 2011 the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg and transformed into what is now known as the Winnipeg Jets. Interestingly enough, Calgary kept the name Flames, a reference to the burning of Atlanta during the Civil War. 

The Vancouver Canucks is quite an interesting story. The name originally came from Johnny Canuck a political cartoon then turned comic book hero who battled Adolf Hitler during World War II. It is also noted that Canuck is slang for Canadian making it the international equivalent to the New York Yankees. 

Another interesting one is the Boston Bruins. Grocery store tycoon Charles Adams hired former hockey player Art Ross to serve as GM. He charged Ross with coming up with the team name under the conditions that they use the colors of his grocery store, brown and yellow. Ross chose bruins. 

Those aren't all the team names, but the lovely site I found these explanations on can fill you in on the rest if you're intersted: NHL Name Origins.

As always keep calm, stay strong if you're team is doing wrong, and hockey on.

Check out my sound clip giving a brief history of how hockey started followed by some information on what we know hockey to be today. It's my first time using sound cloud so I apologize if it is a little rough around the edges.

Enjoy and hockey on.. 

Hockey Then and Now

The Pennsylvania Rivalry

Last night had a pretty exciting game on, you know what I'm talking about the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Philadelphia Flyers. A classic rivalry. The game was off to a fairly even start with Pittsburgh getting some early shots off, but the Flyers keeping pace and the first period ending scoreless.

In the second newcomer Jokinen yet again produced for the Pens and they took the lead 9:43 into the period off a pass from Malkin. Another goal by Kunitz with the help of Dupuis and Niskanen shortly after, put them up 2-0. Despite a powerplay goal by Simmonds, one goal was all Fleury and Pittsburgh were going to give up to the Flyers.

Pittsburgh scored two more goals in the third, Crosby and an empty netter by Malkin, which finalized the score at 4-1.

The three stars of the game were Fleury, Mason and Jokinen. I have to agree with Mason. He did an exceptional job against the Penguins. He made 31 saves and several could have ended the game a lot sooner than it did.

I can understand why Fleury was chosen considering they won, but personally I think it should have gone to another Penguin forward because they were grinding all game. If I were to give a star it'd be to Pascal Dupuis. The guy is one of the most underrated skaters on the team. He works hard, is a team player and always setting up big plays. He was credited two assists to Kunitz and Crosby's goals.

I concur with the Jokinen earning a star. He has been an impressive addition to the Pittsburgh squad. He knows how to connect puck to net. A true producer for the team. You can really see this season how the team has picked up the pace.

Please enjoy the highlights from last night's game and always keep calm hockey on

Picture Perfect

Some pictures that any hockey fan would enjoy...

Hockey Breakdown Part One

I am going to do my best to stay in partial when I discuss hockey. I like to exist by the motto that I am a hockey fan first and my favorite team's fan second. I have two favorite team's, but I am going to keep those a secret because I really don't want to come across biased. 

The eastern divisions got several teams to look out for this season. The New York Islanders are long overdue for Stanley Cup championship. The last time this team was hot was back in the 80's. I always appreciate the underdog and this team seems to be getting off to a strong start. 

Of course the other metropolitan eastern division team that has been consistently good is the Pittsburgh Penguins. They are ranked one right now with 4 wins on the record and one loss, but the season is still very young and if any of the key players get hurt it could mean trouble for them. They do have several rookies like Olli Maata and Beau Bennett who are going to be integral to the future Penguins' organization. I am surprised the Pens lost to the Panther's over the past week. Surprising fall, yet the Panthers always seem to come out for blood when they face Pittsburgh, especially at home.

On the Atlantic side of the eastern division the Toronto Maple Leafs with five wins and one loss followed by the Boston Bruins with a record of 3-1. The Maple Leafs look to be the team to stop in that division while the Bruins are recovering from a rough start to the season, but seem to be picking up steam. 

Tampa Bay Lightning was dominating the ranks, but have fallen to fifth in the division over the past week. I think the Tampa Bay Lightning have been working towards a Stanley Cup for the past couple of years and this might be their year. The team grinds hard and is underrated. They battled the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday and only lost by one. The Pens are a tough team to beat so I have confidence that they will do well going forward. 

I have to admit being from the east coast and both of my individual favorite teams come from the eastern division, the western division is more foreign to me as well.

In the central division Colorado Avalanche lead with the St. Louis Blues coming in second. The Blues have been out of the picture for awhile and are just starting to make a name for themselves. They probably have some of the sickest jerseys in the entire NHL now and I can't help, but think that if you dress for success it might make all the difference.

In the pacific division you've got San Jose and Anaheim top ranked, both teams have been fairly strong within the past couple of years. The western division may be closer to a Stanley Cup championship this year. In the past, the western division was weaker in comparison to the eastern, but I don't feel that is the case anymore. 

That is my brief standings overview, they change constantly even as I began to write the post to today when I have had time to finish my thoughts. You can always keep updated yourself at nhl.com. 

Until next time, keep calm and hockey on.