1.
New York Rangers
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The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, the team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, located in the borough of Manhattan. The Rangers are one of three NHL franchises in the New York metropolitan area, along with the New Jersey Devils, the club is also one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise. They are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six, along with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Rangers were the first NHL franchise in the United States to win the Stanley Cup, the new team was quickly nicknamed Texs Rangers. Rickards franchise began play in the 1926–27 season, the first team crest was a horse sketched in blue carrying a cowboy waving a hockey stick aloft, before being changed to the familiar R-A-N-G-E-R-S in diagonal. Rickard managed to get future legendary Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe to assemble the team. However, Smythe had a falling-out with Rickards hockey man, Col. John S. Hammond, Smythe was replaced by Pacific Coast Hockey Association co-founder Lester Patrick. The new team Smythe assembled turned out to be a winner, the Rangers won the American Division title their first year but lost to the Boston Bruins in the playoffs. The teams early success led to players becoming minor celebrities and fixtures in New York Citys Roaring Twenties nightlife and it was also during this time, playing at the Garden on 48th Street, blocks away from Times Square, that the Rangers obtained their now-famous nickname The Broadway Blueshirts. In only their season, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. One of the most memorable stories that emerged from the Finals involved Patrick playing in goal at the age of 44, an angry Patrick lined up between the pipes for two periods in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, allowing one goal to Maroons center Nels Stewart. Frank Boucher would eventually score the goal in overtime for New York. The Rangers would spend the rest of the 1930s playing close to 0.500 hockey until their next Cup win, Lester Patrick stepped down as head coach and was replaced by Frank Boucher. In 1939–40 season, the Rangers finished the season in second place behind Boston. The two teams would meet in the first round of the playoffs. The Bruins gained a series lead from New York, but the Rangers recovered to win three-straight games. The Rangers first round victory gave them a bye until the finals, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the New York Americans in their first round best-of-three series two games to one, and the Toronto Maple Leafs ousted the Chicago Black Hawks two games to none
2.
Montreal
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Montreal, officially Montréal, is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the 2nd-most populous in Canada as a whole. Originally called Ville-Marie, or City of Mary, it is believed to be named after Mount Royal, the city has a distinct four-season continental climate, with warm-to-hot summers and cold, snowy winters. In 2016, Montreal had a population of 1,704,694, Montreals metropolitan area had a population of 4,098,927 and a population of 1,958,257 in the urban agglomeration, with all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal included. Legally a French-speaking city,60. 5% of Montrealers speak French at home,21. 2% speak English and 19. 8% speak neither, Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 56% of the population able to speak both official languages. Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the world after Paris, historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, culture, tourism, gaming, film, Montreal was also named a UNESCO City of Design. In 2009, Montreal was named North Americas leading host city for international events, according to the 2009 preliminary rankings of the International Congress. According to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, in the 2017 edition of their Best Student Cities ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds ranked Montreal as the worlds best city to study abroad. Also, Montreal has 11 universities with 170,000 students enrolled, the Greater Montréal region has the highest number of university students per capita among all metropolitan areas in North America. It is the only Canadian city to have held the Summer Olympics, currently, the city hosts the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One, the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Just for Laughs festival. In 2012, Montreal was ranked as a Beta+ world city, in Kanien’kéha, or Mohawk language, the island is called Tiohtià, ke Tsi or Ka-wé-no-te. In Anishinaabemowin, or Ojibwe language, the land is called Mooniyaang, though the city was first named by French colonizers Ville Marie, or City of Mary, its current name comes from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The most popular theory is that the name derives from Mont Réal, Cartiers 1535 diary entry, naming the mountain, according to the Commission de toponymie du Québec and the Geographical Names Board of Canada, Canadian place names have only one official form. Thus, Montreal is officially spelled with an accent over the e in both English and French. In practice, this is limited to governmental uses. English-speaking Montrealers, including English-language media, regularly omit the accent when writing in English, archaeological evidence demonstrates that First Nations native people occupied the island of Montreal as early as 4,000 years ago. By the year AD1000, they had started to cultivate maize, within a few hundred years, they had built fortified villages. Archeologists have found evidence of their habitation there and at locations in the valley since at least the 14th century
3.
Stanley Cup
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The Stanley Cup is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoff winner. The first Cup was awarded in 1893 to Montreal HC, and subsequent winners from 1893 to 1914 were determined by challenge games, Professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. After a series of mergers and folds, it was established as the de facto championship trophy of the NHL in 1926. There are actually three Stanley Cups, the bowl of the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, the authenticated Presentation Cup. The NHL has maintained control over both the trophy itself and its associated trademarks. Nevertheless, the NHL does not actually own the trophy, the original bowl was made of silver and is 18.5 centimetres in height and 29 centimetres in diameter. The current Stanley Cup, topped with a copy of the bowl, is made of a silver and nickel alloy, it has a height of 89.54 centimetres. Unlike the trophies awarded by the major professional sports leagues of North America. Originally, the winners kept it until a new champion was crowned, currently, winning teams get the Stanley Cup during the summer and a limited number of days during the season. It is unusual among trophies to include winning members names, every year since 1924, a select portion of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff names are engraved on its bands. However, there is not enough room to include all the players and non-players, initially a new band added each year, though this caused the trophy to grow in size, earning the nickname Stovepipe Cup. In 1958 the modern one-piece Cup was designed with a barrel which could contain 13 winning teams per band. To prevent the Stanley Cup from growing, when the band is full, the oldest band is removed and preserved in the Hockey Hall of Fame. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanleys Cup, The Holy Grail, the Stanley Cup is surrounded by numerous legends and traditions, the oldest of which is the celebratory drinking of champagne out of the cup by the winning team. Since the 1914–15 season, the Cup has been won a combined 100 times by 18 active NHL teams, prior to that, the challenge cup was held by nine different teams. The Montreal Canadiens have won the Cup a record 24 times and are the most recent Canadian-based team to win the cup, the Stanley Cup was not awarded in 1919 because of a Spanish flu epidemic, and in 2005, as a consequence of the 2004–05 NHL lockout. After the Lord Stanley of Preston was appointed by Queen Victoria as Governor General of Canada on June 11,1888, he, Stanley was first exposed to the game at Montreals 1889 Winter Carnival, where he saw the Montreal Victorias play the Montreal Hockey Club. The Montreal Gazette reported that he expressed his delight with the game of hockey
4.
Ottawa Senators (original)
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The Ottawa Senators were a professional, ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a member of the National Hockey League. The club, which was officially the Ottawa Hockey Club, was known by nicknames, including the Generals in the 1890s, the Silver Seven from 1903 to 1907. Generally acknowledged by historians as one of the greatest teams of the early days of the sport. Ottawa HC played in the first season during which the Stanley Cup was challenged in 1893, the club repeated its success in the 1920s, winning the Stanley Cup in 1920,1921,1923 and 1927. In total, the won the Stanley Cup eleven times. In 1950, Canadian sports editors selected the Ottawa HC/Senators as Canadas greatest team in the first half of the 20th century. The club competed in the NHL until the 1933–34 season, when it relocated the NHL franchise to St. Louis, Missouri, the organization continued the Senators as an amateur, and later semi-professional, team in Quebec senior mens leagues until 1954. The Ottawa Hockey Club was founded by a group of like-minded hockey enthusiasts. A month after witnessing games of hockey at the 1883 Montreal Winter Carnival, Halder Kirby, Jack Kerr and Frank Jenkins met, being the first organized ice hockey club in Ottawa, and also the first in Ontario, the club had no other clubs to play that season. The only activities that winter were practices at the Royal Rink starting on March 5,1883, the club first participated competitively at the 1884 Montreal Winter Carnival ice hockey tournament wearing red and black uniforms. Future Ottawa mayor Nelson Porter is recorded as the scorer of the clubs first-ever goal, Frank Jenkins was the first captain of the team, he later became the president of the Hockey Club in 1891 and of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada in 1892. For the 1885 season, the club adopted gold and blue as its colours, Ottawa earned its first-ever victory at the tournament over the Montreal Victorias, but lost its final match to the Montreal Hockey Club to place second in the tournament. The 1886 Montreal tournament was cancelled due to an outbreak of smallpox, on December 8,1886, the first championship league, the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada was founded in Montreal. It was composed of clubs from Montreal plus a Quebec City club. Ottawas Thomas D. Green was named the first president of the league, under the format, Ottawa lost the one challenge it played in that first 1887 season to the Montreal Victorias. After that season, Ottawa HC became inactive, the Royal Rink, which had been their primary facility, had been converted to a roller skating rink, and ice rink facilities were at a shortage. This changed with the opening of the Rideau Skating Rink in February 1889, One of the principal organizers in the restarting of the team was Ottawa Journal publisher P. D. Ross, who also played on the team
5.
Montreal Canadiens
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The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, the clubs official name is le Club de hockey Canadien. The team is referred to in English and French as the Habs. French nicknames for the team include Les Canadiens, Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, La Sainte-Flanelle, Le Tricolore, Les Glorieux, Les Habitants, Le CH and Le Grand Club. Founded in 1909, the Canadiens are the longest continuously operating professional ice hockey team worldwide, the franchise is one of the Original Six teams, a description used for the teams that made up the NHL from 1942 until the 1967 expansion. The teams championship season in 1992–93 was the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, the Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup more times than any other franchise. They have won 24 Stanley Cups,22 of them since 1927, on a percentage basis, as of 2014, the franchise has won 25. Since 1996, the Canadiens have played their games at Centre Bell. The team previously played at the Montreal Forum which housed the team for seven decades and all, the Canadiens were founded by J. Ambrose OBrien on December 4,1909, as a charter member of the National Hockey Association, the forerunner to the National Hockey League. It was to be the team of the community in Montreal, composed of francophone players. The teams first season was not a success, as they placed last, after the first year, ownership was transferred to George Kennedy of Montreal and the teams fortunes improved over the next seasons. The team won its first Stanley Cup championship in the 1915–16 season, in 1917, with four other NHA teams, the Canadiens formed the NHL, and they won their first NHL Stanley Cup during the 1923–24 season, led by Howie Morenz. The team moved from the Mount Royal Arena to the Montreal Forum for the 1926–27 season, the club began the 1930s decade successfully, with Stanley Cup wins in 1930 and 1931. The Canadiens and its rival, the Montreal Maroons, declined both on the ice and economically during the Great Depression. Losses grew to the point where the team owners considering selling the team to interests in Cleveland, Ohio, the Maroons still suspended operations, and several of their players moved to the Canadiens. Led by the Punch Line of Maurice Rocket Richard, Toe Blake and Elmer Lach in the 1940s, the Canadiens added ten more championships in 15 seasons from 1965 to 1979, with another dynastic run of four-straight Cups from 1976 to 1979. In the 1976–77 season, the Canadiens set two still-standing team records — for most points, with 132, and fewest losses, by losing eight games in an 80-game season. The next season, 1977–78, the team had a 28-game unbeaten streak, scotty Bowman, who would later set a record for most NHL victories by a coach, was the teams head coach for its last five Stanley Cup victories in the 1970s
6.
Boston Bruins
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The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, the team has been in existence since 1924, and is the leagues third-oldest team and is the oldest in the United States. It is also an Original Six franchise, along with the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins have won six Stanley Cup championships, tied for fourth most of all-time with the Blackhawks and their home arena is the TD Garden, where they have played since 1995. The Bruins began play in the NHL on December 1,1924, in 1924, at the convincing of Boston grocery magnate Charles Adams, the National Hockey League decided to expand to the United States. Adams had fallen in love with hockey while watching the 1924 Stanley Cup Finals between the NHL champion Montreal Canadiens and the WCHL champion Calgary Tigers. With the Montreal Maroons, the team was one of the NHLs first expansion teams, Adams first act was to hire Art Ross, a former star player and innovator, as general manager. Ross was the face of the franchise for the thirty years. In 1924, Adams directed Ross to come up with a nickname for the franchise, arthur Ross picked a name by himself. According to him, a Bruin is an animal and alliterative with Boston. The background of the Bruins black and gold colorway dates back to their founder, Black and gold were the colors of Adams’ grocery chain, which made Boston Bruins uniforms a spot to advertise on. On December 1,1924, the new Bruins team played their first NHL game against the Maroons, at Boston Arena, but the team only managed a 6–24–0 record in its first season. In their third season, 1926–27, the team markedly improved, the Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Final despite finishing only one game above.500, but lost to the Ottawa Senators in the first Cup Final to be between exclusively NHL teams. In 1929 the Bruins defeated the New York Rangers to win their first Stanley Cup, standout players on the first championship team included Shore, Harry Oliver, Dit Clapper, Dutch Gainor and goaltender Tiny Thompson. The 1928–29 season was the first played at Boston Garden, which Adams had built after guaranteeing his backers $500,000 in gate receipts over the five years. The 1930s Bruins teams included Shore, Thompson, Clapper, Babe Siebert, the team led the leagues standings five times in the decade. In 1939, the changed its uniform colors from brown and yellow to the current black and gold. That year, Thompson was traded for rookie goaltender Frank Brimsek, Brimsek had an award-winning season, capturing the Vezina and Calder Trophies, becoming the first rookie named to the NHL First All-Star Team, and earning the nickname Mr. Zero
7.
Captain (ice hockey)
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In ice hockey the captain is the player designated by his team as the only person authorized to speak with the game officials regarding rule interpretations when he is on the ice. At most levels of each team must designate one captain. The captain wears a C on his sweater, while the alternate captains wear an A, as with most team sports that designate captains, the captain is usually a well-respected player and a de facto team leader. The captain is a dressing room leader, and also represents the players concerns to management, NHL teams need not designate the same player as captain from game to game, though most teams do. For instance, in the 1985–86, when Boston Bruins captain Terry OReilly retired, Ray Bourque, Middleton wore the C during home games and Bourque for road games during the seasons first half, and the two switched for the second half. This arrangement continued until Middleton retired in 1988 and Bourque became the sole captain, some teams name two or three captains for a season. Some teams rotate captains rather than one for an extended period of time. During each NHL game, however, only one player can officially be designated as captain. Captains are selected by different means, in instances, teams have held votes among their players to choose a team captain, while on other occasions. Captains are often due to their seniority in the game. However, franchise players—current or emerging stars—have also been named captains, though not required, many captains have previously served as alternate captains of their team. The NHL introduced a rule prohibiting the goaltender from being a captain following the 1947–48 season, in the NCAA, there is no position-based restriction on the team captain. Teams may designate alternate captains, also erroneously called assistant captains. Alternate captains wear the letter A on their jerseys in the manner that team captains wear the C. In the NHL, teams may appoint a captain and up to two alternate captains, or they may appoint three alternate captains and no captain. A team commonly has three alternate captains when the team has not selected a captain, or when the captain is injured. International and USA amateur rules do not allow this, they stipulate that each team shall appoint a Captain, if the team chooses to not appoint a captain, they are not permitted to appoint a fourth alternate captain. When the captain is off the ice or unavailable for the game, NHL teams may choose alternate captains from game to game or appoint regular alternate captains for the season
8.
Madison Square Garden (1925)
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Madison Square Garden was an indoor arena in New York City, the third bearing that name. It was built in 1925 and closed in 1968, and was located on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan, on the site of the citys trolley-car barns and it was on the west side of Eighth Avenue. It was the first Garden that was not located near Madison Square, ground breaking on the third Madison Square Garden took place on January 9,1925. The new arena was dubbed The House That Tex Built, in contrast to the ornate towers of Stanford Whites second Garden, the exterior of MSG III was a simple box. Its most distinctive feature was the marquee above the main entrance, with its seemingly endless abbreviations Even the name of the arena was abbreviated. The arena, which opened on December 15,1925, was 200 feet by 375 feet and it had poor sight lines, especially for hockey, and fans sitting virtually anywhere behind the first row of the side balcony could count on having some portion of the ice obstructed. The fact that there was poor ventilation and that smoking was permitted often led to a haze in the portions of the Garden. In its history, Madison Square Garden III was managed by Rickard, General John Reed Kilpatrick, Ned Irish and it was eventually replaced by the current Madison Square Garden. Boxing was Madison Square Garden IIIs principal claim to fame, the first bout took place on December 8,1925, a week before the arenas official opening. On January 17,1941,23,190 people witnessed Fritzie Zivics successful welterweight title defense against Henry Armstrong, the New York Rangers, owned by the Gardens owner Tex Rickard, got their name from a play on words involving his name, Texs Rangers. In the meantime, the Rangers had usurped the Americans commercial success with their own success on the ice, the New York Rovers, a farm team of the Rangers, also played in the Garden on Sunday afternoons, while the Rangers played on Wednesday and Sunday nights. The first professional game was played in the 50th Street Garden on December 6,1925. It pitted the Original Celtics against the Washington Palace Five, the Celtics won 35-31, the New York Knicks debuted there in 1946, although if there was an important college game, they played in the 69th Regiment Armory. MSG III also hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 1954,1955 and 1968, in 1931, a college basketball triple header to raise money for Mayor Jimmy Walkers Unemployment Relief Fund was highly successful. In 1934, Ned Irish began promoting a series of college basketball double headers at the Garden featuring a mix of local and national schools. MSG III began hosting the National Invitation Tournament annually in 1938, on February 28,1940, Madison Square Garden hosted the first televised basketball games in a Fordham-Pitt and Georgetown-NYU doubleheader. Capitol Wrestling Corporation—along with its successor, the World Wide Wrestling Federation—promoted professional wrestling at the Garden during its last two decades, toots Mondt and Jess McMahon owned CWC, which initially promoted tag team wrestling. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, Mondt and McMahon were successful at promoting ethnic heroes of Puerto Rican or Italian descent, two especially notable events in wrestling history took place at MSG III
9.
New York Americans
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The New York Americans, colloquially known as the Amerks, were a professional ice hockey team based in New York City, New York from 1925 to 1942. They were the expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League. The team never won the Stanley Cup, but reached the semifinals twice. While it was the first team in New York City, it was eclipsed by the second, the New York Rangers, the team operated as the Brooklyn Americans during the 1941–42 season before suspending operations in 1942 due to the World War II and long-standing financial difficulties. The demise of the club marked the beginning of the NHLs Original Six era from 1942 to 1967, the teams overall regular season record was 255–402–127. In 1923, Thomas Duggan received options on three NHL franchises for the United States, after selling one to Boston grocery magnate Charles Adams, which became the Boston Bruins in 1924, Duggan arranged with Tex Rickard to have a team in Madison Square Garden. Rickard agreed, but play was delayed until the new Garden was built in 1925, in April of that year, Duggan and Bill Dwyer, New York Citys most-celebrated prohibition bootlegger, were awarded the franchise for New York. Somewhat fortuitously given the shortage of players, the Hamilton Tigers, however, the suspensions were quietly lifted in the off-season. Soon afterward, Dwyer duly bought the rights to the Tiger players for $75,000. He gave the players healthy raises—in some cases. Just before the season, Dwyer announced his team would be named the New York Americans and their original jerseys were covered with stars and stripes, patterned after the American flag. Although he acquired the Tigers players, Dwyer did not acquire the franchise, as a result, the NHL does not consider the Americans to be a continuation of the Tigers—or for that matter, of the Tigers predecessors, the Quebec Bulldogs. The Americans entered the league in the 1925–26 season along with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Americans and Pirates became the second and third American-based teams in the NHL, following Adams Boston Bruins, who began play the previous season. Success did not come easily for the Americans, even though their roster was substantively the same that finished first the previous year, in the Americans first season they finished fifth overall with a record of 12–22–4. However, they did prove a success at the box office, so much so that the following season Garden management landed a team of its own, a clause in the Amerks lease with the Garden required them to support any bid for the Garden to acquire an NHL franchise. The Garden had promised Dwyer that it would never exercise that option, however, when the Garden opted to seek its own team after all, the Amerks had little choice but to agree. They were thus doomed to a history as New York Citys second team. The 1926–27 season saw the Americans continue to struggle, finishing 17–25–2, part of the problem was that they were placed in the Canadian Division in defiance of all geographic reality, resulting in a larger number of train trips to Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. Meanwhile, the Rangers won the American Division title, the 1928–29 NHL season saw the Amerks sign star goaltender Roy Worters from the Pittsburgh Pirates
