Ice hockey
Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent's net to score points. The sport is known to be fast-paced and physical, with teams consisting of six players each: one goaltender, five players who skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team. Ice hockey is most popular in Canada and eastern Europe, the Nordic countries and the United States. Ice hockey is the official national winter sport of Canada. In addition, ice hockey is the most popular winter sport in Belarus, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovakia and Switzerland. North America's National Hockey League is the highest level for men's ice hockey and the strongest professional ice hockey league in the world; the Kontinental Hockey League is much of Eastern Europe. The International Ice Hockey Federation is the formal governing body for international ice hockey, with the IIHF managing international tournaments and maintaining the IIHF World Ranking.
Worldwide, there are ice hockey federations in 76 countries. In Canada, the United States, Nordic countries, some other European countries the sport is known as hockey. Ice hockey is believed to have evolved from simple stick and ball games played in the 18th and 19th century United Kingdom and elsewhere; these games were brought to North America and several similar winter games using informal rules as they were developed, such as "shinny" and "ice polo". The contemporary sport of ice hockey was developed in Canada, most notably in Montreal, where the first indoor hockey game was played on March 3, 1875; some characteristics of that game, such as the length of the ice rink and the use of a puck, have been retained to this day. Amateur ice hockey leagues began in the 1880s, professional ice hockey originated around 1900; the Stanley Cup, emblematic of ice hockey club supremacy, was first awarded in 1893 to recognize the Canadian amateur champion and became the championship trophy of the NHL. In the early 1900s, the Canadian rules were adopted by the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace, the precursor of the IIHF and the sport was played for the first time at the Olympics during the 1920 Summer Olympics.
In international competitions, the national teams of six countries predominate: Canada, Czech Republic, Russia and the United States. Of the 69 medals awarded all-time in men's competition at the Olympics, only seven medals were not awarded to one of those countries. In the annual Ice Hockey World Championships, 177 of 201 medals have been awarded to the six nations. Teams outside the "Big Six" have won only five medals in either competition since 1953; the World Cup of Hockey is organized by the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association, unlike the annual World Championships and quadrennial Olympic tournament, both run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. World Cup games are played under NHL rules and not those of the IIHF, the tournament occurs prior to the NHL pre-season, allowing for all NHL players to be available, unlike the World Championships, which overlaps with the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs. Furthermore, all 12 Women's Olympic and 36 IIHF World Women's Championships medals were awarded to one of these six countries.
The Canadian national team or the United States national team have between them won every gold medal of either series. In England, field hockey has been called "hockey" and what was referenced by first appearances in print; the first known mention spelled as "hockey" occurred in the 1773 book Juvenile Sports and Pastimes, to Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of the Author: Including a New Mode of Infant Education, by Richard Johnson, whose chapter XI was titled "New Improvements on the Game of Hockey". The 1573 Statute of Galway banned a sport called "'hokie'—the hurling of a little ball with sticks or staves". A form of this word was thus being used in the 16th century, though much removed from its current usage; the belief that hockey was mentioned in a 1363 proclamation by King Edward III of England is based on modern translations of the proclamation, in Latin and explicitly forbade the games "Pilam Manualem, Pedivam, & Bacularem: & ad Canibucam & Gallorum Pugnam". The English historian and biographer John Strype did not use the word "hockey" when he translated the proclamation in 1720, instead translating "Canibucam" as "Cambuck".
According to the Austin Hockey Association, the word "puck" derives from the Scottish Gaelic puc or the Irish poc. "... The blow given by a hurler to the ball with his camán or hurley is always called a puck." Stick-and-ball games date back to pre-Christian times. In Europe, these games included the Irish game of hurling, the related Scottish game of shinty and versions of field hockey. IJscolf, a game resembling colf on an ice-covered surface, was popular in the Low Countries between the Middle Ages and the Dutch Golden Age, it was played with a wooden curved bat, a wooden or leather ball and two poles, with t
Liiga
The SM-liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagues of the Champions Hockey League and allocated five spots - the maximum number - based on success in previous editions, it was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, but the league and association have an agreement of cooperation. SM is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruus, "Finnish championship"; the SM-liiga had a system of automatic promotion and relegation in place between itself and the Mestis, the second highest level of competition in Finland, but the automatic system was ended in 2000. The league was allowed KalPa to get a promotion. In 2009, a new system was introduced and it includes the last placed SM-liiga team facing the Mestis champion in a best of seven playout series. In 2013, the relegation system was abandoned again and replaced by a procedure in which successful clubs of Mestis may apply for a promotion if they fulfill definite financial criteria.
Since 2013, Jokerit joined the KHL and Espoo Blues went bankrupt, but Sport, KooKoo and Jukurit were promoted. Therefore Liiga is a competition of 15 teams in the 2016 -- 2017 -- 18 seasons; the SM-liiga was constituted in 1975 to concentrate the development of top-level Finnish ice hockey, pave the way towards professionalism. Its predecessor, the SM-sarja, being an amateur competition, had its disadvantages, which were perceived as impeding Finland's rise to the highest ranks of ice hockey. One of the main problems was that the governing of the SM-sarja was based on the annual meeting of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, where all important issues were decided by vote. Since all clubs registered under the Finnish Ice Hockey Association had the right to vote, the many amateur clubs prevailed over the few business-like clubs. Therefore, the concentrated development of top-level Finnish ice hockey by the motivated and financially capable clubs proved arduous; the new SM-liiga was to be run by a board consisting of its participating clubs only and to have an agreement of cooperation with the Finnish Ice Hockey Association.
The SM-sarja was outdated on its own, as it was run according to amateur principles. Clubs were not supposed to pay their players beyond compensation for lost wages. However, by the 1970s many clubs were run like businesses and recruited players through a contract of employment, paying their wages secretly and evading taxes. However, in 1974, accounting reform in Finland extended book-keeping standards to cover sports clubs, shortfalls were exposed in audit raids; the SM-liiga was to allow wages for players, clubs were put under a tighter supervision. They were to establish their own association for SM-liiga ice hockey only, separating their commitments from junior activities and other sports. Copies of all player contracts were to be sent to the SM-liiga to provide players with adequate security, such as insurance and pensions; the SM-sarja had other limits for players. According to amateur ideals, no player could represent more than one club within one season. Personal sponsorship was forbidden.
To discourage trading, a system of quarantine was in force. The SM-liiga stripped the limitations for players, replaced quarantine with a then-modest transfer payment, introduced the transfer list. Players wanting a transfer were to sign up, the SM-liiga would distribute the right of negotiations to clubs. In practice, the list was not successful, as both parties worked their way around the formalities; these changes led to a transition towards professional ice hockey as the league became semi-professional. Only a few players would make a livelihood out of ice hockey in Finland in the 1970s, many players the young, would settle for a contract in the SM-liiga without a wage. A major financial development for professional ice hockey in Finland was the introduction of playoffs. Gate receipts and other income from playoffs were distributed as a placement bonus. Although playoffs were the standard way of determining the champions in North American professional sports, at the time they were not common in Europe.
The SM-liiga was established rather hastily. The required changes were initiated at the 1974 annual meeting, the SM-liiga was launched for the 1975–76 season, it was the first Finnish professional sports league, its solutions were untried. However, there had been a mounting demand for these changes, as the popularity of ice hockey had been rising in the previous decade; the SM-liiga picked up. The four best of the regular season were to proceed to the playoffs; the system of promotion and relegation from the SM-sarja remained in force: last-placed teams of the regular season had to qualify for their position in the SM-liiga against the best teams of the second-highest series. The combined attendance for the first eleven regular seasons hovered around 900,000. In 1986–87, the number of games for each team was increased from 36 to 44, reaching its current level of 56 games in 2000–01, the SM-liiga was expanded to 12 clubs for the 1988–89 season; the general popularity of ice hockey strengthened through international success of the Finland men's national ice hockey team, the combined attendance climbed through the 1990s to about 1.8 million.
This prompted an increase in the profitability of the ice hockey business and the completion of the transition to full professionalism. By the mid-1990s, all players were full-time, by 2000, most clubs had reformed into limited companies. In late 1990s and early 2000s the S
HC TPS
TPS or Turun Palloseura is an ice hockey team and 10-time champion of SM-liiga and 1-time champion of SM-sarja. They play in Finland, at the Gatorade Center. In terms of championships, TPS is the all-time most successful team in the 1975-founded SM-liiga alongside with Tappara which has 10 titles. TPS was established in 1922 as Turun Palloseura; the club began ice hockey activities after 1929. Today, the full name of the company is HC TPS Turku Oy. TPS has won the Finnish Championship in ice hockey 11 times: 1956, 1976, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2010. Only Tampere teams Ilves and Tappara have won more titles when SM-sarja counts. Coach Hannu Jortikka led the club to a total of six championships in 1989–91 and 1999–2001. TPS have won 2 Finnish Cups, a European Cup: 1994, a European Hockey League: 1997 and a Super Cup in 1997. Vladimir Yurzinov used to be the coach of TPS in 1992–98; the team is coached by Kalle Kaskinen. NHL players from TPS include Saku Koivu, Mikko Koivu, Miikka Kiprusoff, Sami Salo, Petteri Nummelin, Niko Kapanen, Jere Lehtinen, Rasmus Ristolainen, Antero Niittymäki, Lauri Korpikoski, Mikko Rantanen and others.
Updated September 25, 2014. Head Coach: Kalle Kaskinen Assistant Coach: Kimmo Rintanen Assistant Coach: Sami Salo Goaltending Coach: Fredrik Norrena Physical Coach: Timo Kujanen Video Coach: Mikael Tolkki General Manager: Mika Eskola 3—Timo Nummelin 8—Juhani Wahlsten 11—Saku Koivu 15-Reijo Leppänen 16—Rauli Tammelin 23—Hannu Virta SM-liiga, Kanada-malja: 1976, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2010) SM-sarja: 1956 SM-liiga: 1943, 1955, 1957, 1967, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2004 SM-liiga: 1953, 1978, 1979, 1981 SM-sarja: 1943, 1955, 1957, 1967 SM-sarja: 1953 Finnish Cup: 1955, 1956 IIHF European Cup: 1994 2010 Kai Suikkanen 2001 Hannu Jortikka 2000 Hannu Jortikka 1999 Hannu Jortikka 1995 Vladimir Yurzinov 1994 Vladimir Yurzinov 1993 Vladimir Yurzinov 1991 Hannu Jortikka 1990 Hannu Jortikka 1989 Hannu Jortikka 2001 Kimmo Rintanen 2000 Kai Nurminen 1997 Kimmo Rintanen 1995 Saku Koivu 1994 Esa Keskinen 1992 Mikko Mäkelä 1989 Jukka Vilander 2010 Atte Engren 1999 Miikka Kiprusoff 1997 Jani Hurme 1991 Markus Ketterer 1989 Timo Lehkonen 1980 Jorma Valtonen 1979 Jorma Valtonen 2010 Lee Sweatt 2001 Jouni Loponen 1995 Petteri Nummelin 1994 Petteri Nummelin 1991 Hannu Virta 1990 Hannu Virta 1987 Hannu Virta 2000 Kai Nurminen 1994 Marko Jantunen 1989 Jukka Vilander 1988 Arto Javanainen 1982 Reijo Leppänen 2000 Kai Nurminen 1995 Saku Koivu 1994 Esa Keskinen 1993 Esa Keskinen 1992 Mikko Mäkelä 1988 Esa Keskinen 1982 Reijo Leppänen 1981 Reijo Leppänen 2007 Tuomas Suominen 2000 Antero Niittymäki 1996 Jani Hurme 1982 Hannu Virta 2017 Jasper Lindsten 2001 Jouni Loponen 2000 Kai Nurminen 1997 Kimmo Timonen 1994 Aleksandr Smirnov 1990 Jukka Virtanen 1989 Jukka Vilander 1982 Timo Nummelin 1980 Reijo Leppänen 2001 Tony Virta 2000 Kai Nurminen 1997 Jani Hurme 1995 Saku Koivu 1994 Esa Keskinen 2001 Kimmo Rintanen 2000 Kimmo Rintanen 1999 Marko Kiprusoff 1998 Kimmo Rintanen 1997 Kimmo Rintanen 1995 Jere Lehtinen 1993 Esa Keskinen 1989 Jukka Vilander 1988 Jukka Vilander 1987 Jukka Vilander 1985 Reijo Leppänen 1984 Esa Keskinen 1981 Timo Nummelin 1977 Jarmo Koivunen 1957 Aki Salonen 2010 Ilari Filppula 2000 Tomi Kallio 1999 Miikka Kiprusoff 1995 Saku Koivu Vladimir Yurzinov Jukka Koivu Hannu Jortikka Hannu Virta Pekka Virta Juha Pajuoja Heikki Leime Riku-Petteri Lehtonen Juhani Tamminen Kari Jalonen Matti Keinonen Juhani Wahlsten Category:HC TPS players TPS official web site Official supporter club Independent TPS supporter club Independent supporter club
Penalty (ice hockey)
A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for an infringement of the rules. Most penalties are enforced by sending the offending player to a penalty box for a set number of minutes. During the penalty the player may not participate in play. Penalties are enforced by the referee, or in some cases, the linesman; the offending team may not replace the player on the ice, leaving them short-handed as opposed to full strength. When the opposing team is said to be on a power play, they will have one more player on the ice than the short-handed team; the short-handed team is said to be "on the penalty kill" until the penalty expires and the penalized player returns to play. While standards vary somewhat between leagues, most leagues recognize several common varieties of penalties, as well as common infractions; the statistic used to track penalties was traditionally called "Penalty Infraction Minutes", although the alternate term "penalty minutes" has become common in recent years. It represents the total assessed length of penalties each team has accrued.
The first codified rules of hockey, known as the Halifax Rules, were brought to Montreal by James Creighton, who organized the first indoor hockey game in 1875. Two years the Montreal Gazette documented the first set of "Montreal Rules", which noted that "charging from behind, collaring, kicking or shinning the ball shall not be allowed"; the only penalty outlined by these rules was that play would be stopped, a "bully" would take place. Revised rules in 1886 mandated that any player in violation of these rules would be given two warnings, but on a third offence would be removed from the game, it was not until 1904. At that time, a referee could assess a two-, three- or five-minute penalty, depending on the severity of the foul. By 1914, all penalties were five minutes in length, reduced to three minutes two years and the offending player was given an additional fine; when the National Hockey League was founded in 1917, it mandated that a team could not substitute for any player, assessed a penalty, thus requiring them to play shorthanded for the duration.
The penalty was shortened to two minutes for the 1921–22 season, while five- and ten-minute penalties were added two years later. Both the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation recognize the common penalty degrees of minor and major penalties, as well as the more severe misconduct, game misconduct, match penalties. A minor penalty is the least severe type of penalty. A minor penalty is two minutes in length; the offending player is sent to the penalty box and in most cases, his team will play shorthanded. If the offending player is the goaltender or a team is given a "bench minor" penalty any skater, on the ice at the time of the infraction may serve the penalty. In rare cases, when the offending player suffers an injury on the same play, whoever is on the ice at the time of the penalty may serve the penalty, as was the case of Game 2 of the Pittsburgh Penguins-Washington Capitals during the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, when Phil Kessel served a penalty in place of Tom Kuhnhackl. A team with a numerical advantage in players will go on a power play.
If they score a goal during this time, the penalty will end and the offending player may return to the ice. In hockey's formative years, teams were shorthanded for the entire length of a minor penalty; the NHL changed this rule following the 1955–56 season where the Montreal Canadiens scored multiple goals on one power play. Most famous was a game on November 5, 1955, when Jean Béliveau scored three goals in 44 seconds, all on the same power play, in a 4–2 victory over the Boston Bruins. Coincidental minor penalties occur when an equal number of players from each team are given a minor penalty at the same time; the permission of a substitute player depends on the league and the situation at the time of the infractions. In some leagues, such as the NHL, the teams will play four-on-four for the duration of the penalties if they occurred when both teams were at strength. However, if there is a manpower differential both teams are allowed to make substitutions while the penalized players will remain in the penalty box until the first stoppage in play after their penalty expires.
In other competitions, such as IIHF events, coincidental penalties do not affect manpower in any situation. Coincidental minor penalties are not ended. In some cases, a referee can impose a triple minor; the infraction is counted as three separate minor penalties. If a team scores a power play goal during such a penalty, only the current block of two minutes being counted down is canceled. Expiration rules of double- or triple-minor penalties due to goals being scored are identical to that of regular minor penalties being served back-to-back. A major penalty is a stronger degree of penalty for a more severe infraction of the rules than a minor. Most infractions which incur a major penalty are more severe instances of minor penalty infractions. A player who receives a major penalty will remain off the ice for five minutes of play during which his team will be short-handed. A major penalty cannot end early if a goal is scored against the short-handed team, unless the goal is scored during an overtime period.
If major penalties are assessed to one player on each team at
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League. Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the league has an affiliation agreement with one NHL team; when NHL teams do not have an AHL affiliate, players are assigned to AHL teams affiliated with other NHL teams. Twenty-seven AHL teams are located in the United States and the remaining four are in Canada; the league offices are located in Springfield and its current president is David Andrews. In general, a player must be at least 18 years of age to play in the AHL or not be beholden to a junior ice hockey team; the league limits the number of experienced professional players on a team's active roster during any given game. The AHL allows for practice squad contracts; the annual playoff champion is awarded the Calder Cup, named for Frank Calder, the first President of the NHL. The reigning champions are the Toronto Marlies.
The AHL traces its origins directly to two predecessor professional leagues: the Canadian-American Hockey League, founded in 1926, the first International Hockey League, established in 1929. Although the Can-Am League never operated with more than six teams, the departure of the Boston Bruin Cubs after the 1935–36 season reduced it down to just four member clubs – the Springfield Indians, Philadelphia Ramblers, Providence Reds, New Haven Eagles – for the first time in its history. At the same time, the then-rival IHL lost half of its eight members after the 1935–36 season leaving it with just four member teams: the Buffalo Bisons, Syracuse Stars, Pittsburgh Hornets, Cleveland Falcons. With both leagues down to the bare minimum in membership, the governors of each recognized the need for action to assure their member clubs' long-term survival, their solution was to play an interlocking schedule. While the Can-Am League was based in the Northeast and the IHL in the Great Lakes, their footprints were close enough for this to be a viable option.
The two older leagues' eight surviving clubs began joint play in November 1936 as a new two-division "circuit of mutual convenience" known as the International-American Hockey League. The four Can-Am teams became the I-AHL East Division, with the IHL quartet playing as the West Division; the IHL contributed its former championship trophy, the F. G. "Teddy" Oke Trophy, which would go to the regular-season winners of the merged league's West Division until 1952. The Oke Trophy is now awarded to the regular-season winners of the AHL's Northeast Division. A little more than a month into that first season, the balance and symmetry of the new combined circuit suffered a setback when its membership unexpectedly fell to seven teams; the West's Buffalo Bisons were forced to cease operations on December 6, 1936, after playing just 11 games, because of what proved to be insurmountable financial problems and lack of access to a suitable arena. The makeshift new I-AHL played out the rest of its first season with just seven teams.
At the end of the 1936–37 season, a modified three-round playoff format was devised and a new championship trophy, the Calder Cup, was established. The Syracuse Stars defeated the Philadelphia Ramblers in the final, three-games-to-one, to win the first-ever Calder Cup championship; the Calder Cup continues on today as the AHL's playoff championship trophy. After two seasons of interlocking play, the governors of the two leagues' seven active teams met in New York City on June 28, 1938, agreed that it was time to formally consolidate. Maurice Podoloff of New Haven, the former head of the Can-Am League, was elected the I-AHL's first president; the former IHL president, John Chick of Windsor, became vice-president in charge of officials. The new I-AHL added an eighth franchise at the 1938 meeting to fill the void in its membership left by the loss of Buffalo two years earlier with the admission of the two-time defending Eastern Amateur Hockey League champion Hershey Bears; the Bears remain the only one of these eight original I-AHL/AHL franchises to have been represented in the league without interruption since the 1938–39 season.
The newly merged circuit increased its regular-season schedule for each team by six games from 48 to 54. After the 1939–40 season the I-AHL renamed itself the American Hockey League, it enjoyed both consistent success on the ice and relative financial stability over its first three decades of operation. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the cost of doing business in professional ice hockey began to rise with NHL expansion and relocation and the 1972 formation of the World Hockey Association, which forced the relocation and subsequent folding of the Cleveland Barons, Baltimore Clippers, Quebec Aces; the number of major-league teams competing for players rose from six to thirty in just seven years. Player salaries at all levels shot up with the increased demand and competition for their services; this did not seem to affect the AHL at first, as it expanded to 12 teams by 1970. However, to help compensate for the rise in player salaries, many NHL clubs cut back on the number of p
HC Lugano
Hockey Club Lugano abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team has won seven Swiss championships; the team is the ninth most attended team in Switzerland for the 2015-16 season with 5,783 spectators. The Pista La Resega hockey arena in Lugano is used for ice hockey and is the home arena of HC Lugano, HC Lugano Ladies Team, HC Lugano-Ceresio and HC Porza, it was built in 1995, after the demolition of the previous one, can hold 8,000 people. NL Championship: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1999, 2003, 2006 SL Championship: 1982 NL Championship: 1985, 1989, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2016 Spengler Cup: 1991, 2015, 2016 Updated February 16, 2019. 1 Alfio Molina – Switzerland – G, 1963–83, number retired February 22, 2004. 2 Sandro Bertaggia – Switzerland – D, 1985–2003, number retired February 22, 2004. 4 Pat Schafhauser – Switzerland – D, paralyzed 1994–95, number retired February 22, 2004. 33 Petteri Nummelin – Finland – D, 2001–06 and 2008–13, number retired August 31, 2013.
44 Andy Näser – Switzerland – F, 1997–2010, number retired August 28, 2010. HC Lugano records in the Swiss National League A; the HC Lugano Ladies Team is a semi-professional women’s ice hockey team that competes in the Swiss Women’s A League. The club was founded on May 22, 1990, they won the Swiss Championship on 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010. In 2007, the HC Lugano Ladies Team qualified for the final round of the IIHF European Women's Champions Cup and won the bronze medal 2010
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. They are members of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League and are one of the Original Six teams of the league. Founded in 1926, the team was known as the Detroit Cougars from until 1930. For the 1930–31 and 1931–32 seasons the team was called the Detroit Falcons, in 1932 changed their name to the Red Wings; as of 2019, the Red Wings have won the most Stanley Cup championships of any NHL franchise based in the United States and are third overall in total Stanley Cup championships, behind the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Wings played their home games at Joe Louis Arena from 1979 until 2017, after playing for 52 years in Olympia Stadium, they moved into the new Little Caesars Arena beginning with the 2017–18 season. The Red Wings are one of the most popular and successful franchises in the NHL. Between the 1931–32 and 1965–66 seasons, the Red Wings missed the playoffs only four times.
Between the 1966–67 and 1982–83 seasons, the Red Wings made the playoffs only two times. However, from 1983–84 to 2015–16, they made the playoffs 30 times in 32 seasons, including 25-straight from 1990–91 to 2015–16, at the time the longest streak of postseason appearances in all of North American professional sports. Since 1983–84, the Red Wings have tallied six regular season first-place finishes and have won the Stanley Cup four times. Following the 1926 Stanley Cup playoffs, during which the Western Hockey League was reported to be on the verge of folding, the NHL held a meeting on April 17 to consider applications for expansion franchises, at which it was reported that five different groups sought a team for Detroit. During a subsequent meeting on May 15, the league approved a franchise to the Townsend-Seyburn group of Detroit and named Charles A. Hughes as governor. Frank and Lester Patrick, the owners of the WHL, made a deal to sell the league's players to the NHL and cease league operations.
The new Detroit franchise purchased the players of the WHL's Victoria Cougars, who had won the Stanley Cup in 1925 and had made the Finals the previous winter, to play for the team. The new Detroit franchise adopted the Cougars' nickname in honor of the folded franchise. Since no arena in Detroit was ready at the time, the Cougars played their first season at the Border Cities Arena in Windsor, Ontario. For the 1927–28 season, the Cougars moved into the new Detroit Olympia, which would be their home rink until December 15, 1979; this was the first season behind the bench for Jack Adams, who would be the face of the franchise for the next 36 years as either coach or general manager. The Cougars made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 1929 with Carson Cooper leading the team in scoring; the Cougars were outscored 7–2 in the two-game series with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 1930, the Cougars were renamed the Falcons, but their woes continued, as they finished near the bottom of the standings though they made the playoffs again in 1932.
In 1932, the NHL let grain merchant James E. Norris, who had made two previous unsuccessful bids to buy an NHL team, purchase the Falcons. Norris' first act was to choose a new name for the team—the Red Wings. Earlier in the century, Norris had been a member of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, a sporting club with cycling roots; the MAAA's teams were known by their club emblem and these Winged Wheelers were the first winners of the Stanley Cup in 1893. Norris decided that a version of their logo was perfect for a team playing in the Motor City and on October 5, 1932, the club was renamed the Red Wings. Norris placed coach Jack Adams on a one-year probation for the 1932–33 NHL season. Adams managed to pass his probationary period by leading the renamed franchise to its first-ever playoff series victory, over the Montreal Maroons; the team lost in the semi-finals to the New York Rangers. In 1934, the Red Wings made the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time, with John Sorrell scoring 21 goals over 47 games and Larry Aurie leading the team in scoring.
However, the Chicago Black Hawks defeated the Red Wings in the Finals, winning the best-of-five series in four games to claim their first title. Two seasons the Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup in 1936, defeating Toronto in four games. Detroit repeated as Stanley Cup champions in 1937. In 1938, the Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens became the first NHL teams to play in Europe, playing in Paris and London; the Wings played nine games against the Canadiens and went 3–5–1. They did not play in Europe again until the pre-season and start of the 2009–10 NHL season, in Sweden, against the St. Louis Blues; the Red Wings made the Stanley Cup Finals in three consecutive years during the early 1940s. In 1941, they were swept by the Boston Bruins, in 1942, they lost a seven-game series to Toronto after winning the first three games. However, in 1943, with Mud Bruneteau and Syd Howe scoring 23 and 20 goals Detroit won their third Stanley Cup by sweeping the Bruins. Through the rest of the decade, the team made the playoffs every year, reached the Finals three more times.
In 1946, one of the greatest players in hockey history came into the NHL with the Red Wings. Gordie Howe, a right winger from Floral, only scored seven goals and 15 assists in his first season and would not reach his prime for a few more years, it was the last season as head coach for Adams, who stepped down after the season to concentrat
