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.
Buffalo Sabres
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The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, the team was established in 1970, along with the Vancouver Canucks, when the league expanded to 14 teams. They have played at KeyBank Center since 1996, prior to that, the Buffalo Sabres played at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium from the start of the franchise in 1970. The Sabres are owned by Terry Pegula and coached by Dan Bylsma, the team has twice advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1975 and to the Dallas Stars in 1999. The best known line in history is The French Connection. All three players have had their numbers retired and a statue erected in their honor at KeyBank Center in 2012. Tim Horton, Pat LaFontaine, Danny Gare and Dominik Hasek have also had their numbers retired. The Sabres, along with the Vancouver Canucks, joined the NHL in the 1970–71 season, wanting a name other than bison, the Knoxes commissioned a name-the-team contest. The Knoxes tried twice before to get an NHL team, first when the NHL expanded in 1967, at the time of their creation, the Sabres exercised their option to create their own AHL farm team, the Cincinnati Swords. Former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager and head coach Punch Imlach was hired in the capacity with the Sabres. The year the Sabres debuted was an important year for major sports in Buffalo. The city of Buffalo went from having no teams in the major professional sports leagues to three in one off-season, a situation that proved to be unsustainable. Between the Braves and the Sabres, the Sabres would prove to be, by far, the Braves left Buffalo in 1978, and its remains are now the Los Angeles Clippers. The consensus was that first pick in the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft would be junior phenomenon Gilbert Perreault, either the Sabres or the Canucks would get the first pick, to be determined with the spin of a roulette wheel. Perreault was available to the Sabres and Canucks as this was the first year that the Montreal Canadiens did not have a priority right to draft Quebec-born junior players, the Canucks were allocated numbers 1–10 on the wheel, while the Sabres had 11–20. When league president Clarence Campbell spun the wheel, he thought the pointer landed on 1. While Campbell was congratulating the Vancouver delegation, Imlach asked Campbell to check again, as it turned out, the pointer was on 11—effectively handing Perreault to the Sabres. Perreault scored 38 goals in his season of 1970–71, at the time a record for most goals scored by a NHL rookie
3.
Dallas Stars
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The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League, the team was founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. Before the beginning of the 1978–79 NHL season, the merged with the Cleveland Barons after the league granted them permission due to each teams respective financial struggles. Ultimately, the relocated to Dallas for the 1993–94 NHL season. The Stars played out of Reunion Arena from their relocation until 2001, the Stars have won eight division titles in Dallas, two Presidents Trophies as the top regular season team in the NHL, the Western Conference championship twice, and in 1998–99, the Stanley Cup. Joe Nieuwendyk won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs that year, in 2000, Neal Broten was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2009, Brett Hull became the first Dallas Stars player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, followed by Ed Belfour and Joe Nieuwendyk in 2011, in 2010, brothers Derian and Kevin Hatcher were inducted to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. The Minnesota North Stars began play in 1967 as part of the NHLs six-team expansion, home games were played at the newly constructed Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. Initially successful both on the ice and at the gate, the North Stars fell victim to financial problems after several seasons in the mid-1970s. In 1978, the North Stars were purchased by the owners of the Cleveland Barons, with both teams on the verge of folding, the NHL permitted the two failing franchises to merge. The merger brought with it a number of talented players, and the North Stars were revived—they reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1981, the NHL rejected the request and instead agreed to award an expansion franchise, the San Jose Sharks, to the Gund brothers. In the following season, the Minnesota North Stars made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, after the 1991 season, the North Stars suffered through poor attendance and profitability. The teams fortunes were further impeded by the terms of the settlement with the Gund brothers, New owner Norman Green explored the possibility of moving the team to Anaheim, however the NHL decided instead to place the expansion Mighty Ducks there in 1992. In their final two seasons in Minnesota, the adopted a new logo which omitted the North from North Stars. In 1993, amid further attendance woes and bitter controversy, Green obtained permission to move the team to Dallas. Green was convinced by former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach that Dallas would be a market for an NHL team. The Stars would move into Reunion Arena, built in 1980, the Stars played their first game in Dallas on October 5,1993, a 6–4 win against the Detroit Red Wings. In that game, Neal Broten scored the first Stars goal in Dallas, Dallas was an experiment for the NHL
4.
Ice hockey
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Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponents net to score points. Ice hockey teams usually consist of six each, one goaltender. A fast-paced, physical sport, ice hockey is most popular in areas of North America, Ice hockey is the official national winter sport of Canada, where the game enjoys immense popularity. In North America, the National Hockey League is the highest level for mens hockey, the Kontinental Hockey League is the highest league in Russia and much of Eastern Europe. The International Ice Hockey Federation is the governing body for international ice hockey. The IIHF manages international tournaments and maintains the IIHF World Ranking, worldwide, there are ice hockey federations in 74 countries. Ice hockey is believed to have evolved from simple stick and ball games played in the 18th and 19th century United Kingdom and these games were brought to North America and several similar winter games using informal rules were developed, such as shinny and ice polo. The contemporary sport of ice hockey was developed in Canada, most notably in Montreal, 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 began in the 1880s, and 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, in international competitions, the national teams of six countries predominate, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States. Of the 69 medals awarded all-time in mens competition at the Olympics, in the annual Ice Hockey World Championships,177 of 201 medals have been awarded to the six nations. In Russia and the Ukraine, where hockey can also refer to bandy, the name hockey has no clear origin. The English historian and biographer John Strype did not use the word hockey when he translated the proclamation in 1720, 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. According to the Austin Hockey Association, the word derives from the Scots Gaelic puc or the Irish poc. The blow given by a hurler to the ball with his caman 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 closely related Scottish game of shinty and versions of field hockey. IJscolf, a game resembling colf on a surface, was popular in the Low Countries between the Middle Ages and the Dutch Golden Age. It was played with a curved bat, a wooden or leather ball
5.
Jack Adams Award
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The Jack Adams Award is awarded annually to the National Hockey League coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his teams success. The leagues Coach of the Year award has been presented 39 times to 34 different coaches, the winner is selected by a poll of the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association at the end of the regular season. Four coaches have won the award twice, while Pat Burns has won three times, the most of any coach, the award is named in honor of Jack Adams, Hall of Fame player for the Toronto Arenas/St. Patricks, Vancouver Millionaires and Ottawa Senators, and long-time Coach and it was first awarded at the conclusion of the 1973–74 regular season. Jacques Demers is the coach to win the award in consecutive seasons. Four coaches have won the award with two different teams, Jacques Lemaire, Pat Quinn, and Scotty Bowman have won the award twice, bill Barber, Bruce Boudreau and Ken Hitchcock are the only coaches to win the award after replacing the head coach who started the season. The closest vote occurred in 2006, when the winner Lindy Ruff edged out Peter Laviolette by a single point, List of National Hockey League awards List of NHL head coaches Jack Adams Award
6.
New York Islanders
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The New York Islanders 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 Barclays Center, located in the borough of Brooklyn. The Islanders are one of three NHL franchises in the New York metropolitan area, along with the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers, and their primary geographic fan base resides on Long Island. After two years of building up the roster, they found almost instant success by securing fourteen straight playoff berths starting with their third season. The Islanders won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships between 1980 and 1983, the seventh of eight dynasties recognized by the NHL in its history and their 19 consecutive playoff series wins between 1980 and 1984 is a feat that remains unparalleled in the history of professional sports. Following the teams dynasty era, the franchise ran into problems with money, ownership and management, an aging arena, and low attendance. Their woes were reflected on the ice, as the team has not won a title since 1987–88. After years of failed attempts to rebuild or replace Nassau Coliseum in suburban Long Island, Pat LaFontaine is the most recent inductee, having been honored in 2003. County officials did not consider the WHA a major league and wanted to keep the Raiders out, however, they discovered that they couldnt legally lock out the Raiders until they persuaded an NHL team to play there. William Shea, who had helped bring the Major League Baseballs New York Mets to the area a decade earlier, was pressed into service once again. Shea found a receptive ear in NHL president Clarence Campbell but faced opposition from the New York Rangers, eventually, Campbell and Shea persuaded the Rangers owners, Madison Square Garden, to reconsider. Eventually, Rangers president Bill Jennings realized that he had two choices, If he allowed another New York-based NHL team, he would at least be able to extract compensation from it for sharing the Rangers NHL territory. In contrast, a WHA rival would not be obligated to pay the Rangers anything, the terms of the franchise included a $5 million territorial fee to the Rangers. An expansion franchise was given to Atlanta to keep the schedule balanced. The franchise chose New York Islanders as its name, although many expected it to choose the Long Island Ducks, the team was soon nicknamed the Isles by the local newspapers. On February 14,1972, Bill Torrey, executive Vice President of the NHLs California Golden Seals, was named as the teams General Manager. Soon after the draft, Phil Goyette was named as the teams first head coach, however he was fired halfway through the season and replaced with Earl Ingarfield, wed have to develop our own stars. Before the season began, Westfall was named the teams first captain and their first win came on October 12,1972 in a 3-2 game against the Los Angeles Kings
7.
Florida Panthers
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The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League and it was founded in 1993 as an expansion team. They play home games at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, the team has made one appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, in 1996, the only season in which the Panthers have ever won a playoff series, eventually losing the Finals to the Colorado Avalanche. Blockbuster Video magnate Wayne Huizenga was awarded an NHL franchise for Miami on December 10,1992, at the time, Huizenga owned both the newly founded Florida Marlins of Major League Baseball and a share of the National Football Leagues Miami Dolphins. The entry fee was $50 million, but despite fellow Florida team Tampa Bay Lightning starting play the year before, Huizenga announced the team would play at the Miami Arena, sharing the building with the National Basketball Associations Miami Heat, until a new arena was built. The team is named for the Florida panther, a species of large cat endemic to the nearby Everglades region. Once the logos and uniforms were unveiled on June 15, the team announced its financial commitment to the panther preservation cause. Huizenga held the Panthers trademark since 1991, when he purchased it from a group of Tampa investors who sought to create an MLB team on the Bay area, the new franchise would join the NHL for participation in the 1993–94 season, along with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Panthers first major stars were New York Rangers goaltender castoff John Vanbiesbrouck, rookie Rob Niedermayer and forward Scott Mellanby, who scored 30 goals in Floridas inaugural season. The Panthers had one of the most successful first seasons of any expansion team and their first-year success was attributed mainly to the trap defense that first-year coach Roger Neilson implemented. This conservative style was criticized by NHL teams, some even suggested that the Panthers were ruining the game at the time. While the team expected the audience to consist of mostly snowbird Canadians living in Florida. Helped by Miamis other teams having middling performances, the club averaged 94% capacity at the 14, 500-seat Miami Arena, in August 1994, General Manager Clarke left to work for the Philadelphia Flyers, while Bryan Murray was brought in from the Detroit Red Wings as his replacement. Doug MacLean, who had been the player development director, was promoted to coach. The team then acquired Ray Sheppard from the San Jose Sharks at the NHL trade deadline, a very unusual goal celebration developed in Miami during the 1995–96 season. On the night of the Panthers 1995–96 home opener, a rat scurried across the locker room. Scott Mellanby reacted by one-timing the rat against the wall, killing it and that night, he scored two goals, which Vanbiesbrouck quipped was a rat trick. Two nights later, as the story found its way into the world, the rubber rat count went from 16 for the third home game to over 2,000 during the playoffs
8.
Colorado Avalanche
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The Colorado Avalanche are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver, Colorado. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League, the Avalanche are the only team in their division not based in the Central Time Zone, the team is situated in the Mountain Time Zone. Their home arena is Pepsi Center and their general manager is Joe Sakic. The Avalanche were founded in 1972 as the Quebec Nordiques and were one of the franchises of the World Hockey Association. The franchise joined the NHL in 1979 as a result of the NHL–WHA merger, following the 1994–95 season, they were sold to the COMSAT Entertainment Group and relocated to Denver. Among teams in the major North American professional sports leagues, only the National Football League s Washington Redskins have also accomplished the feat and this was the first major professional sports championship a Denver-based team would bring to the city. In the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals, the Avalanche defeated the New Jersey Devils 4–3 to win their second, as a result, they are the only active NHL team that has won all of its Stanley Cup Final appearances. Coincidentally, the Devils had preceded the Avalanche in Denver, they were called the Colorado Rockies, the Avalanche have won nine division titles and qualified for the playoffs in each of their first ten seasons in Denver, this streak ended in 2007. The Quebec Nordiques were one of the World Hockey Associations original teams when the league play in 1972. Though first awarded to a group in San Francisco, the team moved to Quebec City when the California deal soured because of financial. During their seven WHA seasons, the Nordiques won the Avco World Trophy once, in 1977 and lost the finals once, in 1979, the franchise entered the NHL, along with the WHAs Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, and Winnipeg Jets. After making the postseason for seven years, from 1981 to 1987. From 1987–88 to 1991–92, the finished last in their division every season. This included a dreadful 12-win season in 1989-90 that is still the worst in franchise history, as a result, the team earned three consecutive first overall draft picks, used to select Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan and Eric Lindros. Lindros made it clear he did not wish to play for the Nordiques, to the extent that he did not wear the jersey for the press photographs. On advice from his mother, he refused to sign a contract, on June 30,1992, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for five players, the rights to Swedish prospect Peter Forsberg, two first round draft picks and US$15 million. The Eric Lindros trade turned the moribund Nordiques into a Stanley Cup contender almost overnight, in the first season after the trade, 1992–93, the Nordiques reached the playoffs for the first time in six years. Two years later, they won the Northeast Division and had the second best regular-season record during the strike-shortened season, while the team experienced on-ice success, it spent most of its first 23 years struggling financially
9.
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
10.
Philadelphia Flyers
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The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, part of the 1967 NHL Expansion, the Flyers were the first expansion team in the post-Original Six era to win the Stanley Cup, victorious in 1973–74 and again in 1974–75. The Flyers all-time points percentage of 57. 7% is the second-best in the NHL, the Flyers have played their home games on Broad Street since their inception, first at the Spectrum from 1967 until 1996, and then at the Wells Fargo Center from 1996 to the present. The Flyers have had rivalries with several teams over the years, historically, their biggest adversaries have been the New York Rangers, with an intense rivalry stretching back to the 1970s. The club was coached by J. Cooper Smeaton, who 30 years later would be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his far more accustomed role as an NHL referee. Among the young Quakers skaters in 1930–31 was another future Hall of Famer in 19-year-old rookie center Syd Howe, the Quakers quietly suspended operations after that single dreadful campaign to again leave the Can-Am Leagues Philadelphia Arrows as Philadelphias lone hockey team. The Quakers dormant NHL franchise was canceled by the League in 1936. )The latter was held by the Canadian Arena Company. Petos group, however, was unable to raise funding for the new project by the League-imposed deadline. Snider made his proposal to the League, which chose the Philadelphia group — including Snider, Bill Putnam, Jerome Schiff, on April 4,1966, Putnam announced there would be a name-the-team contest. Details of the contest were released on July 12, the team name was announced on August 3. The new teams were hampered by restrictive rules that all major talent with the Original Six teams. In the NHL Expansion Draft, most of the players available were either aging veterans or career minor-leaguers before expansion occurred. Among the Flyers 20 selections were Bernie Parent, Doug Favell, Bill Sutherland, Ed Van Impe, Joe Watson, Lou Angotti, Leon Rochefort and Gary Dornhoefer. Beginning play in 1967–68, the Philadelphia Flyers made their debut on October 11,1967 and they won their first game a week later, defeating the St. Louis Blues on the road, 2–1. The Flyers made their debut in front of a crowd of 7,812, shutting out their intrastate rivals. Lou Angotti was named the first captain in Flyers history, while Rochefort was the Flyers top goal scorer after netting a total of 21 goals. Playoff success, however, did not come so quickly, as the Flyers were upset by St. Louis in a first round, Angotti left the team in the off-season and was replaced by Van Impe as team captain. Led by Van Impe and the team-leading 24 goals of Andre Lacroix, despite their poor regular season showing in 1968–69, they made the playoffs
11.
Pittsburgh Penguins
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The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, the franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the leagues original expansion from six to twelve teams. The Penguins played in the Civic Arena, also known to Pittsburgh fans as The Igloo and they moved into their new arena, PPG Paints Arena, to begin the 2010–11 NHL season. They have qualified for five Stanley Cup Finals, winning the Stanley Cup four times – in 1991,1992,2009, and 2016. Before the Penguins, Pittsburgh had been the home of the NHLs Pirates from 1925 to 1930, in the spring of 1965, Jack McGregor, a state senator from Kittanning, began lobbying campaign contributors and community leaders to bring an NHL franchise back to Pittsburgh. The group focused on leveraging the NHL as an urban renewal tool for Pittsburgh. The senator formed a group of investors that included H. J. Heinz Company heir H. J. Heinz III, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney. Norris, owner of the Chicago Black Hawks, and his brother Bruce Norris, the effort was successful, and on February 8,1966, the National Hockey League awarded an expansion team to Pittsburgh for the 1967–68 season. The Penguins paid $2.5 million for their entry and $750,000 more for start-up costs, the Civic Arenas capacity was then boosted from 10,732 to 12,500 to meet the NHL requirements for expansion. The Pens also paid a bill to settle with the Detroit Red Wings. The investor group named McGregor president and chief officer. A contest was held where 700 of 26,000 entries picked Penguins as the nickname for the team, mark Peters had the winning entry, a logo was chosen that had a penguin in front of a triangle, which symbolized the Golden Triangle of downtown Pittsburgh. The Pens, along with the rest of the teams, were hampered by restrictive rules which kept most major talent with the existing Original Six teams. Beyond aging sniper Andy Bathgate, All-Star defenseman Leo Boivin and Ranger veteran Earl Ingarfield, a number of the players had played for the Hornets the previous season, Bathgate, wingers Val Fonteyne and Ab McDonald, and goaltenders Hank Bassen and Joe Daley. George Sullivan was named the coach for the clubs first two seasons, and McDonald was named the teams first captain. On October 11,1967, league president Clarence Campbell and McGregor jointly dropped the ceremonial first puck of the Penguins opening home game against the Montreal Canadiens. On October 21,1967, they became the first team from the class to beat an Original Six team. However, the Penguins went 27–34–13 and finished in place in the West Division, missing the playoffs
12.
Carolina Hurricanes
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The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, the Hurricanes play their home games at the 18, 680-seat PNC Arena. The franchise was formed in 1971 as the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association, the team relocated to North Carolina in 1997 and won its first Stanley Cup during the 2005–06 season, beating the Edmonton Oilers, four games to three. The New England Whalers were established in November 1971 when the World Hockey Association awarded a franchise to play in Boston. For the first two years of their existence, the club played their games at the Boston Arena. With the increasing difficulty of scheduling games at Boston Garden, the decided to move the team to Hartford, Connecticut. While waiting for the completion of a new arena in Hartford, on January 11,1975, the team played its first game in front of a sellout crowd at the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum, and would maintain its home there through 1997. As one of the most stable WHA teams, the Whalers, along with the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, however, under pressure from the extant NHL team in the New England area, the Boston Bruins, the Whalers were compelled to rename the team the Hartford Whalers. The Whalers were never as successful in the NHL as they had been in the WHA, the next year, the club secured the regular-season Adams Division title, only to fall to the Nordiques in six games in the first round of the playoffs. In 1992, the Whalers made the playoffs for the final time, the Whalers were plagued for most of their existence by limited marketability. Hartford was the smallest American market in the league, and was located on the dividing line between the home territories for New York City and Boston teams. It did not help matters that the Hartford Civic Center was one of the smallest arenas in the league, the Whalers off-ice problems were magnified when the start of the 1990s triggered a spike in player salaries. On May 6,1997, Karmanos announced that the Whalers would move to the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, the Hurricanes inherited the Whalers place in the Northeast Division. Unfortunately for the team, the ESA would not be complete for two more years, the only arena in the Triangle area with an ice plant was 45-year-old Dorton Arena, at 5,100 seats, it was completely inadequate even for temporary use. The Hurricanes were thus forced to play games in Greensboro,90 minutes west of Raleigh. However, the team would be based in Raleigh and practice in nearby Hillsborough—effectively saddling the Hurricanes with 82 road games for the two years. This choice was disastrous for the attendance and reputation. With a capacity of over 21,000 people for hockey, however, Triangle-area fans balked at making the 80-mile drive down I-40 to Greensboro
