NHL Team Name Origins

[Chazberg]

I'm just glad the league doesn't feature the likes of the Colorado Wranglers, Columbus Justice, San Jose Fog and Minnesota Blue Ox

A couple other oversights:

They use the old Bruins logo, and about the Ducks:

When the club was sold to Henry and Susan Samueli in the spring of 2005, they severed ties with the entertainment giant, losing the word “Mighty” from the name and the cartoon mask from the logo.

They should clarify that the team didn't actually change names/logos until the 2006 season.

[Luigi74]

even back then the Civic Arena was called the Igloo)

Which still makes no sense, since igloos are found in the north, while Penguins come from Antarctica, in the south.

Anyone watching the CBC feed understand what Don Cherry was going on about when he was referencing the Pittsburgh Hornets?

The Hornets were Pittsburgh's AHL team back in the day and he most likely played against them since he played for Hershey and Rochester.

[Lee.]

even back then the Civic Arena was called the Igloo)

Which still makes no sense, since igloos are found in the north, while Penguins come from Antarctica, in the south.

Anyone watching the CBC feed understand what Don Cherry was going on about when he was referencing the Pittsburgh Hornets?

The Hornets were Pittsburgh's AHL team back in the day and he most likely played against them since he played for Hershey and Rochester.

Could be, but he was going on about the Penguins name, and the Hornets, and then I tuned him out, since there's only so much of him I can take at any given time.

[winghaz]

I never understood why Norm Greene didn't rename the North Stars the Lone Stars when he moved the Stars to Dallas.

And as for Calgary, the name Flames became even more significantly attached to the city when Calgary became a Winter Olympics city in 1988. Flames turned out to be a great name for Calgary.

The worst name the NHL, and probably all of sports: Minnesota Wild. Gosh, they could have come up with something better. At least the logo is cool.

[Chazberg]

I never understood why Norm Greene didn't rename the North Stars the Lone Stars when he moved the Stars to Dallas.

And as for Calgary, the name Flames became even more significantly attached to the city when Calgary became a Winter Olympics city in 1988. Flames turned out to be a great name for Calgary.

The worst name the NHL, and probably all of sports: Minnesota Wild. Gosh, they could have come up with something better. At least the logo is cool.

This has always confused me; how was there a winter olympics in '88? Cuz they're every 4 years, and they've been held in '06, '02, '98...so something doesn't add up....

[CJR]

This has always confused me; how was there a winter olympics in '88? Cuz they're every 4 years, and they've been held in '06, '02, '98...so something doesn't add up....

The Winter Olympics didn't change to that rotation until 1994, before that it was on the same years as the Summer Olympics. So (working backwards) it's been 2006, 2002, 1998, 1994, 1992, 1988, etc.

[bulldogbarks55]

even back then the Civic Arena was called the Igloo)

Which still makes no sense, since igloos are found in the north, while Penguins come from Antarctica, in the south.

Anyone watching the CBC feed understand what Don Cherry was going on about when he was referencing the Pittsburgh Hornets?

The Hornets were Pittsburgh's AHL team back in the day and he most likely played against them since he played for Hershey and Rochester.

Could be, but he was going on about the Penguins name, and the Hornets, and then I tuned him out, since there's only so much of him I can take at any given time.

Grapes played against the AHL Hornets many times with Hershey, Springfield and the Amerks. When they tore down the Duquesne Gardens arena in Pittsburgh after the '55-'56 season the franchise was moved to Rochester and became the Rochester Americans. Some players became Amerks but several of the Hornets ended up in Hershey. The Hornets came back to the AHL in '61-'62 when the Igloo opened. Check out this website for the history of Pittsburgh hockey www.pittsburghhockey.net It's a great read. BTW- I know Grapes from his days with the Amerks. I sold him equipment for his son Timothy Patrick when Tim played youth hockey in Rochester.

[The_Admiral]

I never understood why Norm Greene didn't rename the North Stars the Lone Stars when he moved the Stars to Dallas.

Think about "Lone Star" as a plural.

[Mingjai]

I never understood why Norm Greene didn't rename the North Stars the Lone Stars when he moved the Stars to Dallas.

Think about "Lone Star" as a plural.

Think about "Singles" as a plural.

[The_Admiral]

blue

red

[oz615]

I never understood why Norm Greene didn't rename the North Stars the Lone Stars when he moved the Stars to Dallas.

And as for Calgary, the name Flames became even more significantly attached to the city when Calgary became a Winter Olympics city in 1988. Flames turned out to be a great name for Calgary.

The worst name the NHL, and probably all of sports: Minnesota Wild. Gosh, they could have come up with something better. At least the logo is cool.

Y'all already know where i'm going w/ this go the CFL Roughriders/Rough Riders route

Dallas Stars

Minnesota North Stars

it's that simple

[STL FANATIC]

I never understood why Norm Greene didn't rename the North Stars the Lone Stars when he moved the Stars to Dallas.

The story I've heard is that their is a Lone Star Beer company that wanted either lots of money or the right to sell their beer in the arena before giving the Stars permission. The Stars balked at that.

Not sure if that's true though.

[Waleslax]

Contrary to what the article says, I remember that there was a display at the arena in Greensboro, NC that talked about how the team was named the Hurricanes to honor the many residents of the Carolinas who had died in hurricanes, and, more specifically, Hurricane Fran. Hurrican Fran hit the Carolinas the year before the team moved there.

I tried finding an article to support this online but couldn't. I did call a friend who took the trip down with me to root on our Whalers and when I asked her about the "Hurricanes" name, she gave the same story with no prompting. I may have a picture of the display; I'll keep looking.

On a side note, I always thought it was funny that the jersey doesn't even have the correct nautical flags on the shoulders.

Rob

[Waleslax]

Sorry I didn't put this in the previous post, but in the description of the Phoenix Coyotes, they say the Jets were so named b/c the owner was friends with the owner of the NY Jets. I thought the Winnipeg Jets were named for/after Bobby "The Golden Jet" Hull. I know that he wasn't their first player signed but that he had basically told the WHA he'd jump to them for $1,000,000 and the WHA was doing all they could to entice him. Am I totally off mark here?

[Viper]

Nashville Predators ? While Predators was the name selected through fan balloting by an overwhelming two-to-one margin, the real story for this team is their logo, which features a saber-toothed tiger. Back in May of 1971, excavation began on the 28-story First American Center in downtown Nashville. During drilling, workers discovered a cave containing a nine-inch fang and a foreleg bone of a saber-toothed tiger, only the fifth discovery of its kind in North America. As a result, the team has honored a one-time predator that roamed the Nashville region.

OK, one more misconception dispelled. I had been under the impression that the sabretooth remains were found at the construction site of the Predators' arena itself.

Phoenix Coyotes ? The Coyotes originally started out in Winnipeg, where the owner decided to call them the Jets based largely on the fact that he was friends with the owner of football?s New York Jets. When the team moved to Phoenix in 1996, a fan contest was held with Coyotes coming out the winner. Just missing out in second place was the name Scorpions.

IIRC Coyotes was a popular choice because it was a natural counterpoint to "Roadrunners". (Didn't they even have a mascot named "Wiley" at one point?)

San Jose Sharks ? When San Jose was awarded a team in 1990, every fan who entered their name-the-team contest was entered into a drawing for tickets to the 1991 All-Star Game in Chicago. As a result, suggestions came in from all over the world. Management finally decided on Sharks because the neighboring Pacific Ocean is home to many species of the beast. In doing so, they passed on other ?helpful? submissions like Fog, Icebreakers, Redwoods and Waves.

Supposedly the most frequently nominated nickname was Blades, but management rejected that nickname because of its alleged street gang connotations. (Given the nickname they ultimately chose, evidently they never heard of West Side Story.) Ironically enough, street gangs across the country soon co-opted the Sharks team logo and colors, making Sharks apparel dangerous to wear in certain locales. Meanwhile the Blades nickname was given to the team's top minor-league affiliate in Kansas City.

[Viper]

Sorry for the multiple post... either the site or my browser froze up just as I hit the button and I had to reload several times to get it to come back up.

[Viper]

Sorry for the multiple post... either the site or my browser froze up just as I hit the button and I had to reload several times to get it to come back up.

[Sabrejeff]

Sorry I didn't put this in the previous post, but in the description of the Phoenix Coyotes, they say the Jets were so named b/c the owner was friends with the owner of the NY Jets. I thought the Winnipeg Jets were named for/after Bobby "The Golden Jet" Hull. I know that he wasn't their first player signed but that he had basically told the WHA he'd jump to them for $1,000,000 and the WHA was doing all they could to entice him. Am I totally off mark here?

I always thought Bobby Hull was called the "Golden Jet" because he played for the Jets (and had blond hair, was fast, and had a great slap shot), not the other way around. Does anybody know when the origin of the nickname dates?

[Lee.]

Sorry I didn't put this in the previous post, but in the description of the Phoenix Coyotes, they say the Jets were so named b/c the owner was friends with the owner of the NY Jets. I thought the Winnipeg Jets were named for/after Bobby "The Golden Jet" Hull. I know that he wasn't their first player signed but that he had basically told the WHA he'd jump to them for $1,000,000 and the WHA was doing all they could to entice him. Am I totally off mark here?

I always thought Bobby Hull was called the "Golden Jet" because he played for the Jets (and had blond hair, was fast, and had a great slap shot), not the other way around. Does anybody know when the origin of the nickname dates?

Bobby was always the Golden Jet, even in Chicago. The ice level of the old Winnipeg Arena even had a bar in it called "The Golden Jet Lounge," although I can't confirm or deny the rumors that they built it so that he'd spend his drinkin' money in the arena instead of in Osborne Village.

The story seems to be not that Bobby widely announced that he'd jump to the WHA for enough cash, but that he drunkenly proclaimed one night that "he wouldn't play in that league for a million dollars." On hearing this, Ben Hatskin made the offer, which Bobby took.

Of course, you won't find most of these tales in history books; to get to the bottom of some of these things, you need a dad who was friends with/sold property to most of the original Jets (except, obviously, Bobby Hull), and brought them back to the house to close the deal. Crown Royal helps a lot of stories flow rather nicely.

As far as the Jets name, go back to page one and read my tale of how the team got their name. It might surprise you.

[wildnorthman]

At the time of the hijacking of the North Stars to Dallas, I believe I heard that the team would be re-named to reflect something more of a Texas theme. The only thing I could think of (while still being quite angry about losing my North Stars) was that the team should be called the Dallas Bushwackers, after all, that is what happened to Minnesota when the North Stars moved south.