NHL Hockey Trivia: Pre Original 6 Era

When the ‘Original Six’ era of the National Hockey League is mentioned, it gives the false impression that the league began with six teams and that number wasn’t altered until the 1967-68 expansion season. This couldn’t be further from the truth as franchises came and franchises went in the early days of the NHL. At times, there were as many as ten teams in the league. Test and broaden your hockey knowledge with the following four trivia questions.

Q. The St. Louis Blues began play in the 1967-68 season but they are not the first NHL franchise to play in the city. What is the name of the original NHL team located in St. Louis?

A. For just one season, 1934-35, the St. Louis Eagles played in the NHL. The Eagles were an attempt to relocate the original Ottawa Senators franchise. The Eagles were coached by Buck Boucher and finished last overall in the nine team NHL with just 28 points over 48 regular season games.

St. Louis was led in scoring by Carl Voss, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and Calder Trophy winner as rookie of the year in 1932-33. Syd Howe was also on the roster and ended up in the Hockey Hall of Fame after moving on to a stellar career with the Detroit Red Wings.

Q. When was the first season that the NHL was reduced to the ‘Original Six’?

A. 1942-43 was the first year the NHL was reduced to six teams. The league would remain with the same six members until the 1967-68 season when the league would double in size. In 1942-43, the Detroit Red Wings finished first overall with 61 points over 50 regular season games, just four points ahead of the Boston Bruins.

In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Detroit beat out the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games while the Bruins ousted the Montreal Canadiens in five. In the finals, it was no contest with the Red Wings sweeping the Bruins in four, outscoring their opponents 16-5 on the series.

Doug Bentley of the Chicago Blackhawks led the NHL with 73 points, one ahead of Bill Cowley of the Boston Bruins. Interestingly, Cowley started his career in 1934-35 with the St. Louis Eagles before spending the next eleven years with Boston.

Q. What team left the NHL after the 1941-42 season to reduce the league to six teams?

A. The Brooklyn Americans called it quits after being in the league since 1925. Until that season, they were known as the New York Americans. In the 17 seasons between 1925-26 and 1941-42, the Americans reached the Stanley Cup playoffs just five times and won a series just twice. Ironically, the Americans came into the National Hockey League a year before the New York Rangers.

Q. The Philadelphia Flyers are not the city’s first NHL team. What was the name of the original team located in the City of Brotherly Love?

A. The Philadelphia Quakers played just one season in the NHL, 1930-31. The franchise had been located in Pittsburgh since the 1925-26 season and known as the Pirates. The 1930-31 Quakers won just four of 44 regular season games and tied four for 12 points. They finished dead last in the ten team NHL, 12 points behind ninth place Ottawa.

Syd Howe played this for this one season wonder, as well. It was Howe’s second year in the league after playing 14 games for the Ottawa Senators in his rookie season.

 

Hockey Trivia: Keystone State

The state of Pennsylvania is home to two NHL hockey teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers. Both teams entered the league during the expansion season of 1967-68. They are not the first NHL teams to play out of these cities. In the early days of the National Hockey League, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Quakers existed for a short period of time.

Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge with these four questions with a Keystone State theme.

Q. What was the first team to beat the St. Louis Blues?

A. The Pittsburgh Penguins entered the league along with the St. Louis Blues and four other teams in 1967-68. St. Louis played their first ever game against the Minnesota North Stars and the game ended in a 2-2 tie. The Blues faced the Penguins in their second game and Pittsburgh won by a score of 3-1.

Q. What team did the St. Louis Blues record their first ever win against?

A. The next night, after the Blues fell to the Penguins for their first loss, the Blues scored a 4-2 victory in the home and home weekend set. Ironically, both teams won in the other team’s arena.

Q. Mark Recchi has scored 50 goals in a season once in his long, illustrious career. What team was he playing for when he accomplished this?

A. In 1992-93, Recchi scored 53 goals for the Philadelphia Flyers. Other than that season, the closest Mark would get to the 50 goal plateau were two 40 goal seasons, one with the Flyers and one with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He finished up his NHL career with 577 goals over 22 seasons.

A true representative of the Keystone State in the National Hockey League, Recchi spent parts of 16 of his 22 seasons with teams in Pennsylvania. Mark was a fourth round pick of the Penguins at the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, 67^th overall, and started his career in Pittsburgh in 1988-89. He was traded to the Flyers midway through 1991-92 and played with them until being traded to Montreal during the 1994-95 season. Recchi was returned to Philadelphia by Montreal midway through 1998-99 and remained with the club until the end of the 2003-04 season. He then spent parts of three more years with the Penguins between 2005-06 and 2007-08.

Q. What Flyers player had three consecutive 50+ goal seasons in the mid 1990’s?

A. John LeClair had 51 goals in 1995-96, 50 in 1996-97 and 51 in 1997-98. In keeping with the Keystone State theme, LeClair finished up his career with the cross-state Pittsburgh Penguins. After starting his NHL career in Montreal in 1990-91, John was traded to Philadelphia during the 1994-95 season, ironically in exchange for Mark Recchi. He remained with the Flyers until 2003-04 and joined Recchi in Pittsburgh for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons before retiring.

Hockey Trivia: Long Lost NHL Teams

Back in the early days of the NHL, before the league was reduced to the ‘Original Six’, an interesting mix of franchises came and went. Test and expand your hockey knowledge with these four trivia questions on the nicknames of teams that were part of the early days of the NHL but are now long gone.

Q. Where was home for NHL franchise nicknamed the Tigers?

A. Long before Jim Ballsillie’s attempts to bring an NHL franchise to Hamilton, Ontario, there existed a team in the Canadian steel city named the Tigers. The team played from 1920 to 1925. The Tigers were created from the demise of the Quebec Bulldogs. The Tigers were NHL regular season champions in the 1924-25 season, their last in Hamilton.

Q. When the Hamilton Tigers left the NHL, Pirates took their spot. Where did the Pirates play out of?

A. Just like Major League Baseball, the Pirates were a hockey franchise in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pirates played from 1925-26 until 1929-30. Thirty-seven years later, NHL hockey returned to Pittsburgh in the form of the Penguins.

The Pirates played out of the cozy Duquesne Gardens in Pittsburgh. The arena officially sat just 5,000 for hockey, although unofficially it could fit 8,000 spectators. The building was constructed as a Trolley Barn in 1890 and converted to an ice rink in 1895. Duquesne Gardens was closed and demolished in 1956.

In Pittsburgh’s first year in the NHL, the team finished third in the seven team league, behind the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Maroons. The team played in the post season twice but never won a series.

Q. The Pittsburgh Pirates became the Quakers and played out of what city for just the 1930-31 season?

A. The Philadelphia Quakers were a disaster in the NHL. In their one season, the team registered just four wins and four ties over the 44 game schedule. In the American Division, the Quakers finished fifth out of five teams, 27 points behind the fourth place Detroit Falcons and 50 points behind the first place Boston Bruins. Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Syd Howe played his second year in the NHL with Philadelphia.

Q. Another one season team was named the Eagles. Where did this franchise call home during the 1934-35 season?

A. The St. Louis Eagles were the reincarnation of the Ottawa Senators. The team finished last in the five team league during the 1934-35 season with just eleven wins in 48 games. The Eagles played out of the massive St. Louis Arena, a new venue at the time, having opening in 1929. At the time, the capacity of the arena for hockey was 14,200. That seating limit ballooned to as  high as 18,008 when it was home to the St. Louis Blues before being closed in 1994. The building was demolished in 1999.