NHL Team names

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was sitting here reading about my Avalanche’s loss from yesterday’s game :frowning: but started thinking about how odd some of the team names are.

First off Detroit Red Wings. Where exactly does this come from? Why not Blue Wings or Hot Wings? Okay the last one was dumb.

My Colorado Avalanche. There was a big deal about the name, I forget the other name that was a contender. Personally I like “Avalanche” but it’s still kind of odd.

New York Islanders. Okay this is just weird. It has no real sense of power or mass, except island. To me the image brings up sitting under a coconut tree drinking a Cornona.

Philadelphia Flyers. Birds or airplanes come to mind. What kind of mascot do they have?

Pittsburgh Penguins. Of course I think of the little tuxedo clad bird that waddles and swims. Hardly a bird to fear and hockey can be a rough sport.

Montreal Canadiens. According to Dictionary.com, there is no such English word. Is it French? If it means people from Canada, well duh.

Ottawa Senators. Okay, not being from Canada probably makes me less likely to understand the political climate up there, but having a team named “Senators” gives me visions of a bunch of bumbling idiots. Okay, that’s because of our politics here in the States.

Toronto Maple Leafs. I realize that this is a national symbol of Canada, but a leaf falls off a tree and floats away.

Atlanta Thrashers. You want to be powerful, but the literal meaning has violent connotations.

Washington Capitals. This is plain dumb. I can’t even explain why I think it to be dumb, but it is. I guess the Washington “House of Reps” to compete against the Ottawa Senators was too silly to think about.

St. Louis Blues. The team logo is a musical note with a wing looking thing. I envision a fan base that turns to Blues music at the end of a season.

Vancouver Canucks. Going back to the trusty Dictionary.com, they have different meanings. First it’s considered offensive slang referring to a Canadian. The second is slang for a small or medium sized horse that is common in Canada. I am confused. (Boy you Canadians sure baffle me!)

Pointless, yeah, mundane probably but I am glad for a forum like this.

2

The thrasher is the state bird of Georgia. Also, Atlanta apparently has the habit of choosing bird names for teams, when you also consider the Falcons and Hawks.

3

Pittsburgh Penguins I would think would be ok becuase penguins know there way around the ice. Maybe that is what the are implying.

4

Somebody about a month ago in General Questions answered quite well the origins of the Red Wings’ name, but damned if I can find it on a search.

Had something to do with their owner liking the name, having played on a team with the name in some minor league in Canada. The logo using the wheel was a tie to the Motor City’s heritage. Where the name originates from further back than that, I couldn’t tell ya.

(BTW, take a look at the Flyers’ and Blues’ logos sometime. What a total ripoff of the Wings.)

The Wings are coming back, techie. Watch out.

5

Thrashers – I forgot about the bird.

Penguins – Still I think of a funny little bird.

Red Wings – The logo, now that I think about it, reminds me of Firestone tires. I think that’s the tire company I am thinking of.

I forgot, how could I forget? Anaheim’s All Mighty Ducks Quack, quack, quack. No explanation needed.

6

Well, there is at least one hockey team that has a sensible and meaningful name: The New Jersey Devils.

Devils are, of course, fearsome creatures. But that is not why it is a good name.

One of the most important bits of legend/folklore in this area is the story of the Jersey Devil.

Here is but one version of the story:

A long, long time ago, way back in early colonial times, there was a family who lived in the area of that we now call the Pine Barrens. A seventh son was born to a seventh son, and his mother, being tired of the kids and the colonial life in general, decided that she didn’t want to deal with another baby.

“May the Devil take you!” she cried.

And He did.

The resulting monstrosity has become known as the Jersey Devil. He has the head of a horse, the wings of a bat, the body of a man, and the legs of a deer. He has been sighted as far south as Maryland and as far north as Connecticut.

Fortunately for all of us, he is a rather benevolent soul. He is usually seen sitting mournfully on a fence by himself. He mostly kills small livestock to survive.

But you don’t want to get him mad…

I always feel so sorry for our poor Devil. :frowning:

The X-Files did a great show based on the Jersey Devil legend. In typical X-Files fashion (okay, the fashion that was typical before the show started to SUCK!) they took an existing legend and contorted it and subverted it and came up with an explanation for it. Fascinating.

Anyway, you see why it is good name. Of course the Meadowlands is not anywhere near the Pine Barrens, but that’s okay. The fact (yes, I said fact) that Jimmy Hoffa is entombed in the foundation of the arena creates just the right feeling of creepy authenticity.

7

I think it’s a reference to Long Island.

Umm…it’s not a political senator. It’s a Roman Senator. Plus, it’s a clever pun because Ottawa is the capital.

[quote]
Toronto Maple Leafs. I realize that this is a national symbol of Canada, but a leaf falls off a tree and floats away.

[quote]

I’ve just always wondered why it isn’t the Maple leaVES

8

St Louis Blues: Named after the song.
Montreal Canadiens: Yup, the french spelling.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Their arena was originally referred to as the Igloo.
The one I don’t get is the Buffalo Sabres.
Keith

9

The Islanders were named because they play on Long Island. There used to be a minor league team on Long Island called the Ducks, so Anaheim ain’t the first.

My understanding is that “canuck” is offensive to those in the U.S. of Canadian descent. However, to those who live in Canada, it’s just a nickname for Canadians.

I think your base assumptions are wrong. The idea that a team nickname needs to be a ravenous hungry beast or a warrior of some sort is a fairly new one. Team names are given for various reasons, but there’s nothing odd about a nickname that has to be violent. Ottawa are the Senators as a nod to the fact that Ottawa is the capital (same reason for the old Washington Senators). The Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins were named because they were alliterative. “Maple Leafs” is using the national symbol to reprsent the team. The Washington Capitals played in Capital Center and didn’t want to call themselve Senators because of the baseball team.

Many of the great team nicknames in sports are not derived from any sort of “destroy the other guy” mentality. It’s the modern expansion teams – from the 80s and after – that seem to feel obligated to use that sort of nickname.

10

Let’s not forget about the **Oilers **whose name reflects the Alberta capital’s oil based heritage.

Also the Calgary Flames who name was transferred when the tean moved from Atlanta years ago.
They suck. So does their name.

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim has to be the stupidest name in the history of sport, not just hockey.
What’s next Michael Eisner? The Anaheim “Lion Kings” or some other lame Disney movie just released?

My favorite hockey team name… a minor league team from Macoun Georgia. (pronounced Makin’)
They are called the Whoopies. The Macoun Whoopies.
This name was selected in a “name the team” contest by their fans, in a landslide.

11

The Ottawa Senators is also a nod to the original Ottawa Senators, who won the cup in 1919, the last team to do so with an entirely locally recruited hockey team. Unlike the Legionaire logo of today, the original was a Maroon O over a blue and red striped sweater.

Les Canadiens evolved from a pre-NHL team named “Les Habitants” from which the nickname “The Habs” comes from and is the source of the small “H” in the middle of the “C” on their logo.

The Maple Leafs were originally the Toronto St. Pats and the Toronto Arenas before becoming the Maple Leafs

12

Myth spotting…

The H on the Canadiens’ jersey has NEVER stood for “Habitants”
For that matter,
they ARE not the descendants of a team called “The Habitants”.

They got that nickname because they were the French team in Montreal (as opposed to the English clubs) but AFTER they had been formed.

The H stands for… Hockey!

No kidding. (And I’ve seen this myth debunked in at least 4 different hockey books…)

Alex

13

I’d just like to once again insert a promo for my local team, the Lubbock Cotton Kings. You wanna talk about a regional reference…and ain’t he just the greatest logo in all of sport?

There are plenty of mascots to make fun of in the WPHL, the league in which the Cotton Kings play. There’s the Buzzards, the Glacier Cats, the Ice Rays, the Ice Bats, the Warthogs, the Aviators (out of business), and the ever-popular Mudbugs, to name a few. And I understand Tuscon will join the league next year with a dragon-mascotted team called the Scorch.

BTW, I’m not sure if the spiffy URL tags will work the same way with the new MB software. If all else fails, copy and paste, eh? The logo’s very much worth seeing.

14

>>>Odieman wrote: “Pittsburgh Penguins: Their arena was originally referred to as the Igloo.”<<<

Yes, and it’s still called that by some people. But penguins don’t live in igloos–ESKIMOS live in igloos.

The original minor league team that played in the Pittsburgh Civic Arena (aka “the Igloo”) was the Hornets. I suspect that RealityChuck is correct–the new NHL team was called the Penguins because it was an alliterative name that had at least a nodding connection to ice. There are also the Pittsburgh Pirates (which was the original name of the Steelers as well) and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, and there was once an old American Basketball Association team called the Pittsburgh Pipers. Definite trend.

It’s not true of the current high-tech logo, but the Pens original logo was one mean-looking penguin. Up until the late '80s, that was the best thing about the team.
>>>“The one I don’t get is the Buffalo Sabres.”<<<

A sabre is a weapon, so it’s supposed to connote being dangerous to the opposition. And, when they get nuked in the first round of the playoffs, it gives their fans a chance to call them “the Butterknives.”

What I don’t get is the Phoenix Coyotes–not the name, the logo. That coyote looks like he’s been run over by a truck–or maybe multiple trucks. No wonder they always lose in the first round–they have road kill on their uniforms.

15

Myster Ecks:

Supposed to be “Southwestern Native American” artistic motif.

Flymaster:

If I recall correctly, it’s because it was owned by the “Maple Leaf Corporation” or some such, and thus people came to call the team the Maple Leafs. They weren’t named for the actual leaf itself, which would make the plural “Leaves.”

16

Ahem… no Edmonton Oilerson your list… our team is named that because we have oil fields here I assume. The Calgary Flames, our counterparts have their name…because they crash and burn LOL…