NHL Hockey Trivia: Denis Potvin

Denis Potvin was to be the next Bobby Orr when picked by the New York Islanders in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft. Although not quite achieving the greatness of Orr, Potvin’s career went down as one of the greatest ever for a defenseman.

Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge of Islanders great, Denis Potvin, with the following four hockey trivia questions.

Q. In what year did Denis Potvin become only the second defenseman in NHL history to surpass 100 points in a single regular season?

A. Potvin contributed 101 points in 1978-79 for the New York Islanders while missing seven games. Denis became the second defenseman to accomplish the feat with Bobby Orr being the first. Just Paul Coffey, Al MacInnis and Brian Leetch have reached the plateau since.

Q. What Ontario Hockey League team’s record does Denis Potvin still hold for most points by a defenseman in a single season?

A. Potvin had 35 goals and 88 assists for 123 points in just 61 games in 1972-73 for the Ottawa 67’s. The total stood as an OHL record until Bryan Fogarty had 155 with the Niagara Falls Thunder in 1988-89.

Q. The New York Islanders retired number 5 in honour of Denis Potvin in 1992. His number is also retired by the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s, however it is not number 5. Which number is retired by the Ottawa 67’s in honour of Potvin?

A. Denis Potvin wore number 7 with the Ottawa 67’s and that is the number that is retired for Denis, as well as Doug Wilson. When Potvin arrived with the Islanders for the 1973-74 season, despite being the first overall pick, he lost number seven to Germain Gagnon who was in his second season with the Islanders and was therefore the veteran. Gagnon made it 62 games into the season before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. Potvin could have reclaimed the jersey number but chose to stick with number 5. Gagnon made it two more seasons in the NHL before retiring with the Kansas City Scouts after the 1975-76 season.

Q. To this day, in which NHL arena will you hear the chant, “Potvin Sucks”?

A. Of course, Madison Square Garden, the home of the New York Rangers when the Islanders cross the river to play their rivals. Some people still have the nerve to argue that Toronto and Montreal have the most heated rivalry in the NHL. It just doesn’t compare to the hatred that Islanders and Rangers fans have for each other.

Bonus: Denis Potvin won the Max Kaminsky Trophy twice, 1971-72 and 1972-73, as the Ontario Hockey League’s top defenseman. He also won the James Norris Trophy three times as the NHL’s top defenseman.

Potvin is one of just three players to win the Kaminsky Trophy on more than one occasion. The other two are Bryan Berard and Ryan Ellis. There are also just three players that have won both the Kaminsky Trophy and Norris Trophy. The other two are Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger.

Hockey Trivia: Original Arenas of NHL Teams

These days, it seems an NHL arena doesn’t last more than a few decades before it needs to be demolished and rebuilt bigger and better. Other than a few of the post 1967 expansion teams, all the NHL teams are in new digs. A number of teams have been through several homes during their existence.

Test and expand your knowledge of NHL teams and their original homes with the following four hockey trivia questions.

Q. What was the original home of the San Jose Sharks?

A. The Sharks began in the Cow Palace (aka the California State Livestock Pavilion). The Cow Palace began operation in April of 1941 and housed 11,089 for NHL games. The Sharks played their home games at the Palace for their first few seasons until their present home, the HP Pavilion, was ready for use.

Before the Sharks moved in, the Cow Palace had previously been the hockey home of the San Francisco Seals of the WHL from 1961-62 to 1966-67. The San Francisco Spiders of the IHL called the Cow Palace home for the 1995-96 season. The venue is still active, acting as home rink to the San Francisco Bulls of the ECHL since the 2012-13 season.

Q. What arena was the original home of the Calgary Flames (in Calgary, not Atlanta...)?

A. The Flames moved from Atlanta in 1980 and played their first three seasons in the Calgary Stampede Corral. The Corral was built in 1950 and held just 6,475 plus standing room for hockey. The Flames currently play at the Saddledome.

Still in existence, the longest standing tenant of the Corral was the Calgary Stampeders. The Stampeders played semi-pro hockey in the PCHL and WHL. The Calgary Centennials of the junior WCHL played at the Corral from 1966-67 to 1976-77 before moving to the U.S. to become the Billings Bighorns. That franchise is the present day Tri-City Americans. The World Hockey Association also called the Corral home with the Calgary Cowboys calling it home for two seasons, 1975-76 and 1976-77.

Q. What arena did the modern day Ottawa Senators (1992) first play out of?

A. The Senators played most of their first four seasons at the Ottawa Civic Centre, home of the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s. The arena houses 9,862 for hockey. Like the Calgary Corral, the Civic Centre also housed WHA hockey briefly. The Ottawa Nationals called the arena home for the inaugural 1972-73 WHA season. In 1975-76, the Denver Spurs moved to Ottawa midseason to become the Civics. However, the franchise lasted just two home games before folding.

Q. In their first season in the NHL, 1926-27, the Detroit Red Wings were dubbed the Detroit Cougars. Where did the Cougars play their home games that season?

A. The Cougars played out of the Border Cities Arena in Windsor, Ontario while the Olympia was being built across the river. The Border Cities Arena would later be named the Windsor Arena and housed the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires until 2008. For the Cougars, the Arena was upgraded to seat 9,000. When the Spitfires left the building, the capacity was 4,400 with standing room.

The Spitfires have moved into the WFCU Centre but the old barn remains. The new tenants are the University of Windsor Lancers, a team in the OUA.