NHL Hockey Trivia: Minnesota North Stars

The Minnesota North Stars were one of the six expansion teams that doubled the size of the NHL for the 1967-68 season. The North Stars remained in the Twin Cities until the end of the 1992-93 season when they were moved to Dallas where they became known as simply the Stars. NHL hockey returned to Minnesota in 2000 as the Wild entered the league.

Test and expand your knowledge of Minnesota North Stars trivia with the following questions.

Q. In their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals in 1981, which team did the Minnesota North Stars lose to?

A. The North Stars lost to the New York Islanders. For New York, it was their second of four consecutive Stanley Cup victories. The North Stars finished the 1980-81 regular season in third place in the Adams Division, behind the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins. Minnesota knocked off both those teams before upsetting the Calgary Flames in the conference final.

The playoff hero for Minnesota was Steve Payne with 17 goals and 29 points over 19 games. He was followed close behind by Bobby Smith and Dino Ciccarelli. Now in the Hockey Hall of Fame, Ciccarelli played the last half of the 1980-81 season with the North Stars, his first National Hockey League action, after starting the year with the Oklahoma City Stars of the CHL. Minnesota was coached that year by Glen Sonmor with Murray Oliver and J.P. Parise at his side.

Q. In their second trip to the Stanley Cup finals, which team beat the North Stars in 1991?

A. The Pittsburgh Penguins took out the North Stars in six games. The North Stars finished the regular season with an anaemic 27 wins but upset Chicago, St. Louis and Edmonton before bowing out to the Penguins.

That version of the North Stars had a Montreal Canadiens feel behind the bench with Bob Gainey acting as head coach and Doug Jarvis by his side as assistant coach. Minnesota was led in the playoffs by Dave Gagner’s 12 goals and Brian Bellows and his 29 points. Mike Modano was in just his second year in the NHL and contributed 20 points over 23 playoff games.

Q. The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy was named for the Minnesota North Stars player who died as a result of an on-ice injury during Minnesota’s first season. Who was the only Minnesota North Star to win the Masterton?

A. Al MacAdam won the award in 1979-80. MacAdam started his NHL career with the Philadelphia Flyers, playing just five games with the club in 1973-74. The following year, he was a member of the California Seals and followed that franchise through Cleveland and eventually to Minnesota.

In 1979-80, Al scored 42 goals and assisted on 51 for 93 points, leading the team in goals and points. Over his career, MacAdam played 864 regular season games in the NHL with the Flyers, Seals, Barons, North Stars and Vancouver Canucks.

Q. In their second season in the NHL, which Minnesota North Stars forward won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie?

A. Danny Grant won the Calder in 1968-69. Grant played the season before with the Montreal Canadiens but didn’t appear in enough regular season games to qualify as a rookie. He helped Montreal in the playoffs as they won the 1969 Stanley Cup. Grant is one of just four players to win the Stanley Cup before winning the Calder.

In that 1968-69 season, Grant scored 34 and assisted on 31 for 65 points over 75 games, leading the North Stars in goals and points. Danny played 736 regular season games in the National Hockey League between 1965-66 and 1978-79 with the Canadiens, North Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings. He was a 50 goal scorer with Detroit in 1974-75.

1985-86 Edmonton Oilers: Stanley Cup Playoff Train Wreck

1985-86 was the year the National Hockey League changed rules to try and keep the Edmonton Oilers from obliterating the league’s scoring records. From 1985 to 1993, the NHL allowed teams to play five on five instead of four on four when coincidental minors were handed out. Unofficially, the rule was changed because the Oilers were unstoppable in a four-on-four situation.

1985-86 was also a year when the Edmonton Oilers should have cruised to a Stanley Cup victory. Instead, they allowed the Calgary Flames to oust them from the playoffs in the second round. The series went the full seven games with neither team winning consecutive games and Calgary outscoring Edmonton by a slight margin at 25-24 on the series. Both Edmonton and Calgary had easily swept in their opening round. The Oilers took out the Canucks in three and the Flames took out the Jets in three. Calgary reached the Stanley Cup final before bowing out to the Montreal Canadiens in five games.

That season, the Oilers won 56 games while losing only 17 and tying 7 for 119 points. The point total was thirty more than the Flames, who were second in the Clarence Campbell Conference. They Oilers were nine points better than the Philadelphia Flyers who were first in the Prince of Wales Conference. Coincidentally, the Flyers were knocked out in the first round by the New York Rangers who finished the season with just 78 points and were two games below .500.

Edmonton players set National Hockey League individual records that season and several still stand today. Of them, Wayne Gretzky’s 215 points and 163 assists are the records that likely will remain for an eternity. Gretzky also tied the NHL mark for most assists in a single game with seven. Paul Coffey scored 48 goals which stands as the most goals scored by a defenseman in one season. Paul eclipsed the previous mark of 46 set by Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins in 1974-75. Coffey also set the record for the longest point streak for defenseman at 28 games.

Edmonton players dominated the NHL’s top ten in the race for the Art Ross Trophy. Wayne Gretzky was 74 points ahead of the number two man in the league, Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who totalled 141 points. Paul Coffey came in third with 138 points, one less than Bobby Orr’s record for defenseman set in 1970-71. Jari Kurri finished fourth in the NHL with 131 points and led the league with 68 goals. Unfortunately for Kurri, the Rocket Richard Trophy didn’t come into existence for another decade and a half.

The Oilers took home the hardware at the NHL awards ceremony in 1985-86. Gretzky was awarded the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer and the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP. The Oilers won the President’s Trophy for the highest point total during the National Hockey League regular season. Glen Sather won the Jack Adams Award as the top coach despite having a team full of ringers and experiencing such a playoff disappointment. Of course, Paul Coffey won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman.

Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey were selected to the NHL’s First Team All-Star team and Jari Kurri made Second Team. Nine Edmonton Oilers players appeared in the NHL’s All-Star Game in 1985-86. Other than Gretzky, Coffey and Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Lee Fogolin, Grant Fuhr, Kevin Lowe, Mark Messier and Andy Moog appeared. Ironically, with such an offensively laden team, their Campbell Conference team lost a low-scoring affair to the Wales Conference squad.

The Oilers learned from their playoff disaster. The following season, Gretzky scored 32 less points, the team scored 54 less goals, had seven less wins and 13 less points. Edmonton still won the President’s Trophy but with only 106 points. Most importantly, they won the Stanley Cup in seven games over the Philadelphia Flyers. As for the Calgary Flames, they lost in the opening round in 1986-87 to the Winnipeg Jets in six games.

NHL Hockey Trivia: Steve Yzerman

For three decades, Steve Yzerman was the face of the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings. Yzerman retired after the 2005-06 season and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009. Steve’s number 19 was retired by the Red Wings in 2007 and is one of just seven numbers retired by the team. Stevie-Y is now the General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Test and expand your knowledge of Steve Yzerman hockey trivia with the following questions.

Q. In his best offensive year, 1988-89, how many regular season points did Steve Yzerman have?

A. Yzerman contributed 155 points for a Detroit Red Wings team that finished the regular season at exactly .500 and lost out in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks. Yzerman put up career high numbers for goals (65) and assists (90). Steve finished third in league scoring behind Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

To this day, the numbers Yzerman put up for goals, assists and points in 1988-89 remain team single season records. The 155 points is still the 14^th highest total in National Hockey League history and the most by a player whose name is not Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux.

Q. How many teams did Steve Yzerman play for during his NHL career?

A. Despite several trade rumours throughout his career, Yzerman played for just the Detroit Red Wings. In 1994, it was thought he was bound for the Montreal Canadiens and the following year the rumour had him going to the Ottawa Senators.

Q. How many seasons did Steve Yzerman play in the NHL?

A. Yzerman played 22 seasons in the NHL. He began his career with Detroit in 1983-84 after two years with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League. Steve was a fourth overall pick of the Red Wings in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, behind Brian Lawton (Minnesota North Stars), Sylvain Turgeon (Hartford Whalers) and Pat Lafontaine (New York Islanders). After missing the 2004-05 season, along with the rest of the league due to the lockout, Yzerman returned for one more season in 2005-06.

Q. How many times during his NHL career did Steve Yzerman surpass the 50 goal plateau?

A. Five times in his 22 NHL seasons, Steve Yzerman had 50 or more goals in a season. In 1988-89 and 1989-90, Yzerman took it a step further and surpassed the 60 goal plateau. Overall, Steve scored 692 regular season goals over his NHL career, putting him in the ninth position all-time. Yzerman scored two less goals that Mark Messier and two more than Mario Lemieux. Teemu Selanne finished the 2013-14 season with 684.