Like many sports and hockey fans, players and writers, I am a sucker for completely random facts, trivia and stats.
This installment features 13 facts and is in honor of a player that donned jersey #13, Kenny “The Rat” Linseman. As Hockey Legends eloquently sums up the style of play of the ex-NHLer who last played 20 years ago:
He was a scrappy, grinding, shifty centreman who could score, check, kill penalties, and irritate opponents with a mastery rarely ever seen. He also had blinking-quick speed on his skates and a mouth like Don Rickles to boot. He once noted that, in light of his style of play, he’d have felt embarrassed to win the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play.
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Matt Moulson and Jonathan Quick are married to sisters.
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Paul Kariya has 989 points in 989 games played.
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Marian Hossa and Ty Conklin are the first duo in NHL history to play in two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals against their old team.
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Unfortunately for the Bulin Wall and the Edmonton Oilers, Nik Khabibulin had more DUI’s than wins in January. #Winning!
(To be entirely fair, January was when his lawyer filed a memorandum of appeal.)
{Extra stick tap to friend Darren who somehow has access to to a NHL stats package that tracks wins, GAA, SV% and DUIs.}
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There are only 3 teams that don’t end with the letter “s” – the Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning and Minnesota Wild.
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MLB pitcher Tom Glavine was drafted by the Kings in the 4th round of the ’84 entry draft, ahead of Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Gary Suter.
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There are 66 box seats in the Pittsburgh Penguins new stadium in honor of the Magnificent One – Mario Lemieux.
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Sidney Crosby remains 11th in league despite playing just 41 games – his current point total: appropriately, 66.
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Derian Hatcher was the first U.S. born player to captain a Stanley Cup winning team.
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Ken Dryden is the only player to win the Conn Smythe before winning the Calder.
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Yzerman chose and wore #19 in honor of Bryan Trottier. I’ve heard (although I can’t find official confirmation) that Thornton switched jersey numbers from 6 to 19 to honor Yzerman.
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The last player to play without a helmet was Craig MacTavish, which I believe was in 96-97. (All the more interesting and significant given all the ongoing player safety discussions.)
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Darius Kasparaitis once punched out his own goalie (in the 1991 World Junior Championships). I’ve always heard rumors of this story, but I actually finally found confirmation from the Sports Illustrated Vault (link since removed). (Don’t dare check out any SI Swimsuit stuff while you’re in the vault!)
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Feel free to post your own completely random hockey fact or stat in the comments below, or if you have additional information or have any disputes on any of the above, fire away.
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In the event you don’t know or can’t recall the origin of Gretzky’s Office is click here.