It took Mats Sundin three months to decide if he wanted his photo to appear on the cover of "Weird Hockey Facts", or not.
In 1976, Maple Leafs coach Red Kelly installed pyramids in the players' dressing room and under the bench in an attempt to harness "pyramid power".
The Cusimano brothers started the tradition of "octopus hurling" during the 1952 playoff games.
In 1950, Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens became the New York Rangers' home ice because Madison Square Garden was occupied by the more lucrative circus.
A grasshopper invasion and 29 degree celcius temperatures sabotaged a 1991 exhibition game.
In 1930, Toronto Maple Leafs' general manager Conn Smythe placed a winning bet on a longshot horse to pay the cash-strapped Ottawa Senators for star player Frank "King" Clancy.
After a hard fought win in the 1972 NHL playoffs, goaltender Bruce Gamble discovered after the fact that he had suffered a heart atack while minding the net.
After winning the Stanley Cup in 1924, the Montreal Canadians left the trophy sitting in the snow by the side of the road.
The original Stanley Cup was only seven inches high. The names of every player from each winning team are etched on the base of the cup. The cup and base now stands more than 35 inches high.
The Montreal Canadians have won the most Stanley Cups (23).
The first goaltender to regularly wear a facemask during a game was Montreal's Jacques Plante. A shot broke his nose in 1959 and he decided to wear one ever since. He was made fun of at first, but now every goaltender wears a mask.
The first puck was square, not round.
The name hockey comes from the French word "hoquet", which is a shepherd's crook.
Originally, games were played with 9 players on a side.
A puck is 3 inches in diameter, and 1 inch thick.
A puck sometimes moves at speeds of more than 100 MPH.
There are 9 face off spots, each one a foot in diameter.
In professional hockey, a stick cannot be longer than 55 inches from the heel to top.
Goaltender's skates have longer, flat blades for bettr stability.
Hockey became an Olympic event in 1920.
In 1924, the Boston Bruins became the first professional hockey team among the previously amateur teams of the NHL.
The H on the Habs sweater stands for "Hockey", not "habitant", as commonly rumoured.
Hockey pucks are frozen before being used in play, because the rubber with which they are made is too bouncy otherwise.
Most people know about Canada's lucky loonie at centre ice, but there was also a dime buried in the ice before the dollar coin, just underneath the loonie.
Legendary goalie Jacques Plante loved to knit.
NHL overtime was eliminated during WWII, because there were restrictions on train travel, so they could not risk going long and missing the one and only train that night. It was only reinstated in 1983-84.
Howie Morenz was rumoured to have died of a broken heart after being told he would never play hockey again.
Don Kowharski was the first Canadian referee ever requested by the Soviets in an international Canada-USSR match, Game One of the 1987 Canada Cup Final.
The Stanley Cup has only had two years off since becoming the NHL's top prize; the 2005 lockout, and the final series of the 1919 playoffs were cancelled due to the flu epidemic. (One player even died from this, Joe Hall).
Former Montreal goalie Ken Dryden is the only NHLer to have won the Conn Smythe for best playoff performance before winning the Calder for Best Rookie player.
The Stanley Cup has been surrounded by story and myth, but it has had a fun life. It has been thrown in the river, urinated in, found at the bottom of Mario Lemieux's swimming pool, travelled to a live combat zone, been left behind by the players and once used as a vase by the person who found it, children have been baptised in it, and oh, so much more.
The Calgary Flames had the chance to draft Martin Brodeur, but blew it big time, trading with New Jersey for an earlier pick...Calgary chose bust Trevor Kidd, while NJ waited their turn and took Brody...
There was once a rule saying the team captain had to be on the ice at ALL times. There have been a lot of weird rules, like penalties for kicking with your skate.
The New York Rangers are so named because of the original owner's name, Tex Rickard...Tex's Rangers were born from that!
Lester Patrick, patriarch of the Hockey Royal Patrick family, did it all; in 1928 as coach and manager of the Rangers, he filled in for his injured goalie in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals... the elderly Patrick played well, and won 2-1.
In 1976, Maple Leafs coach Red Kelly installed pyramids in the players' dressing room and under the bench in an attempt to harness "pyramid power".
The Cusimano brothers started the tradition of "octopus hurling" during the 1952 playoff games.
In 1950, Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens became the New York Rangers' home ice because Madison Square Garden was occupied by the more lucrative circus.
A grasshopper invasion and 29 degree celcius temperatures sabotaged a 1991 exhibition game.
In 1930, Toronto Maple Leafs' general manager Conn Smythe placed a winning bet on a longshot horse to pay the cash-strapped Ottawa Senators for star player Frank "King" Clancy.
After a hard fought win in the 1972 NHL playoffs, goaltender Bruce Gamble discovered after the fact that he had suffered a heart atack while minding the net.
After winning the Stanley Cup in 1924, the Montreal Canadians left the trophy sitting in the snow by the side of the road.
The original Stanley Cup was only seven inches high. The names of every player from each winning team are etched on the base of the cup. The cup and base now stands more than 35 inches high.
The Montreal Canadians have won the most Stanley Cups (23).
The first goaltender to regularly wear a facemask during a game was Montreal's Jacques Plante. A shot broke his nose in 1959 and he decided to wear one ever since. He was made fun of at first, but now every goaltender wears a mask.
The first puck was square, not round.
The name hockey comes from the French word "hoquet", which is a shepherd's crook.
Originally, games were played with 9 players on a side.
A puck is 3 inches in diameter, and 1 inch thick.
A puck sometimes moves at speeds of more than 100 MPH.
There are 9 face off spots, each one a foot in diameter.
In professional hockey, a stick cannot be longer than 55 inches from the heel to top.
Goaltender's skates have longer, flat blades for bettr stability.
Hockey became an Olympic event in 1920.
In 1924, the Boston Bruins became the first professional hockey team among the previously amateur teams of the NHL.
The H on the Habs sweater stands for "Hockey", not "habitant", as commonly rumoured.
Hockey pucks are frozen before being used in play, because the rubber with which they are made is too bouncy otherwise.
Most people know about Canada's lucky loonie at centre ice, but there was also a dime buried in the ice before the dollar coin, just underneath the loonie.
Legendary goalie Jacques Plante loved to knit.
NHL overtime was eliminated during WWII, because there were restrictions on train travel, so they could not risk going long and missing the one and only train that night. It was only reinstated in 1983-84.
Howie Morenz was rumoured to have died of a broken heart after being told he would never play hockey again.
Don Kowharski was the first Canadian referee ever requested by the Soviets in an international Canada-USSR match, Game One of the 1987 Canada Cup Final.
The Stanley Cup has only had two years off since becoming the NHL's top prize; the 2005 lockout, and the final series of the 1919 playoffs were cancelled due to the flu epidemic. (One player even died from this, Joe Hall).
Former Montreal goalie Ken Dryden is the only NHLer to have won the Conn Smythe for best playoff performance before winning the Calder for Best Rookie player.
The Stanley Cup has been surrounded by story and myth, but it has had a fun life. It has been thrown in the river, urinated in, found at the bottom of Mario Lemieux's swimming pool, travelled to a live combat zone, been left behind by the players and once used as a vase by the person who found it, children have been baptised in it, and oh, so much more.
The Calgary Flames had the chance to draft Martin Brodeur, but blew it big time, trading with New Jersey for an earlier pick...Calgary chose bust Trevor Kidd, while NJ waited their turn and took Brody...
There was once a rule saying the team captain had to be on the ice at ALL times. There have been a lot of weird rules, like penalties for kicking with your skate.
The New York Rangers are so named because of the original owner's name, Tex Rickard...Tex's Rangers were born from that!
Lester Patrick, patriarch of the Hockey Royal Patrick family, did it all; in 1928 as coach and manager of the Rangers, he filled in for his injured goalie in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals... the elderly Patrick played well, and won 2-1.
