Playing Hockey with the Weather Quiz

Answer:

There are 32 professional ice hockey teams from USA and Canada in the National Hockey League (NHL). The ones chosen for this quiz are listed in order of appearance.

The Carolina Hurricanes were based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Formed in 1971 as the New England Whalers, the team joined the NHL as part of the 1979 NHL-WHA merger and renamed themselves as the Hartford Whalers. When they relocated to North Carolina, they rebranded as the Carolina Hurricanes. The state has been affected by hundreds of recorded tropical and subtropical hurricanes, many making direct hits, although Florida, Texas and Louisiana tend to receive more.

When the NHL announced in the late 1980s that it would expand the league, two Tampa Bay area bids were considered. The winning bid formed the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1990. Named as a result of Florida being the lightning capital of the country, this 'honour' in fact moves around the country.

The Anaheim Ducks was an expansion team formed in 1993 by The Walt Disney Company following the success of the 1992 sports comedy film "The Mighty Ducks". At the time the hockey team was known as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Disney sold the franchise in 2005 and a name change to the Anaheim Ducks followed.

An attempt was made to attract the New Jersey Devils to the planned Nashville Arena from late 1995. When that failed, Nashville got an expansion team. Fans were asked for a name to go with the sabre-tooth tiger logo. 'Attack', 'Fury' and 'Ice Tigers' made the shortlist however it was the owner's submission which won through, resulting in the Nashville Predators.

This second Florida-based franchise in this quiz was known as the Florida Panthers. Formed in 1993 by a business owner who initially wanted to name the team the Block Busters after his video chain, it was eventually named after the cougar found in South Florida and known as the Florida panther. In North America the cougar is sometimes called the puma, mountain lion or catamount as well as panther.

Founded in 1974 as the Kansas City Scouts, the team moved to Denver in 1976 and became the Colorado Rockies. Another move followed to New Jersey in 1982 with another name change. The team took the name of a local legendary creature, the Jersey Devil (or Leeds Devil). A move within the state to Newark came with the completion of the Prudential Center, although not without much wheeling-and-dealing and legal action. The team name remained unchanged.

When the Minnesota North Stars departed for Dallas in 1993, the Minnesota Wild filled the gap after a seven-season break for the state. This came about through an expansion franchise after an attempt to buy the Winnipeg Jets fell through. The name came through a name-the-team contest and was chosen in part to place some distance between the team and the former Minnesota North Stars.

The Calgary Flames was the third NHL team to call Calgary home. They were preceded by the Tigers (1921-27) and the Cowboys (1975-77). They were actually formed in Atlanta as an expansion team with the name the Atlanta Flames in 1972. The move to Calgary came in 1980 along with the name change. The name 'Flames' was apparently a reference to the fire started by General Sherman which nearly destroyed Atlanta during the American Civil War.

One of the six 1967 NHL expansion teams, the St. Louis Blues took its name after W. C. Handy's 1914 hit song "Saint Louis Blues". Before the 1967 expansion, the St. Louis Arena was controlled by the owners of the Chicago Blackhawks. They pushed for St. Louis to be given a franchise with the idea of unloading the now-decrepit arena on them and providing some regional competition. The Blues moved to the Enterprise Center in St. Louis in 1994.

As mentioned above, the Dallas Stars had their origins in the Minnesota North Stars, which was founded during the 1967 NHL expansion. The North Stars name came from the Minnesota state motto: "L'Étoile du Nord" ("The Star of the North"). The North Stars merged with the Cleveland Barons in 1978 due to both having financial problems. Continuing as the North Stars, more financial problems prompted various relocation attempts as well as the loss of the 'north' in the nickname, possibly signally a southward move. The move and name change to Dallas eventually came in 1993.