Smile of the Day Thursday, November 26, 2020

Thursday November 26, 2020 Smile of the Day: The National Hockey League

On this Day:

The National Hockey League was organized on November 26, 1917, at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the National Hockey Association (NHA). 

The NHL immediately took the NHA’s place as one of the leagues that contested for the Stanley Cup in an annual inter-league competition before a series of league mergers and foldings left the NHL as the only league left competing for the Stanley Cup in 1926.

At its inception, the NHL had four teams—all in Canada, thus the adjective “National” in the league’s name. The league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of American and Canadian teams. From 1942 to 1967, the league had only six teams, collectively (if not contemporaneously) nicknamed the “Original Six”. The NHL added six new teams to double its size at the 1967 NHL expansion. The league then increased to 18 teams by 1974 and 21 teams in 1979. Between  1991 and 2000, the NHL further expanded to 30 teams. It added its 31st team in 2017 and has approved the addition of a 32nd team in 2021. (per Wikipedia)

First, a Story:

Longtime NHL forward Dan Maloney, when asked about his New Year’s resolution: “To score as many goals this year as Wayne Gretzky got last week.”

Second, a Song:

Well they say up here in Canada, hockey is not so much a sport as a religion. Here is arousing and reverential version of the Hockey Night in Canada theme played by the Parkdale Orchestra inside a church.  Somewhat fitting, eh?

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xVJPUFvU-o)

Thought for the Day:

“I always wanted to be like Mark Messier and I loved Wayne Gretzky, the same as other kids. But it was also really special for me to see the Black players that were in the NHL.” – Jarome Iginla

P.S. Further to the Charles Darwin post, Colleen noted that The Vancouver Sun reported that “in November 2000, two notebooks belonging to renowned naturalist Charles Darwin were taken off the shelves of a storage room in Cambridge University Library, to be photographed in a studio on campus.

That was the last time the books were ever seen in public, the university librarian told the BBC on Tuesday, after a ‘routine check up’ conducted two months ago found the books were never reshelved.

While it is mystifying that the books could have gone missing for two decades, it is not entirely surprising. The Cambridge university library is massive — it measures more than 200 km worth of shelving and houses in excess of 10 million maps, manuscripts and other objects.

The notebooks in turn, are small, no bigger than a postcard. They had been stored in a blue box, matching the size of a paperback.”

Have a great day!

© 2020 David J. Bilinsky and Colleen E. Bilinsky