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Mário Bližňák
Mário Bližňák (born 6 March 1987) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey center. He previously played for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). After playing in the Slovak Extraliga, Bližňák was selected by the Canucks in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, and moved to North America, joining the Vancouver Giants of the major junior Western Hockey League (WHL) in 2005. Bližňák played three seasons with the Giants, helping them win the Memorial Cup, the national championship for major junior hockey in Canada, in 2007, before joining the Moose in 2008. He is best known as a defensive forward. Playing career Bližňák began playing junior hockey in his native Slovakia with Dubnica Spartak HC's under-18 and junior teams. After appearing in 19 games with Dubnica's senior team of the Slovak Extraliga as a seventeen-year-old in 2004–05, he was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the seventh round, 205th overall, in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Bližňák was als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vancouver Giants
The Vancouver Giants are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team playing based in Langley, British Columbia, and playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Founded in 2001, the Giants won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions in 2006 and the Memorial Cup as Canadian junior champions in 2007. The team was based in the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, the former arena of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks, until moving to the Langley Events Centre in 2016. History British Columbia-based businessman Ron Toigo was granted a WHL expansion franchise for the city of Vancouver ahead of the 2001–02 season. In the following years, the club's ownership group would grow to include Sultan Thiara, former Vancouver Canucks head coach Pat Quinn, the estate of Hockey Hall of Fame member Gordie Howe, and singer Michael Bublé. The team was first based out of Pacific Coliseum, the former Canucks arena in downtown Vancouver; in 2016, after 15 seasons, the team moved to the Langl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2005 NHL Entry Draft
The 2005 NHL entry draft was the 43rd entry draft for the National Hockey League. Originally scheduled to be held on June 25, it was postponed to July 30 due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout. Special procedures were required to determine the order of picks, because the previous season had been cancelled due to the lockout. The first overall pick was won in a lottery by the Pittsburgh Penguins, who selected Sidney Crosby. As of 2024, the remaining active players in the NHL from this draft are Sidney Crosby, Jack Johnson, Anze Kopitar, Kris Letang, Jonathan Quick, Ryan Reaves, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Venue The draft was originally scheduled to be held on June 25, hosted by the Ottawa Senators at the Corel Centre (their home rink). However, the 2004–05 NHL lockout was still ongoing, causing the draft to be postponed. The lockout ended on July 22 with the approval of a new NHL collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The CBA set the new date of the draft as July 30. The Core ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manitoba Moose
The Manitoba Moose are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team plays its home games at Canada Life Centre. The franchise was founded in 1994 as the Minnesota Moose, then playing in the International Hockey League (1945–2001), International Hockey League (IHL). The Moose played fifteen seasons—five in the IHL (1996–2001) and ten in the AHL (2001–2011)—during their first tenure in Winnipeg. This was followed by four seasons in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, (2011–2015) during which the team was known as the St. John's IceCaps. The team returned to Winnipeg prior to the 2015–16 AHL season, 2015–16 season. History International Hockey League (1996–2001) Following the departure of the Winnipeg Jets (1972–96), original Winnipeg Jets franchise to Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix in 1996, a group of local businessmen, including Mark Chipm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Canada. As of the 2024–25 AHL season, all 32 NHL teams held affiliations with an AHL team. Historically, when an NHL team does not have an AHL affiliate, its players are assigned to AHL teams affiliated with other NHL franchises. The league offices are located in Springfield, Massachusetts, and its current president is Scott Howson. A player must be at least 18 years old and not belong to a junior ice hockey team to be eligible. The league limits the number of experienced professional players in a team's lineup during any given game; only five skaters can have accumulated more than 260 games played at the professional level (goaltenders are exempt from this rule). The annual playoff champion is awarded the Calder Cup, named for Frank ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2005–06 WHL Season
The 2005–06 WHL season was the 40th season for the Western Hockey League. Twenty teams completed a 72-game schedule. The Vancouver Giants won their first Ed Chynoweth Cup, President's Cup, defeating the Moose Jaw Warriors in the championship series and earning a berth in the 2006 Memorial Cup tournament. The Medicine Hat Tigers won the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy for the best regular season record for the first time since 1985–86 WHL season, 1985–86. League notes Following changes introduced by the National Hockey League following the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the WHL announced that it would adopt many of the new rules put in place by the National Hockey League this season to increase scoring, including: *Overtime (ice hockey), Shootouts: Ties no longer possible, with games tied at the end of overtime proceeding to a shootout. Shootout losses count as one point in the standings. *Tighter standards of officiating, especially as it relates to obstruction fouls. *Introduction o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Chynoweth Cup
The Ed Chynoweth Cup is an ice hockey club championship trophy awarded to the playoff champion of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Originally called the President's Cup when the league was founded in 1966, the trophy was renamed in 2007 to honour Ed Chynoweth's long service to junior ice hockey in Canada. The WHL champion earns a berth into the Memorial Cup tournament, Canada's major junior hockey championship. The Kamloops Blazers and Medicine Hat Tigers have won the most WHL championships, with six each. The Spokane Chiefs were the first team to win the renamed trophy in the 2007–08 WHL season. The current ( 2024–25) holders of the Ed Chynoweth Cup are the Medicine Hat Tigers. History The Western Hockey League was founded in 1966 by seven teams from Saskatchewan and Alberta who were hoping to improve the quality of junior hockey in western Canada. Despite gaining approval from the governing bodies of both provinces, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) objec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. The region includes Middle America (Americas), Middle America (comprising the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico) and Northern America. North America covers an area of about , representing approximately 16.5% of Earth's land area and 4.8% of its total surface area. It is the third-largest continent by size after Asia and Africa, and the list of continents and continental subregions by population, fourth-largest continent by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. , North America's population was estimated as over 592 million people in list of sovereign states and dependent territories in North America, 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's popula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Hockey League
The Canadian Hockey League (CHL; , LCH) is an umbrella organization that represents the three Canada-based major junior ice hockey leagues. The CHL was founded in 1975 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, and is composed of its three member leagues, the Western Hockey League (WHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). For the 2025–26 season, its three leagues and 61 teams represent ten Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces (52 teams) as well as four United States, American states (nine teams). The CHL schedule culminates in the Memorial Cup tournament, which sees each of the three league playoff champions, as well as a host team, play a round-robin tournament to determine a national champion. The CHL also hosts the CHL/USA Prospects Challenge, for the top NHL Entry Draft, draft eligible players in the league, and formerly the CHL Canada/Russia Series, a six-game all-star exhibition series against a team of Ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's mostly mountainous territory spans about , hosting a population exceeding 5.4 million. The capital and largest city is Bratislava, while the second largest city is Košice. The Slavs arrived in the territory of the present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries. From the late 6th century, parts of modern Slovakia were incorporated into the Pannonian Avars, Avar Khaghanate. In the 7th century, the Slavs played a significant role in the creation of Samo's Empire. When the Avar Khaghanate dissolved in the 9th century, the Slavs established the Principality of Nitra before it was annexed by the Great Moravia, Principality of Moravia, which later became Great Moravia. When Great Moravia fell in the 10th century, the territory was integrated i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Junior Hockey
Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from the 2024 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Hockey Canada There are four levels of Junior hockey in the Canadian Club System: 1. Major Junior, 2. Junior A, 3. Junior B, and 4. Junior C. Not all teams playing in Canadian Junior leagues are based in Canada. , there were approximately twelve US-based teams playing in various Major Junior and Junior A leagues in Canada. In 2023, BC Hockey announced plans to restructure its Junior framework following the departure of its only Junior A league. Its three Junior B leagues ( PJHL, KIJHL and VIJHL) were re-styled as "Junior A Tier 2", with plans to promote some to "Junior A Tier 1" following an independent evaluation. It was expected that those teams promoted to "Junior A Tier 1" would e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2007 Memorial Cup
The 2007 MasterCard Memorial Cup was played in May 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the Pacific Coliseum. It was the 89th annual Memorial Cup competition and determined the major junior ice hockey champion of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The tournament was competed between the WHL champion, the Medicine Hat Tigers; the OHL champion, the Plymouth Whalers; the QMJHL champion, the Lewiston Maineiacs; and the host team and tournament champion, Vancouver Giants, who were competing in their second consecutive national junior championship. The Memorial Cup tournament was a four team tournament with a round-robin format. The Giants won their first Memorial Cup, defeating Medicine Hat 3–1 in the second all-WHL final in tournament history (the first was in 1989). The tournament set a new Memorial Cup attendance record with 121,561 fans attending the nine games. The previous record of 84,686 was set at the 2003 tournament in Quebec City. The tournament was the fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
