Zdeno Chára
Zdeno Chára (; born 18 March 1977) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals between 1997 and 2022. Standing tall, Chára is the tallest person ever to play in the NHL, earning him the nickname "Big Z". Internationally, he played for the Slovakia men's national team and won two silver medals at the Ice Hockey World Championships. At the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, he won a silver medal playing for Team Europe. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2025. Chára served as the Bruins' captain for all of his fourteen seasons with the franchise, from 2006 to 2020. He won the Norris Trophy as the league's best defenceman in 2009, becoming the first Slovak player to do so, and the second European player after Nicklas Lidström. In 2011, 2013 and 2019 Chára captained the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals, winning in 2011. He is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924–25 NHL season, 1924, making them the National Hockey League all-time results, third-oldest active team in the NHL, and the oldest in the United States. The Bruins are one of the "Original Six" NHL teams, along with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. They have won six Stanley Cup championships, tied for fourth-most of any team with the Blackhawks (trailing the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, and Red Wings, with 24, 13, and 11, respectively), and tied for second-most for an NHL team based in the United States. The Bruins have also won the Presidents' Trophy four times, with their most recent win in 2022–23 NHL season, 2022–23 having amas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Team Europe (ice Hockey)
Team Europe was an international ice hockey team created for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. It was jointly administered by the IIHF and NHL and represented countries in Europe not represented by their own national team, including Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland. Team Europe players wore badges with their respective nations' flags on their jerseys. 2016 World Cup of Hockey Team Europe played its first pre-tournament game on September 8, 2016. They were defeated 4–0 by Team North America at the Videotron Centre, in Quebec City. The team played 3 group stage games; a 3–0 shutout win over the United States, a 3–2 overtime win against Czech Republic, and a 4–1 defeat to Canada. Team Europe finished second in the group behind Canada and advanced to the knockout stage. Europe faced Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Euro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Prince George Cougars
The Prince George Cougars are a Canada, Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Prince George, British Columbia. Founded in 1971 as the Victoria Cougars (WHL), Victoria Cougars, the team was relocated to Prince George in 1994, where it became the northernmost team in the Canadian Hockey League. The Cougars are members of the B.C. Division of the Western Conference in the Western Hockey League (WHL) and hosts games at the CN Centre. History The Cougars were a long-running junior club based in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria when the team joined the Western Canada Hockey League in 1971, one of three teams based in British Columbia added to the WCHL that year to give the league a presence in all four Western Canadian provinces. The Cougars won one league title, in 1981, but in 1994, struggling with attendance and travel costs, were abruptly sold and moved to Prince George. The move made the Cougars the most remote team in the entire Canadian Hockey League (CHL), requiri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada, alongside the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Teams play for the Ed Chynoweth Cup, with the winner moving on to play for the Memorial Cup, Canada's national junior championship. WHL teams have won the Memorial Cup 19 times. The WHL is composed of 23 teams divided into two conferences of two divisions, each. The Eastern Conference comprises 11 teams from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, while the Western Conference comprises 12 teams from British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. The league will expand to 24 teams by 2026 with the addition of a team in Chilliwack, British Columbia. The league was founded in 1966 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League (CMJHL), with seven teams in Sas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The franchise is one of the so called Original Six teams of the league. Founded in 1926–27 NHL season, 1926, the team was known as the Detroit Cougars until 1929–30 NHL season, 1930. For the next two seasons, the team was named the Detroit Falcons, before changing their name to the Red Wings in 1932–33 NHL season, 1932. The Red Wings have won the most Stanley Cup championships of any NHL franchise based in the United States (11), and are third overall amongst active teams in total Stanley Cup championships, behind the Montreal Canadiens (24) and Toronto Maple Leafs (13). The Wings played their home games at Joe Louis Arena from 1979 until 2017, after playing for 52 years at Olympia Stadium. T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were aligned with the Soviet Union and existed during the Cold War (1947–1991). These states followed the ideology of Marxism–Leninism, in opposition to the Capitalism, capitalist Western Bloc. The Eastern Bloc was often called the "Second World", whereas the term "First World" referred to the Western Bloc and "Third World" referred to the Non-Aligned Movement, non-aligned countries that were mainly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America but notably also included former Tito–Stalin split, pre-1948 Soviet ally Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, which was located in Europe. In Western Europe, the term Eastern Bloc generally referred to the USSR and Central and Eastern European countries in the Comecon (East Germany, Polish Peo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) considers it to be one of the "most important championships available to the sport". The trophy was commissioned in 1892 as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup and is named after Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada, who donated it as an award to Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. The entire Stanley family supported the sport, the sons and daughters all playing and promoting the game. The first Cup was awarded in 1893 to the Montreal Hockey Club, and winners from 1893 to 1914 were determined by challenge games and league play. Professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. In 1915, the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Pacific Coast Hocke ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stanley Cup Finals
The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, ) is the annual championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL). The winner is awarded the Stanley Cup, North America's oldest professional sports trophy, and one of the "most important championships available to the sport [of ice hockey]" according to the International Ice Hockey Federation. Originally inscribed the ''Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup'', the trophy was donated in 1892 by Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Lord Stanley of Preston, then–Governor General of Canada, governor general of Canada, initially as a "List of Stanley Cup challenge games, challenge trophy" for Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. The champions held onto the Cup until they either lost their league title to another club, or a champion from another league issued a formal challenge and defeated the reigning Cup champion in a final game to claim their win. Professional teams first ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nicklas Lidström
Erik Nicklas Lidström (; born 28 April 1970) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey defenceman and current vice president of hockey operations for the Detroit Red Wings. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings from 1991 to 2012, which he captained for the final six seasons of his career. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defencemen in NHL history and nicknamed "the Perfect Human." Over his 20 NHL seasons, Lidström won four Stanley Cup championships, seven James Norris Memorial Trophies (awarded to the NHL's top defenceman), one Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff most valuable player, and was voted into 12 NHL All-Star Games. The Red Wings never missed the playoffs during his career, the longest streak of playoff appearances for a player in league history. Lidström was the first European-born-and-trained captain of a Stanley Cup-winning team, as well as the first European player named playoff MVP. Lidström is also th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2008–09 NHL Season
The 2008–09 NHL season was the 92nd season of operation (91st season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was the first season since prior to the 2004–05 lockout in which every team played each other at least once during the season, following three seasons where teams only played against two divisions in the other conference (one division at home and one on the road). It began on October 4, with the regular season ending on April 12. The Stanley Cup playoffs ended on June 12, with the Pittsburgh Penguins taking the Stanley Cup over the defending champion Detroit Red Wings. The Montreal Canadiens hosted the 57th NHL All-Star Game at the Bell Centre on January 25, 2009, as part of the Canadiens' 100th season celebration. League business Increase in salary cap National Hockey League announced that the regular season salary cap would be going up for the fourth straight season. The 2008–09 salary cap is being increased by $6,400,000 (US) per team to bring the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |