A Tribute to Daniel Alfredsson Quiz

Answer: Frölunda HC Gothenburg

Daniel Alfredsson was born on December 11, 1972 in Gothenburg, Sweden. At age 20, he began playing for the Frölunda Hockey Club (also known by the nickname Frölunda Indians) in his hometown of Gothenburg. In 2004-05, due to labour disputes among the National Hockey League and the Player's Association, there was no NHL play, and many NHL players chose to spend the season playing in Europe. During that year, Alfredsson, Axelsson, and Pahlsson led Frölunda to win the Swedish championship in ice hockey.

Answer: 1994

At the 1994 entry draft, the Ottawa Senators had already taken Radek Bonk (3rd overall) and Stan Neckar (29th overall), but little did anyone know at the time, one of the best choices the club ever made was their 6th round, 133rd overall choice. It was 22-year old Daniel Alfredsson (who was older than most freshly drafted Europeans, leading some people to think he'd be too old by the time he actually got to play his rookie season, if ever). Most of the suits sitting at the Senators table at the draft didn't even want Alfredsson. John Ferguson Sr., who at the time was working as a consultant on the Senators management team, was very interested in Alfredsson.

At first the reaction from the rest of the Sens brass was "not another [darn] European", but General Manager Randy Sexton told Ferguson to go ahead and draft Alfredsson if he wanted him that badly. Thirteen years later, shortly before his death in 2007, Ferguson told an Ottawa Sun sportswriter, "Don't ever let people forget I got Daniel Alfredsson".

Answer: Calder Memorial Trophy

The Calder Memorial Trophy is the National Hockey League's Rookie of the Year award, and 1995-96 was Daniel Alfredsson's first NHL season. This was the first major trophy awarded to an Ottawa Senators player in the team's modern era (1992 to the present). The team as a whole also won the Presidents' Trophy for finishing first in the league in the regular season in 2002-03, and the Prince of Wales Trophy for being the last team standing in the Eastern Conference in the 2006-07 playoffs.

In addition to his Calder win, Daniel Alfredsson was nominated for the Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) in 2005-06 and for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (for the league's most gentlemanly player) in 2003-04 and 2005-06.

Answer: Alexei Yashin

Alexei Yashin served as the Senators captain in the 1998-99 season, but he quickly went from fan favourite to public enemy number one in Ottawa when he demanded to either be given more money or be traded at the start of the next season. When the team refused, telling him he'd have to play the remaining year on his contract, Yashin failed to report for training camp. The team's management stripped him of the team's captaincy, giving it to Alfredsson, and suspended Yashin for the 1999-00 season. The contract dispute was taken to arbitration and Yashin was ordered to fulfill his remaining year with the team, which he did in 2000-01, though Daniel Alfredsson remained the team's captain.

Alfredsson officially became the team's captain on October 12, 1999 (the first regular season game of that year), making him the seventh captain in modern team history. In addition to Alfredsson and Yashin, past captains include, in order, Laurie Bochsman, Mark Lamb, Brad Shaw, Gord Dineen, and Randy Cunneyworth.

Answer: 2006 Torino

Sweden finished in first place in men's ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. They beat Team Finland 3-2 in the gold medal game (and Czech Republic beat Russia in the bronze medal game). Alfredsson was the top scorer on Team Sweden in 2006 with 10 points (five goals, five assists). That made him tied for third overall in scoring in the ice hockey tournament with former Senators teammate Marian Hossa, who competed with Team Slovakia, who also had five goals and five assists. Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu, both of Finland, tied for first place in scoring with 11 points each.

Answer: Scored the first-ever game winning goal in a regular season shoot-out

The 2005-06 NHL season saw the introduction of the new shootout rule. Starting that season, no regular season game was to end in a tie. If no team had won after overtime, the game would go to a shootout. The first regular season shootout happened on the very first night of the 2005-06 season.

The Ottawa Senators were playing their provincial rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Alfredsson scored a late third period goal to tie the game, and then scored what turned out to be the game winning goal in the shootout. Dany Heatley scored the first regular season shootout goal, but Alfredsson's second goal was what won the shootout, and the game, for the Senators. Both Alfredsson's and Heatley's sticks from that night are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Answer: Yes

In the 2007 playoffs, the Ottawa Senators first defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games, then the New Jersey Devils in five games, and finally the Buffalo Sabres in five games to move onto the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in modern history. Game five of the Buffalo series was tied in overtime when Alfredsson scored, to lead his team into the finals.

In the finals, the Senators lost to the Anaheim Ducks in five games.

Answer: Longest-serving team captain in the NHL

Joe Sakic played 20 seasons with the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise, and served as the team's captain from 1992 until his retirement at the end of the 2008-09 season. This made Daniel Alfredsson the longest-serving captain of one in the league at the beginning of the 2009-10 season, his 10th season as the Senators team captain. Alfredsson had previously been tied for captaincy tenure with Saku Koivu, who had been named the captain of the Montreal Canadiens in 1999, the same year Alfredsson became the Senators' captain.

However, after the 2008-09 season, Koivu became an Anaheim Duck, ending his tenure as Montreal captain. Alfredsson's tenure as the league's longest serving active captain came to an end on July 5, 2013 when he signed a deal with the Detroit Red Wings, leaving the Ottawa Senators after 17 seasons.

Answer: 1000 career games

Alfredsson played his 1000th NHL game, every last one of them in a Senators uniform, on April 6, 2010 against the Florida Panthers (in Florida). April 10, 2010 (the date of the first home game after he reached the milestone), was named "Daniel Alfredsson Day" in Ottawa. In total, Alfredsson ended up playing 1178 games as an Ottawa Senator, before leaving the team to become a Red Wing after the 2012-2013 season.

Throughout his career, Alfredsson also broke many records within the Senators organization, including most games played, most all-time goals, most all-time assists, most all-time points, most playoff games played (the 100 playoff game milestone was reached in 2008) and most playoff goals, among others.

Answer: Playing through injuries

There are several examples of Alfredsson's determination to play despite being injured. A few in memory include missing only three games after having knee surgery in October 2008. He showed up to play with a face shield on after missing just one game with a broken jaw in February 2009.

He missed only two playoff games in 2008 after suffering a knee injury from a major hit in early April, that was predicted to have him possibly miss the playoffs entirely. After he joined his team (who hadn't been performing well without him) in the 2008 playoffs, coach Bryan Murray was quoted as saying, "If anybody ever questions Daniel Alfredsson's character again, I think I might approach them in a somehow unkind manner".