Go Away! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Latvia

Ozolinsh was a seven-time NHL all-star, and won the Stanley Cup in 1996. He represented Latvia at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics. Skrastins also played on those two Olympic teams, and played 832 games in his NHL career. Skrastins died on the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, after leaving the NHL to play in the KHL. Irbe played in professional and minor leagues all around the world as a goalie, including 568 games in the NHL. Irbe backstopped the Carolina Hurricanes to the 2002 Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to Detroit.

Answer: Austria

Vanek was drafted 5th overall by Buffalo in the 2003 draft, and played 598 games for Buffalo, being traded to the New York Islanders in 2013. With his trade, he got to play with Michael Grabner, fellow Austrian. Grabner broke in to the league in 2010, and was named the fastest skater at the 2011 NHL All-Star Game. Grabner left Austria in 2004, at the age of 17, to play in the Western Hockey League for the Spokane Chiefs.

Answer: Slovenia

Kopitar was drafted 11th overall in the 2005 NHL draft by the Los Angeles Kings. Kopitar helped lead the Kings to the franchise's first Stanley Cup in 2012, leading the team in scoring. Kopitar represented Slovenia at the World Under-18 and Under-20 championships, and helped lift the nation to the top level of the World Championship. Jan Mursak became the second Slovenian to play in the NHL, when he debuted with the Detroit Red Wings in 2010.

Answer: Taiwan

Langway played 994 NHL games, and won 2 Norris trophies for top defenseman in his career from 1978-93. Langway was born to an American serviceman, who was serving in Taiwan at the time. He grew up in Randolph, Massachusetts, and was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 1977.

In his rookie season with the Habs in 1979 Langway won his only Stanley Cup. In 1982, he was traded to the Washington Capitals, where he played the remainder of his NHL career, and his #5 is now retired by the team.

Answer: South Africa

Kolzig was the first African born player to play in the NHL. Kolzig spent most of his childhood in Canada, but never applied for Canadian citizenship. It was his German parents that allowed him to play at the international level for Germany. Except for 8 games with Tampa Bay, Kolzig spent his entire career with the Washington Capitals, playing 711 games.

A two-time NHL all-star, Kolzig won the Vezina Trophy in 2000 as top goaltender, and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, for leadership on the ice, and in the community.

Answer: Brazil

Richie played all 20 of his NHL games in Calgary, with his brother Robyn. He played most of his career in Germany and Sweden. Three years older, Robyn grew up in Indonesia with Richie. The family moved back to Saskatchewan when Robyn was 7, when he picked up the game of hockey. Robyn had a much more successful NHL career, winning the Stanley Cup in 2012 with Los Angeles.

However, in 1999, Robyn was involved in a car crash where he broke both his legs, threatening his future career. A miraculous recovery allowed him to make his NHL debut four months later.

Answer: Dennis Seidenburg

Seidenburg hails from Germany. Switzerland is home to the historic HC Davos team, and runs a successful Swiss hockey league. It leads to few Swiss players leaving for North America before the new millennium. Swiss-born defenseman Mark Hardy played in the NHL in the 1980s, but played internationally for Canada. Switzerland is known for being a goalie factory, evidenced by exports to the NHL such as Hiller, Martin Gerber and David Aebischer.

Answer: Kazakhstan

Antropov captained Kazakhstan at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, and was the only player on the team from the NHL, alongside goaltender Vitali Kolesnik. He also played internationally for Kazakhtstan at the 1998 World Championships and 1999 World Junior Championship, where he was also the captain. Nabokov represented Kazakhstan at the 1994 World Championships, but later sought permission to shift over to the Russian side, eventually gaining permission to do so for those 2006 Olympics. Nabokov backstopped Russia to gold at the 2008 World Championships.

Answer: Poland

Wolski was born in Poland, but his family emigrated to Toronto at the age of 3. Due to this, Wolski became ineligible to play at the international level for Poland. Oliwa was a role player on the 2000 New Jersey Devils team that won the Stanley Cup. An enforcer, Oliwa's name is on the Cup even though he did not play a playoff game due to injury.

When he retired in 2006, Oliwa took the reins as head of the Polish national team. Czerkawski was the first Polish trained player to debut in the NHL when he played for Boston in 1993.

He scored 215 goals in 743 games in the NHL. He played for Poland both at the 1992 Olympics and at the World Championships.

Answer: Stan Mikita

Stan Mikita was born as Stanislav Guoth, but fled to St. Catherines, Ontario to escape the communist Czechoslovakia. It was there he picked up hockey, which led to a 21 season career, all with the Chicago Black Hawks from 1959-80. Mikita scored 541 goals, and won two Hart Trophies, to go along with four Art Ross Trophies and two Lady Byngs.

Despite all that success, Mikita only won one Stanley Cup, in his second full season of 1960-61. In 2002, Mikita was inducted in the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame, and the ice rink in Ruzomberok, Slovakia is named in his honor.