Maple Sports Trivia Quiz

Answer: Toronto Huskies

The Basketball Association of America merged with the National Basketball League in 1949 to form the National Basketball Association (NBA), but prior to that, Canadian team Toronto Huskies played a single season in the BAA before financial problems caused them to fold. The team recorded a 22-38 record, including that first ever BAA game, which they lost 68-66.

Professional top flight basketball returned to the city in 1995, with the formation of the Toronto Raptors, who entered the NBA. Although this time the Toronto team won their opening game, defeating the New Jersey Nets 94-79, they struggled in their first season, going on to post a 21-61 record. Perseverance paid off though as in 2019, the Raptors became the first non American team to win the NBA title when they defeated the two time defending champions, Golden State Warriors 4-2 in the playoff finals.

Answer: Vancouver Grizzlies

Vancouver Grizzlies joined the NBA at the same time as Toronto Raptors, as part of the league's expansion into Canada. Despite some high draft picks and well known players such as Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Greg Anthony and Antonio Daniels, the team never finished a season above sixth in their division, and following the 1998-99 lockout, attendances dropped off.

This coupled with a weak Canadian dollar, meant the franchise were losing huge amounts of money and, in 2001, it relocated to Tennessee as the Memphis Grizzlies.

Answer: Las Vegas Posse

In 1993, the CFL expanded to allow teams based in USA entry, the first of which was the Sacramento Gold Miners of California. Las Vegas Posse, Baltimore Stallions, and Shreveport Pirates all followed the next season, and in 1995, the year that the Las Vegas Posse folded, the Birmingham Barracudas and Memphis Mad Dogs came on board. The expansion was short lived, returning to an all Canadian line up in 1996, but that was long enough for the Baltimore Stallions to become the first non Canadian team to win the Grey Cup when they defeated Calgary Stampeders 37-20 in the 1995 final.

The Las Vegas Posse had a disappointing season in the CFL, winning just five games and finishing bottom of the West Division, while quarterback, Anthony Calvillo would go on to play for the Hamilton Tiger Cats and spend fifteen seasons with the Montreal Alouettes, leading them to their first Grey Cup in 25 years when they beat Edmonton Eskimos 25-16 in 2002.

Answer: Quebec Nordiques

The Nordiques began playing in the World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1972 and when this league folded and merged with NHL in 1979, the Nordiques, along with the Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and New England Whalers joined as part of the expansion. Famous ex players for the Nordiques include Mats Sundin and Joe Sakic, who when the franchise relocated to Denver USA in 1995, continued his career with the team, helping them lift the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001.

Answer: Marion, Illinois

Unfortunately for the Edmonton Snowbirds, their timing was not the best, as they joined the International Women's Professional Softball Association in 1979, which turned out to be the final year of the league. Also against them was the fact that their first ever home game in the league was on the same night that the Edmonton Eskimos CFL team took on the BC Lions, meaning that while 43,000 people turned up to watch the football, the Snowbirds sold just 400 tickets. Sadly the Snowbirds finished their season with a 17-55 record.

The Canadian Wild of Southern Illinois got off to a good start in their first National Pro Fastpitch season in 2019, beating the Beijing Eagles 4-2 in their first game and ended the season with a 22-20 record as well as having three players named in the season's all star team.

Answer: Lacrosse

The first Canadian team to play in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) was Toronto Rock, who in their first season won the title in 1999. Teams from Ottawa, Montreal and Calgary followed as did the Vancouver Ravens, who, unable to secure a venue for home games, combined with financial troubles folded at the end of the 2004 season.

Vancouver regained a professional lacrosse team in 2014, when the Washington Stealth franchise moved to the city, changing their name in 2018 to Vancouver Warriors. In 2005, Saskatchewan Rush became the fourth Canadian team playing in NLL, joining the Warriors, Toronto Rock and Calgary Roughnecks.

Answer: Montreal Maroons

Montreal Maroons were members of the NHL between 1924 and 1938 and as well as their two Stanley Cup wins, also lost in the final in 1928 when they were defeated by the New York Rangers 3-2 in a best of five series. One of the Maroons best known players was goaltender, Clint "Benny" Benedict, who at a time when dropping to the ice was illegal, forced the NHL to make a major rule change allowing this "Praying Benny" move which he used to stop the puck.

Benedict was also the first NHL goaltender to wear a face mask, when he wore one during the 1929-30 season. This was short lived though and he used it for just five games as it obscured his vision and it would be another 30 years before a goaltender regularly wore a mask, that being Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens.

Answer: Ice Hockey

Calgary Inferno ceased operations when the league, the Canadian Women's Hockey League, folded at the end of the 2019 season, after being in operation since 2007. The league started as a women's league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal and Ottawa before expanding into Alberta in 2011, at which time the Inferno were known as the Alberta Honeybadgers, before changing their name the following season.

Well known players that have played for the Inferno include Jessica Wong, Jess Jones, Jillian Saulnier and Blayre Turnbull who scored two goals in their 2016 Clarkson Cup defeat of the Canadiennes de Montreal and an assist against the same team when Inferno were victorious in the 2019 final.

Answer: Montreal Expos

Montreal Expos played in the National League from 1969 to 2004, when falling attendances led to financial concerns and the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C., and became the Washington Nationals. Despite their longevity, the Expos never won any major honours, but they did pave the way for the most successful Canadian MLB team, the Toronto Blue Jays who won back to back World Series in 1992 and 1993.

Answer: Rough Riders

The Ottawa Rough Riders should not be confused with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, although the two teams did both play in the CFL from its formation in 1958 until the demise of the Rough Riders in 1996. The city of Ottawa went five long years without CFL football following the Rough Riders expiry, until in 2001 a new team was formed, the Ottawa Renegades, who entered the CFL in 2002, although this franchise was short lived, ceasing operations after the 2005 season.

In 2008, a new team was born, who although they pay homage to the Rough Riders with their uniform, are called the Ottawa Redblacks, so there can be no confusion between the Rough Riders and the Roughriders.