NHL Nicknames Multiple Choice Quiz | 10 Questions

Answer: Teemu Selanne

Coming onto the scene during the 1992-93 season, Selanne would establish himself as a natural scorer during what many hockey analysts dubbed the "Dead Puck Era". In his rookie season, he would score 76 goals and 56 assists setting a record for goals in a rookie season.

After four seasons, he would play with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for much of the remainder of his career. With the Ducks, he would go on to score two 50 goal seasons and three 40 goal seasons. He would retire with 684 goals and 773 assists and would go on to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017.

Answer: Gordie Howe

Gordie Howe began his NHL career as a member of the Detroit Red Wings during the 1946-47 season. His rookie year, in which he scored 7 goals and 15 assists, was less than stellar. Within four seasons, however, he would come to dominate the NHL with offensive prowess. During his career, he led the league in goals four times and the NHL in points six times.

He was also designated a separate nickname for hat trick variation known as the "Gordie Howe hat trick" in which a player records a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game.

In 1973 he would go on to play in the World Hockey Association (WHA) for six seasons before returning to the NHL with the Hartford Whalers in the 1979-80 season. He would play 80 games and record 41 points in his final season.

Answer: Don Cherry

Don Cherry played one professional game of hockey for the Boston Bruins during the 1954-55 NHL playoffs, going scoreless. He spent most of his playing career in the American Hockey League between the 1950s and early 1970s. After retiring from playing, he became the coach of the Boston Bruins during the 1974-75 season and would go on to lose the Stanley Cup in two consecutive seasons between 1976 and 1978.

After his days as a coach, he became an analyst with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Hockey Night in Canada.

He also had a series of hockey videos that highlighted the great goals, saves, hits and fights in what are known as "Rock'em Sock'em Hockey".

Answer: Ken Linseman

Ken Linseman had an NHL career that began during the 1979-80 season and lasted fifteen seasons. He was not shy to the penalty box recording a total of 1,727 penalty minutes during his career. Despite being an agitator and taking penalties, he was also a good goal scorer and point-getter in which he also recorded 807 points during his career.

Answer: Georges Vezina

Hall of Fame goaltender Georges Vezina played during the early days of the NHL. He began his hockey career with the Montreal Canadiens during the 1910-11 season in the now defunct National Hockey Association (NHA). When the NHL began in 1917-18, he remained with the Montreal organization and would play there until his tragic death during the 1925-26 season when he contracted tuberculosis. During his NHL career he would go on to record 103 victories in 190 games.

He would also record 13 shutouts.

He was a member of the inaugural Hockey Hall of Fame selection in 1945. His nickname "Chicoutimi Cucumber" was derived from the fact that he was cool and calm while playing on the ice or "Cool as a cucumber".

Answer: Henri Richard

Henri "The Pocket Rocket" Richard was Maurice Richard's younger brother. So young of a brother he was (fifteen years younger), that by the time his older brother retired in 1960, he was just finishing out his fifth season as a professional player. During a career that spanned from 1955 until 1975, Henri Richard would go on to score 1,046 points in 1,256 games played.

He would win the Stanley Cup eleven times during his career and was a member of nine all-star games. Due to his stature in comparison to his older brother (who was much taller), he was dubbed the nickname "Pocket Rocket".

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979.

Answer: Guy Lafleur

"Lafleur" translated into English means "The Flower". Known for being an elite goal scorer, he would win five Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens during the 1970s. Not really given a tough hockey nickname, it was deceiving. He would record 399 minutes in penalties during his career.

He was more known for his scoring ability in which he finished off his career with 1,353 points. He would retire for the first time during the 1984-85 season after having a fallout with coach Jacques Lemaire.

In 1988, he came back out of retirement and played three more seasons with the New York Rangers and Quebec Nordiques. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988 just prior to his return to the NHL.

Answer: Bill Chadwick

Despite having lost vision in his one eye, Bill Chadwick would become one of the elite referees during the 1940s and 1950s. He was one of the early pioneers of hand signals for calling penalties. This system was officially adopted by the NHL in 1956, one year after his retirement. During his career, he refereed over 900 NHL games of which forty-two of them were Stanley Cup final games.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1964, becoming the first American-born referee to be inducted.

Answer: Mario Lemieux

Mario Lemieux, upon his retirement from the NHL as a player in 2005-06 was the record holder for goals, assists and points for the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise. He held many NHL records including shorthanded goals in a single season (with 13), most points in a single All-Star game (with 6) and was the only player to score 70 or more power play points in a single season (in which he did this three times). Hockey historians simply referred to his skill and level of hockey as "Magnificent".
He had multiple nicknames: "Super Mario"" was another.

Answer: Wayne Gretzky

In a career that spanned twenty seasons in the NHL from 1979 to 1999, Gretzky was able to pull off some of the greatest feats the NHL has ever seen. He set the NHL single season goal scoring record in 1981-82 by scoring an astounding 92 goals that year. With 120 assists to go with it, he set the point scoring record with 212 in a single season.

A few years later, he broke his own point scoring record when he recorded 52 goals, 163 assists (also an NHL record) for a grand total of 205 points. Following the 1988-89 season, he was sent to the Los Angeles Kings in what has been simply been dubbed as "The Trade". If Gretzky could be traded, anyone could be traded.

When he retired after the 1998-99 season, his jersey number (#99) was permanently retired by the NHL.

He was also unanimously waived from the four year waiting period for Hockey Hall of Fame elections being the sole player elected to the hall that year. He would finish out his career with an astounding 894 goals, 1,963 assists and 2,857 points in 1,487 career games.