In 1927, after having just been fired by the Rangers, Conn Smythe took the winnings from a horse race and bought the Toronto St. Pats hockey team, renaming them the Maple Leafs.
Impressed with how brilliantly Canadians had fought in the First World War, Smythe named his new team after the soldiers’ maple leaf insignia.
Smythe is the man who said of hockey, “If you can’t beat them in the alley, you can’t beat them on the ice.”
Related Posts
-
How Did Toronto Get its Name, What Does Toronto Mean, and When Was the Largest City in Canada Founded?
There are those who say that "Toronto" was a First Nations chief, while others insist the name refers to a Native tribe. Still others contend the name was derived from the Huron word…
-
How Did the Montreal Habs Get their Name and and What Does the Hockey Team’s Logo Stand For?
The Montreal Canadiens began as an all–French Canadian hockey team that would be an honest representation of the Province of Quebec. Their nickname, the Habs, is an abbreviation of les habitants, meaning "those…
-
How Did the New Jersey Devils Get Their Name and Where Did the Hockey Team Come From?
The New Jersey Devils began their NHL life as the Kansas City Scouts. Their tenure there lasted only till 1978, when the NHL approved the team's move to Denver as the Colorado Rockies.…
-
How Did the Boston Bruins Get Their Name and Where Does the Name of the Hockey Team Mean?
In the 1920s, Charles Adams held a city-wide contest to name his new Boston hockey team. Because the colors of his Brookside Department Stores were brown and yellow, he insisted that the team…
-
How Did the City of Toronto Get its Nickname “Hogtown” and How Did “Cabbagetown” Originate?
Toronto became "Hogtown" in the 1890s, when meat packing was one of the city's principal industries. Animals of all kinds, including the squealing hogs, were off-loaded at the railway yard to be processed…
-
What Are the Largest Canadian Cities In Population and How Many People Live In the City of Toronto?
Toronto is the largest Canadian city in population, and had about 2.39 million people living in its metropolitan area in 2001. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality…
