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April 21, 2011

Lady Byng Trivia

Congratulations to Martin St. Louis, Nicklas Lidstrom and Loui Eriksson who were announced as finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and gentlemanly play.

In a recent Twitter conversation, Hockey Night In Canada's Jeff Marek and The Hockey News' Adam Proteau were debating how to revamp the Lady Byng Trophy in order to restore prestige and pride in the award. I suggested that if fans had a better idea of winners like Frank NighborFrank BoucherRed KellyDave Keon and Mike Bossy, there would be no lack of pride in winning the award.

With that in mind, here are a few Lady Byng trivia questions for you. I'll be answering these questions in real time on Twitter (so follow me @HockeyLegends). Otherwise I will update this post during the Boston/Montreal game with the answers.
  1. Who is Marie Evelyn Moreton? Answer - She is Lady Byng. That's her real name, while Lady Byng was her official title. She was the wife of Viscount Byng of Vimy, a Vimy Ridge war hero who was Governor General of Canada from 1921 to 1926.
  2. Lady Byng awarded the trophy for Sportsmanship and Gentlemanly play because she was so enamored with which player? Answer - Frank Nighbor aka The Pembroke Peach.  He was a brilliant two-way player with Ottawa in the 1920s, one of the most underrated superstars in history's eyes.
  3. This player won the award 7 times in an 8 year span. Who is he? Answer - Frank Boucher of the New York Rangers won the trophy every year except one between 1928 through 1935. Lady Byng was so happy with his performance she gave him the original trophy to keep at his home. The trophy was later destroyed in a house fire in 1962.
  4. This player interrupted the impressive trophy reign of the player in the previous question. Who is he? Answer - In 1932 Gentleman Joe Primeau won the Lady Byng. Leafs have won the Byng Trophy nine times - Gordie Drillon, Syl Apps, Sid Smith twice, Red Kelly, Dave Keon twice and Alexander Mogilny.
  5. Only two defensemen in history have ever won the Lady Byng. Can you name them? Answer - Detroit's Bill Quackenbush won the trophy in 1949, after a penalty free season which saw him on the NHL's First All Star Team. Detroit's Red Kelly won the trophy in 1951, 1953 and 1954, taking a combined 50 minutes in penalties over those three seasons. He was a First Team All Star in each of those seasons. Kelly won a 4th Byng trophy in 1961 with Leafs, but he played as a center that season.
  6. How many goalies have won the Lady Byng? Answer - zero!
  7. This player changed his style from one of the league's top penalty minute leaders to win back-to-back Lady Byng trophies. Who is he? Answer - Stan Mikita was one of the dirtiest players in the game, using his stick for far more than scoring goals. But one night his young daughter asked him why he was sent to the penalty box so much, Mikita could not give her an appropriate answer. He changed his style dramatically, winning the Byng Trophy in 1967 and 1968. Amazingly, in each of those years he also won the Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring leader and the Hart Trophy as Most Valuable Player - the only player to capture all three awards in the same season.
  8. Wayne Gretzky won the Lady Byng how many times? Answer - Five times. Only Boucher has more Byng Trophy wins than The Great One
Bonus Question: Chris Mizzoni of Nitzy's Hockey Den and I worked on this question together on Twitter. Which Lady Byng Trophy winner had the most penalty minutes in that winning season. The answer - Frank Nighbor (1925) and Billy Burch (1927) both had 40 PIMs. The modern record? Wayne Gretzky had 34 PIMs in 1992.

Join me on Twitter @HockeyLegends for more trivia!

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