Search for ""

The Québec Nordiques were a hockey team. An original World Hockey Association franchise (1972), the Nordiques won the WHA championship in 1977, and 2 of their stars, Marc Tardif and Réal Cloutier, won the last 4 WHA scoring titles (1976-79).

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a hockey team that plays in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Maple Leafs are one of the "Original Six" NHL teams, and have won the Stanley Cup 13 times (11 as the Maple Leafs, one as the Arenas and one as the St. Patricks).

Club de Foot Montréal (also CF Montréal, CFM or CFMTL) is a men’s professional soccer team  that plays in Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was founded as L’Impact de Montréal or the Montreal Impact in 1992. It changed its name and brand identity on 14 January 2020. The team plays at Stade Saputo in Montreal and is operated by the Saputo family (see Lino Saputo). L’Impact played in various professional soccer leagues before joining MLS for the 2012 season. L’Impact won the Voyageurs Cup six times (2002–07) and the Canadian Championship three times (2008, 2013, 2014). The club has made it to MLS playoffs three times (2013, 2015, 2016), getting as far as the Eastern Conference finals in 2016. In 2015, they became the first Canadian club to reach the CONCACAF Champions League final. Club de Foot Montréal is one of three MLS franchises in Canada, including Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

The Edmonton Grads (1915–40) was a women’s championship basketball team coached by Percy Page. During their 25 years as a team, the Grads won an astounding 95 per cent of their matches. The Grads were national and world champions, often defeating their opponents by lopsided scores. The team won the Underwood International Trophy (USA–Canada) for 17 years straight (1923 to 1940), and was undefeated in 24 matches held in conjunction with the Olympic Summer Games in 1924, 1928 and 1936. The Grads were named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.

The Edmonton Elks (formerly the Edmonton Football Team, or EE Football Team, and the Edmonton Eskimos) is a community-owned football team that plays in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). In the CFL’s modern era (post-Second World War), the team has won the second-most Grey Cup championships (14). This included three victories in a row from 1954 to 1956 and an unprecedented five straight championships from 1978 to 1982. The club also holds the North American professional sports record for reaching the playoffs in 34 consecutive seasons (1972–2005). Notable alumni include former Alberta premiers Peter Lougheed and Don Getty, former lieutenant-governor of Alberta Norman Kwong, former Edmonton mayor Bill Smith, and former NFL star Warren Moon.

The Edmonton Oilers are a hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) and are based in Edmonton, Alberta. The Oilers have won five Stanley Cup championships.

Hockey is Canada's national winter game and arguably its greatest contribution to world sport, and this prowess undeniably translates to the Olympic arena as well.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional team in the Canadian Football League (CFL). The franchise dates back to the formation of the Hamilton Football Club (the Tigers) in November 1869. The Tigers and another Hamilton football team, the Wildcats, amalgamated as the Tiger-Cats for the 1950 season and played in the Inter-provincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU). The IRFU became the Eastern Conference of the CFL in 1960. Since the early 20th century, the Tigers and Tiger-Cats have been associated with a tough, physical brand of football that reflects the blue-collar roots of Hamilton as an industrial city. The team’s iconic cheer, “Oskie Wee Wee, Oskie Waa Waa, Holy Mackinaw, Tigers… Eat ’em Raw!” is well known throughout Canada and dates back to the early 20th century. The Tiger-Cats have won the Grey Cup 13 times, including five times as the Tigers.

The Montreal Canadiens are the oldest professional hockey team in the world and one of the most storied franchises in professional sports. Founded in 1909 and officially called the Club de Hockey Canadien, the team (also known as the Les Habitants, or Habs for short) is the only existing National Hockey League (NHL) franchise to have formed prior to the league’s inception in 1917. One of the NHL’s “Original Six,” it is the only team to have operated continuously throughout the league’s history. The Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cup championships — more than any other organization — and have appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals 35 times, most recently in 2021. More than 60 Canadiens players and personnel have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, including such legendary figures as Howie Morenz, Georges Vézina, Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Jacques Plante, Henri Richard, Jean Béliveau, Ken Dryden, Guy Lafleur and Patrick Roy.

The Toronto Argonauts are a professional football team in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Formed in 1873 as part of the Argonaut Rowing Club, the team has won 18 Grey Cup championships, the most of any team in the history of Canadian football. In total, the Argonauts have appeared in 24 Grey Cup games, losing only six. (The Grey Cup has also been won by two other Toronto teams — the University of Toronto Varsity Blues and Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers — for a combined 25 championships for the city.)

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a football team in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Blue Bombers have alternated between the league’s West Division and East Division. They have been part of the West Division since 2014. Since its founding in 1930, the team has won 12 Grey Cup championships. In 2019, the team won its first Grey Cup since 1990 when it defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33–12. After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blue Bombers defeated Hamilton in the 2021 Grey Cup by a score of 33–25. It marked the team’s first back-to-back championship since 1962, and the first in the CFL since the Montreal Alouettes in 2010.

The Winnipeg Jets are a professional hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The original Winnipeg Jets competed in the World Hockey Association (1972–79) and in the National Hockey League (1979–96). The team was sold to American interests in 1996 and moved to Arizona, becoming the Phoenix Coyotes (now the Arizona Coyotes). In 2011, True North Sports & Entertainment Limited bought the struggling Atlanta Thrashers franchise and relocated it from Georgia to Winnipeg, renaming the team the Winnipeg Jets. Forbes magazine placed the value of the Jets at US$375 million in 2017, and at US$650 million in 2022.

The following article is a feature from our Vancouver Feature series. Past features are not updated.

The RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) Flyers was a men’s amateur hockey team comprised mostly of RCAF personnel that was assembled quickly to represent Canada at the 1948 Winter Olympics. After losing exhibition games in Canada, the media declared the team a national embarrassment. Several roster changes improved the team and it won the Gold Medal at the Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

For many Canadians, particularly baby boomers and Generation X, the eight-game hockey series between Team Canada and the national team of the Soviet Union in September 1972 provided the greatest moment in Canada’s sporting history. Most expected that Canada would handily defeat the Soviet Union, but this confidence quickly disappeared when Canada lost the first game. The series was tied heading into the final game in Moscow, which ended in dramatic fashion, with Paul Henderson scoring in the final seconds to give Canada the victory. The series became as much a Cold War political battle of democracy versus communism and freedom versus oppression as it was about hockey. The series had a lasting impact on hockey in Canada and abroad.

Team Canada’s roster of 35 players for the 1972 series against the Soviet Union was announced by coach and general manager Harry Sinden on 12 July 1972, during a press conference in Toronto. This initial roster included many of the best-known players in the NHL, although a few (like Dave Keon) were conspicuously absent. Changes soon had to be made, however, as players like Bobby Hull signed with the rival World Hockey Association (WHA) and were therefore excluded from the team. Another Canadian star, Bobby Orr, was sidelined with a chronic knee problem.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup took place from 20 November to 18 December 2022. The 22nd edition of the World Cup was the first to be held in an Arab nation: Qatar. It was Canada’s first men’s World Cup appearance since 1986. Canada qualified for the 2022 World Cup by finishing first among CONCACAF qualifiers. Canada set numerous team and individual records throughout the qualifying campaign, most notably a CONCACAF record for the longest undefeated streak (17 games) in a qualifying campaign. Alphonso Davies scored Canada’s historic first-ever goal at a FIFA World Cup. Canada was eliminated in the first round after losing 1–0 to Belgium, 4–1 to Croatia and 2–1 to Morocco.

The Asahi was a Japanese Canadian baseball club in Vancouver (1914–42). One of the city’s most dominant amateur teams, the Asahi used skill and tactics to win multiple league titles in Vancouver and along the Northwest Coast. In 1942, the team was disbanded when its members were among the 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were interned by the federal government (see Internment of Japanese Canadians). The Asahi were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003 and the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.