Some old-time NHL fans lament the days of the Original Six, when the league consisted of just the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers. Those were the days!

"Original" is quite the misnomer: the league actually REDUCED itself to six teams in 1942. From its creation in 1917 up to that point, there were years with as many as 10. Teams with such forgotten names as the Quebec Bulldogs, the Philadelphia Quakers, and the St. Louis Eagles.

Many of those are lost in history; not so the Montreal Maroons. The Canadiens' cross-town cousins actually won the Stanley Cup three times, before leaving the league in 1938. Its champions in 1926 included Sam Rothschild, the first Jewish player in NHL history.

Rothschild also played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (not THOSE Pittsburgh Pirates) and the New York Americans, before switching from hockey to curling. (He is actually a member of the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame!) The NHL expanded in 1967 to 12 teams, and is now at 31. Many of these teams are filled with young Jewish hopefuls that followed Rothschild's trailblazing footsteps... or not.

Perhaps "trailblazing" is also a misnomer.