Nickname Ology!

2011-03-12T00:06:00.006-05:00

Just like other sports, Hockey players go by many names other than their own. A hockey players "nickname" is mostly different than other sports however. Especially due to the amount of long last (and first) names of many hockey players, nicknames in hockey are more important than most other sports.

Also because of the fast-play of a hockey game, announcers are forced to use one syllable to describe a player at times as opposed to using four syllables in some cases.

The Detroit Red Wings are certainly no exception to this rule. With the large amount of Europeans on the Red Wings roster, it has become traditional when talking amongst friends, to use a players nickname instead of his (sometimes hard to pronounce) last name (or Surname).

In general, Hockey players have very basic names as their nicknames. Much like the sport, hockey nicknames are very work-man-like, as opposed to say, Basketball players nicknames.

Many Detroit fans would remember basketball players such as "Zeke", "The Spider", "The Worm", etc... Thankfully, these types of names generally aren't used in hockey. Except for the very best hockey players like "The Great One", "The Captain" or "Mr. Hockey", many hockey nicknames aren't very descriptive. In hockey, it's very difficult to earn a descriptive nickname.

Though, It's pretty easy to figure out what a hockey players nickname might be.

Usually, you can can take just a syllable of their name and add an "S", an "EY" or an "ER" and you will have a good nickname.

Example: "Dats" for Pavel Datsyuk.

Sometimes you'll run into a player that already has an "S" or "ER" or "EY" in his name, like Kris Draper. In this situation, it's best to go with the "S".

Example: Draper becomes "Drapes".

If a player is physically bigger than most other players, you might want to add the word "Big" before his first or last name to get a players nickname.

Example: "Big Bert" for Todd Bertuzzi or "Jumbo Joe" for San Jose forward, Joe Thornton.

Detroit Red Wings 2011 Players Nicknames

2011-03-12T00:02:00.004-05:00

CENTERS
13 Pavel Datsyuk : Pav, Pavs, Dots or Dats
51 Valtteri Filppula : Fils, Fil, Val, Flip, Flippula
43 Darren Helm : Speedy Gonzalez, Helms, Helmer
90 Mike Modano : Mo, Mikey Mo, Magic Mo
40 Henrik Zetterberg : Z, Hank

LEFT WINGS
8 Justin Abdelkader : Aby, Abs
93 Johan Franzen : The Mule, "Hans n Franz", Franzenstein, Shrek
96 Tomas Holmstrom : Homer, Demolition Man
26 Jiri Hudler : Huds
20 Drew Miller :

RIGHT WINGS
44 Todd Bertuzzi : Big Bert
11 Daniel Cleary : Clears
33 Kris Draper : Drapes
17 Patrick Eaves :

DEFENSE
52 Jonathan Ericsson : Big E, Big Ericsson, Big Rig
37 Doug Janik :
4 Jakub Kindl :
55 Niklas Kronwall : Kronners, Kronner, Nik Jr.
5 Nicklas Lidstrom : Nick, Lids
28 Brian Rafalski : Ralfi, Ralf
24 Ruslan Salei : Rusty
23 Brad Stuart : Stu, Big Stu, Stuey

GOALIES
35 Jimmy Howard : Howie
31 Joey MacDonald :
30 Chris Osgood : Ozzie, Wizard of Oz

MISC

HEAD COACH - Mike Babcock : Babs

ARENA NAME - Joe Louis Arena : The Joe

MASCOT - Octopus : Al The Octopus

unOfficial Detroit Red Wings Nicknames

Nickname Ology!

Detroit Red Wings 2011 Players Nicknames