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[jekoh]

Yeah that's pretty much what i wrote cowboy. However, not seldom many of them probably have some swedish in them way back.

No you wrote "any Bergman is Swedish, the name anyway", but the name does not necessarily say anything about ethnicity. Even "way back" there is not necessarily any Swedish ancestor to someone with a Swedish name. There was nothing stopping an ethnic Finn from choosing a Swedish surname, and many did just that. The same is true of other languages and other countries.

 

[Pominville Knows]

No you wrote "any Bergman is Swedish, the name anyway", but the name does not necessarily say anything about ethnicity. Even "way back" there is not necessarily any Swedish ancestor to someone with a Swedish name. There was nothing stopping an ethnic Finn from choosing a Swedish surname, and many did just that. The same is true of other languages and other countries.

Yeah, but anyway i wonder if not many norwegians spell the -sson with only one s like Anderson. I wonder why some of them do any of it since as far as i know -sen is the word in their language. Ehh, i dont know.

 

[Killion]

Over 1.4M Canadians have Norwegian ancestry. Most notably...

Glen Anderson
Jeff Friesen
Cliff Ronning
All 4 Staal Brothers

.... beyond that however the pickins are slim. You'd have to dig through
ancestry.com Id imagine, start playing 6 Degree's of Kevin Bacon, making some links.

 

[nutbar]

I'm pretty sure the Staals are Dutch.

 

[ARoggy94]

Cool thread, but I believe Mike Richards is from Ontario with English heritage!

kidding

 

[sr edler]

Team Netherlands.

Pat Veerbeek – Steve Yzerman – Trevor Linden
James van Riemsdyk – Joe Nieuwendyk – Eric Staal
Ed Beers – Jordan Staal – Kris Versteeg
John Wensink – Ed van Impe – Mike van Ryn

Jay Bouwmeester – Jeff Beukeboom
John van Boxmeer – Marc Staal
Karl Dykhuis – Ed Kea

Vanbiesbrouck is flemish|belgian though so the goalie position is a tough one. Also had to put some defensemen on the fourth line.

 

[Killion]

^^^ Wiki has the Staals' listed as being of Norwegian extraction. So I looked it up on surname origin pages as I feared this thread would ultimately lead.... sigh..... The surname Staal appears to originate from Germany, the old Prussian Territories, Bavaria & Austria, crossing in to Norway though it also, with van Staal & van der Staal has deep roots in Holland, particularly amongst the Dutch Mennonite Community.

 

[sr edler]

^ van or van der could easily have been dropped. Trevor Linden's grandfather for example changed from van der Linden.

 

[nutbar]

Team Netherlands.

Pat Veerbeek – Steve Yzerman – Trevor Linden
James van Riemsdyk – Joe Nieuwendyk – Eric Staal
Ed Beers – Jordan Staal – Kris Versteeg
John Wensink – Ed van Impe – Mike van Ryn

Jay Bouwmeester – Jeff Beukeboom
John van Boxmeer – Marc Staal
Karl Dykhuis – Ed Kea

Vanbiesbrouck is flemish|belgian though so the goalie position is a tough one. Also had to put some defensemen on the fourth line.

You forgot Dan Hamhuis. Also you could put some 1980 Olympians on the fourth line like Jack de Heer and Dick Decloe. For goalies I guess you're left with 1980 Dutch Olympians as well so that is a weak spot.

 

[Killion]

^ van or van der could easily have been dropped. Trevor Linden's grandfather for example changed from van der Linden.

Oh ya, for sure. His father & Uncle have a Sod Farm in the Thunder Bay area, the Dutch well noted for their Green Thumbs so its possible wiki's got it wrong. However the name Staal like Mann for example fairly widely traveled. The anglicization of names in so many cases though and without notation can and does cause errors with respect to determining points of origin & ancestry in many an instance. Your left trying to unwind some massive puzzle and where does it lead or what does it even matter 100, 200, 300 or 400+ years later? People of mixed ancestry married. Had children. As much Ukrainian as Irish, or French as they are English and as the centuries rolled along, further offspring marrying perhaps Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish or whatever, the surnames origins beyond irrelevant.

 

[mbhhofr]

Id imagine, start playing 6 Degree's of Kevin Bacon, making some links.

I can't resist.

I was a Linesman, Chicago vs Mn. North Stars.
Eric Nesterenko played for Chicago and was Rob Lowes father in the movie Youngblood.
Patrick Swayzie was in Youngblood and The Outsiders.
Tom Cruise was in the Outsiders and A Few Good Men.
Kevin Bacon was in A Few Good Men.

 

[Killion]

^^^ A Few Good Men Beer League in Morden Manitoba. Posters home Province. 6th Degree of mbhhofr. Full Circle.

 

[Appleyard]

Oh ya, for sure. His father & Uncle have a Sod Farm in the Thunder Bay area, the Dutch well noted for their Green Thumbs so its possible wiki's got it wrong. However the name Staal like Mann for example fairly widely traveled. The anglicization of names in so many cases though and without notation can and does cause errors with respect to determining points of origin & ancestry in many an instance. Your left trying to unwind some massive puzzle and where does it lead or what does it even matter 100, 200, 300 or 400+ years later? People of mixed ancestry married. Had children. As much Ukrainian as Irish, or French as they are English and as the centuries rolled along, further offspring marrying perhaps Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish or whatever, the surnames origins beyond irrelevant.

The Staals are Dutch. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=2550260

The name used in parts of Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark though as well. But the name is IMO pretty common in the east of the Netherlands (Groningen area... right next to Germany and not far from Denmark! I have seen it on shopfronts there, and Ede Staal is an icon for some people from round there... he was a singer in the Netherlands years ago.) though I have met an Amsterdammer with the name as well.

There are a lot of ambiguous names though.

My mothers surname is now pretty exclusively used in England (though rare)... but I know a few generations ago it was also around in the Netherlands, and variations are common in the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia.

A relative with a published background in history started researching the name...

And while most name sites have it listed as English due to its location now, the name itself is listed in books from the 1800's and before as of Norse origin with originally a different spelling!

So while I know the name was 900-1000 years ago from either Norway or Lower Sweden the next 900-1000 years are pretty murky... no idea if they came to England with the Vikings, possibly via Iceland, Scotland etc, or the Dutch who came over in the 16-1700's, or some other time from Scandinavia... or maybe through Germany; as it was used in Old High German as well!

 

[Mayor Bee]

I'm of Hungarian and Welsh stock, so an ice hockey team of my ancestry would suck big time.

A first line of ethnic Hungarians would probably be Gaborik, Nagy, and Palffy.

 

[Appleyard]

You forgot Dan Hamhuis. Also you could put some 1980 Olympians on the fourth line like Jack de Heer and Dick Decloe. For goalies I guess you're left with 1980 Dutch Olympians as well so that is a weak spot.

Jeff Heerema or Chris VandeVelde could be on the 4th as well.

Slater Koekkoek could go on D as well. Greg De Vries another alt for D.

Dan Bylsma could coach.

They are all certainly of Dutch origin.

 

[Appleyard]

^ van or van der could easily have been dropped. Trevor Linden's grandfather for example changed from van der Linden.

Yep; though not in Staals case... it just means Steel, and is a name in its own right!

 

[Mike Martin]

Gretzky has to be an ethnic Ukrainian. There was a huge Ukrainian minority living in Belarus and Poland which was held down by the Tsars and Stalin. Gretzky himself seems to flip-flop back and forth on whether he is Polish or Belarussian but I still think he's actually Ukrainian.

 

[Mike Martin]

Imagine if we could have seen Pat LaFontaine in his prime playing in the Olympics for Team France...

 

[Appleyard]

More Dutch:

Goalie:

Doug Soetaert (there is your Goalie!)

D:

Tom Kurvers (don't know how I did not have that one down straight away!)
Steve Dykstra
Jamie Doornbosch (Played for the Isles recently.)
Shaun Van Allen (I imagine he is... but I can only think it is a miswrite/shortening of 'Van der Hallen'.)
Darren Van Impe


F:
BJ Crombeen (Never thought about it before... but he is certainly of Dutch origin!)
Mike Crombeen
Garry Valk (would be on the team)
Laurie Boschman (could well be on the team)
Mark Janssens
Cam Janssen
Lance Bouma
Ed Hoekstra
Ryan VandenBussche
Peter Vandermeer
David van der Gulik
Wayne van Dorp
Brent Severyn (not sure... it could be, but it is not really a typical Dutch name.)
Jared Boll (easily could be, but could be German.)
Ralph Klassen (maybe a form of Klaassen?)
Tommy Wingels (could be Dutch or Belgian.)

 

[Mike Martin]

Form an all Italian team of current or ex-NHL'ers...

 

[Appleyard]

Over 1.4M Canadians have Norwegian ancestry. Most notably...

Glen Anderson
Jeff Friesen
Cliff Ronning
All 4 Staal Brothers

.... beyond that however the pickins are slim. You'd have to dig through
ancestry.com Id imagine, start playing 6 Degree's of Kevin Bacon, making some links.

Travis Moen must have. Very Norwegian name.

Oh, Dustin Byfuglien as well. (on the border of Canada!)

Gaustad maybe? It would make sense with the structure.

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

That Dutch team is looking better and better. One of you guys should grab a phone book and see if you can find any van der Gretzky's .

 

[Appleyard]

That Dutch team is looking better and better. One of you guys should grab a phone book and see if you can find any van der Gretzky's .

I am shocked at how many I never thought of as Dutch... just because of the setting!

Kurvers, Crombeen, Wingels, Janssen and Valk I never even thought of!

And all are obviously Dutch (Wingels could be Flemish probably) names when I think about it for a second.

Valk especially... it literally just means 'Falcon.'

And Janssen is like the most common name in NL... by far! Weird how your mind places things.

 

[Appleyard]

Phil Kessel I suppose could be Dutch. If the van was dropped. van Kessel is a Dutch name.

But more likely German.

Oh... Calvin de Haan is definitely Dutch as well.

Paul Laus maybe... German or Dutch/Flemish.

Bill Quackenbush could be as well... but changed from Kwaakenbos. That would make a lot of sense.

Dennis Ververgaert... ofc! I should have got that a while back... him being a Flyer who was in a Final.

Vermette could be Vermetten I suppose. That would make sense...

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

Gretzky has to be an ethnic Ukrainian. There was a huge Ukrainian minority living in Belarus and Poland which was held down by the Tsars and Stalin. Gretzky himself seems to flip-flop back and forth on whether he is Polish or Belarussian but I still think he's actually Ukrainian.

Its possible. I know my uncle considered himself Polish because his dad was Polish, but his mother Ukrainian. I don't know if there are any consistencies in the endings of surnames, but I always thought that if a name ended in ski it was Polish. However, sky can be Slovakian and Ukrainian. And let's face it, that part of Europe and Russia was disrupted many times over the past number of centuries; people on the run from wars, displaced, changing their names to elude persecution, etc...