Hamilton Bulldogs vs Maple Leafs and Senators in the Battle of Ontario?

The excitement builds, as the Battle of Ontario could now feature the 28th-place Phoenix Coyotes competing with the 24th-place Toronto Maple Leafs and the 22nd-place Ottawa Senators in the 30-team National Hockey League.

Ever since there was even the slightest hint that RIM/Blackberry billionaire Jim Balsillie wanted another NHL franchise in southern Ontario, there have been lots of suggestions about what the team should be called when it moves to Hamilton.

The team was called the Winnipeg Jets before it became the Phoenix Coyotes, so it doesn't have to be called the Hamilton Coyotes. It could be called the Hamilton Jets.

According to many hockey media outlets, Jim Balsillie has offered $212.5 million to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes if he can move them to Ontario.

There is some controversy over locating the team halfway between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres.Some say that instead of relocating the Coyotes to Southern Ontario, they should either move it back to Winnipeg, or perhaps start fresh in Quebec City.

Others say another location in southern Ontario would work, such as Kitchener-Waterloo, where Balsillie's BlackBerry offices are located, or Vaughan, just north of Toronto.

Jim Young of The Arizona Republic suggests a good name for the new team would be The Golden Horseshoes. That might bring them some luck!

I like the name Hamilton BlackBerries. How about the Hamilton Steelers?

An unsigned column in the Cheap Seats suggested the team could be called the Vaughan Sprawl or the Vaughan Mauls. If they go to Hamilton, call them the Hammer.

Hamilton is affectionately called the Hammer by many people—including prospective owner Balsillie.

Jack Porter, writing in Bleacher Report, came up with a lot of names, including the North Toronto Coyotes, Toronto Seneca or Mohawk, the Hamilton Steel Workers, and the Golden Horseshoe Mustangs.

The Hamilton Tigers was the name of Hamilton’s original NHL franchise, back in the 1920s. They played in the NHL from 1920–1925. After the 1919–20 season, when they finished last in the NHL with a horrible record of four wins and twenty losses in 24 games, the NHL took the Quebec Bulldogs franchise and sold the team to the owner of an ice company in Hamilton.

The Hamilton Bulldogs play in the American Hockey League.

Hamilton Mohawks might be too much like the Chicago Blackhawks.

One person, who wants to remain nameless, suggests that if the team stays in Phoenix, they should be renamed the Bettman Bulls.