final words hi original proposer here i see there's pretty much no way of winning this one and bow to the overwhelming concensus i almost give up i like kevlar 's suggestion regarding the spelling in articles about the nhl or any other us centric ice hockey article i checked around and the spellings are defencemen in the nhl article and probably many other places that might have a better arguement for it there i will raise the question again in the future after i find out how defens ceman is spelled or if it is in the inscription on the james norris memorial trophy