Which professional sports league is represented by the picture of the two babies from the U.S. and Canada?

The two babies have jerseys representing two different ice hockey teams. One represents the Detroit Red Wings, a United States based team in the state of Michigan, located in the Midwest and the other baby represents the Toronto Maple Leafs, a Canadian ice hockey team located in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Both are members of the National Hockey League.

The origin of the National Hockey League (NHL) begins in 1917 with the end of its predecessor league, the National Hockey Association (NHA). Due to unresolved disputes between Eddie Livingstone (1884-1945) a Canadian sports team owner and manager and his fellow owners in the NHA, a new league was formed.

For the first quarter-century, the NHL saw the league compete with two rival major leagues- the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and the Western Canada Hockey League.

In 1924, the NHL expanded into the U.S. and after a few years had expanded to consist of ten teams in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, the Great Lakes Region of the U.S. and the Northeastern U.S.

The Great Depression and WWII reduced the league to six teams, later known as the “Original Six”, consisting of teams located in Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, New York and Boston.

In 1967, the era of only six teams ended when the NHL doubled in size adding six expansion teams. The NHL continued to expand over the years. At the start of the 2021/2022 season, there are 32 teams in the league- 25 U.S. and 7 Canadian.