103 Ice Hockey Facts That Will Get You Interested In The Sport
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The basic requirements to play an ice hockey game are two teams, skilled hockey players, hockey sticks, shin pads, and hockey pucks.
An interesting game, ice hockey is a game with a huge fan following, especially in North America. The National Hockey League is the official league of Canada in which teams play for the Stanley Cup.
Team executives leave no stone unturned to select the best hockey players and offer them all the required support, equipment, and coaching to win the coveted league. As a matter of fact, ice hockey is the most organized game in North America with a huge fan following across the continent.
However, do you ever wonder what distinguishes the game from hockey and other games?
Bobby Orr was the first player who got a million-dollar contract in 1971 where he received $200,000 per year for a five-year contract. The record for the highest points in a single game belongs to Darryl Sittler who scored 10 points in a game between two teams; the Bruins and Leafs.
Read on to know more about various aspects of ice hockey. Afterward, also check interesting baseball facts and hockey facts.
Fun Facts About Ice Hockey
The much-coveted National Hockey League (NHL) of the US, is the largest in the entire world. Founded on 26 November 1917 in Montreal, Canada, the NHL has 31 teams. 24 out of this number hail from the US and the rest from Canada.
Ice hockey was first played as an indoor game in Montreal of Canada on 3 March 1975.
In the 1800s the hockey pucks were made of cow poop! A cow poop patty, when frozen, can be used as a puck.
Even now, this tradition of freezing the puck continues. Now, you might be wondering why pucks are frozen before the game and the answer is that being frozen prevents the puck from too much bouncing.
Cow poop is no longer used to make hockey pucks. Now, they are made of hard rubber and frozen before each game to avoid uncontrolled movements and the dangers associated with this.
An ice hockey puck weighs around six ounces and has a diameter of 3 in (7.6 cm).
The first rubber pucks were made from Lacrosse balls, which were used in indoor games. Later, in 1885, changes occurred in the design of these balls by cutting the ball into thirds and then using its middle.
The word 'pucks' was born only in 1876 after the rubber pucks were designed in their present form. As their inception fell on the 7 February 1876, the day is dubbed to be the birthday of the hockey puck!
It’s rare to use one hockey puck in an NHL game. The last time this was done was in 1979, and the game appears in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
An average North American rink has a length of 200 ft (61 m) and a width of 85 ft (25.9 m). Regulation ice hockey nets, on the other hand, have a length of 4 ft (1.2 m) and a width of 6 ft (1.8 m).
The origins of ice hockey owe a lot to Canada and, therefore, the game is titled a Canadian sport.
If you want to trace the vivid history of ice hockey, there is the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, in Canada.
Though ice hockey falls in winter, it gives the players and spectators a chance to enjoy the game indoors. It is an indoor sport that sport-lovers love attending even in the snow-blanketed winters.
Ice hockey is a full-contact sport that is quite challenging and enduring for the players. It's quite vigorous and demands lots of energy.
Facts About The Ice Hockey Tournament
Here are a few astounding facts on the most popular hockey tournaments!
According to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, it is 'Montreal Canadiens' who have a groundbreaking record of maximum wins in the NHL. They could win the Stanley Cup 23 times and the last win was in 1993.
The Stanley Cup was introduced in 1893, while NHL only came into being in 1917.
The Stanley Cup couldn’t be awarded in two instances. One was during the Spanish Flu of 1919, the other was the NHL lockout that occurred in 2005.
Ice Hockey History
Interested in knowing some fascinating facts about the history of voice hockey? Read on to know more about the history of this popular team sport.
It’s believed that ice hockey was introduced by the stick and ball games played in the UK in the 18th and 19th centuries.
It can be said that ice hockey is thankful for bandy, hurling, and shinty games that are primarily stick and ball games played in these countries. The North American sport of Lacrosse also gained influence from ice hockey. Slowly, sports like shinny and ice polo were inherited by the Americans to codify a new game of ice hockey.
Facts About Ice Hockey's Rules
Are you aware of all the ice hockey rules? If not, then here are some interesting facts about ice hockey rules.
There will be face-offs before the game commences and when it resumes after a stoppage. Two players from both teams will stand opposite to each other about a hockey stick’s blade apart and then the puck is dropped, after which players kick off the game to gain possession of the puck.
The puck should cross the goal line and when it does, it gifts a score to the team. The team with the highest score will be the winning team.
The puck, when in contact with the ice, will be hit with a hockey stick and struck to cross the goal line. Also, a deflection off the players, which can also include the goal-tenders, will be considered a goal.
Ice hockey matches are held in three phases, each spanning around 20 minutes. The clock alerts the timings for the players.
The ice rink has a series of red and blue lines. The red line divides the rink into two halves, the blue line divides the rink into three zones; a defending zone, a neutral zone, and an attacking zone.
When the attacking player crosses to enter the defending zone of the opponent team, he or she will be called offside, following which the game is halted and a face-off is called out.
When a player strikes the puck from their half past the opposing team’s goal line, without averting off or coming in touch with another player, play will be halted and the puck will be returned to the former team. This is termed icing.
There will be a referee along with linesmen to control the game and to make final decisions.
If a player misses a scoring opportunity due to an illegal action of a player from the opponent team, they will be awarded a penalty shot with no other players on the ice rink.
In North America and European countries, the sport is simply hockey. At the same, hockey in other countries stands for field hockey. In the northern region of Russia, bandy is referred to as 'Russian hockey'. Maybe just a matter of words, but these are played differently in different parts with varying rules!
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 103 Ice hockey facts that will get you interested in the sport then why not take a look at Argentina soccer facts, or basketball facts?
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