Ice Hockey

Hockey or ice hockey is a team sport of seven players per side and separated into ‘wings’ with a right wing and a left wing, a centre, point, cover point, rover and the goaltender.

Hockey can be traced as far back as the Mi’kmaq First Nation in Canada, the Eastern area. The Scottish sport of ‘shinty’ (later known as ‘shinney’), the Irish game of hurling and a version of field hocke y played in England came together with their respective immigrants in Canada and was adapted for the ice. Early reports have men playing a form of hockey, with no standardized rules, in Nova Scotia. The early games known as hockey may have soaked up some of the physicality and aggressiveness of another sport from Nova Scotia – lacrosse.

Ice hockey is popular in many of the northern states where ice is prevalent a good part of the year, although there are now many more indoor ice rinks so that hockey can be played year-round. Canada; the Baltic States; Nordic countries like Finland and Sweden; Russia; Slovakia; Czech Republic and the Northern United States all have hockey leagues, teams or associations and a popular fan base because of the colder weather.

Ice hockey is one of the four major North American professional sports and the official winter sport in Canada. Worldwide there is the NHL – National Hockey League for men and for women there is the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL), founded in 2007, in addition to the Western Women’s Hockey League (WWHL) founded in 2004. Hockey is not as popular with women in the Untied States as it is in Canada and other States although; the U.S. Women’s Hockey team is making a strong showing this year at the winter Olympics.

The ‘Super Bowl’ of hockey is the Stanley Cup, named for the Canadian Governor General of 1892 when he purchased a decorative bowl to use as a trophy in place of the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup.

Today, Monday, February 22nd, 2010 is the 30th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice in which the U.S. Hockey Team bested the Russian team to win the Olympic Gold. However, the Olympics are being played on Canadian soil – or ice in this case and hockey is their sport. The U.S. Hockey Team beat the Canadian team Sunday night 5-3 in what could best be described as a ‘no holds-bar’ style match. Canada’s hockey team is known for their body-slamming checks in which they ‘finish the check’ going after whoever has or had the puck, forcing themselves into that player with all they have. In hockey, unlike other sports, checking or body-slamming is permitted and often encouraged.

The Canadians are looking for a victory in the hockey arena against whoever they have to play at the end of the tournament rounds, they are hoping for the Americans, but only time will tell.