"Hockey players have fire in their hearts and ice in their veins." – Anon
Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on an ice rink (either indoor or outdoor) that is known for its fast pace and ferociously physical nature. Essentially, teams of skaters use sticks to shoot a puck into their opponent's net to score goals, but the game’s sheer passion often leads to fouls, fights, and lost teeth! The sport is popular in North America – where the world’s premier competition, the National Hockey League (NHL) is played – as well as across European countries.
📜 Ice Hockey History
The origin of ice hockey is debated, and many try to lay claim to its invention. It is believed to have developed from a stick and ball game in the United Kingdom in the early 1700s. When brought to North America, the game evolved, and the recognised sport of ice hockey was born in Canada with the first indoor hockey game being played in March 1875.
The first professional hockey league (Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC)) started around 1900 and the most famous trophy is the Stanley Cup, first awarded in 1893 to recognise the Canadian amateur champion and is now the championship trophy of the NHL.
The sport is also popular throughout Europe in countries such as Finland, Sweden, Czechia, and the UK where the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) is the top level of competition.
💯 Ice Hockey Format & Scoring
The objective of ice hockey is to score more goals than the opposing team to win the game. Each goal is a score of 1. Each play begins with a faceoff – where the puck is dropped between 2 opposing players who battle to win possession – and ends when an official blows the whistle or a goal is scored.
Each team has 5 skaters and a goaltender on the ice during regulation time. Substitutions are permitted during play with players skating for short sharp periods before switching depending on defensive or offensive play. Generally, games are contested over 3 x 20-minute periods. If teams are drawing after this time, the game goes to 5-minute sudden-death overtime where the first goal wins. If the game is still tied after overtime, it goes to a shootout.
A game usually has 4 officials whose sharp eyes are all needed for spotting penalties and offences like offside (when players enter the offensive zone before the puck gets there) or icing (when a team shoots from its side of the centre red line across the opposing goal line). The officials need to be fantastic skaters as well as they often need to jump out of the way of players, sticks, and the puck!
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) is the global governing body of the sport and arranges tournaments such as the Ice Hockey World Championships. Each country or region has its own organisations that arrange domestic leagues.
