Origins of Hockey

Hockey, a game played on ice using sticks to move a puck in order to score goals, has been a sport in one form or another since the early 1200s. While the game has changed drastically from the ball-and-stick rules once used, hockey is still a game that hearkens back to its roots. The popularity of hockey in countries like Canada, Russia and the United States stand as a witness to the sport's longevity and mass appeal.

Hockey's Timeline

While the Irish played a game similar to hockey known as "hurling," the game was played with a curved stick and a ball. When immigrants arrived in Canada in the 1800s, the Mimiac natives played a game like hurling, but played the game on ice with a square block, according to the book, "The History of Hockey." Still, the game was for amateurs only until 1904, when the International Pro Hockey League. It would fold in three years, but after World War One, the National Hockey League, or NHL was born in 1917 with five franchises: the Montreal Canadiens, the Montreal Wanderers, the Toronto Arenas, the Quebec Bulldogs, and the Ottawa Senators. Both the Canadiens and the Senators still play today.

Equipment

At first, hockey was a dangerous sport. Padding was nearly nonexistent, except when goalies would wear cricket chin pads to protect themselves from the puck, according to the NHL website. Goalies went without fave protection until 1959, and were permitted to play without a face mask until the late 1970s. Helmets were not required until the 1979 season where it became a league rule that head protection was a necessary piece of equipment on the ice. Hockey sticks had a sharp angle and a completely flat blade until the 1950s, when a player from the New York Rangers introduced the curved blade.

Professional Teams

From the original five NHL teams, two are still operating franchises. The Toronto Arenas became the Toronto Maple Leafs, perhaps one of the most recognizable and profitable franchises in hockey. Today, the NHL has 30 teams that play in six divisions, with five teams per division, notes ESPN. Given the popularity of hockey in Canada, it's surprising that only six teams in the league are actually Canadian, although it bears mentioning that as of 2006, 53 percent of NHL players were born in Canada, according to the Université de Moncton.

Olympic Hockey

The NHL isn't the only place that hockey players go to play. Many countries have national teams that play in annual championships and most notably, the Olympics. Hockey was added to the winter Olympics in 1924 after being introduced at the summer Olympics in 1920. Originally for amateur hockey players only, the NHL did not allow its players to try out for the national teams until 1998. Most recently, Canada took gold and the United States took silver in a nail-biter overtime game, solidifying the countries great hockey rivalry.