Ice Hockey: Difference between revisions

Someone roars, "BOBBY SCORES" at the good ol' hockey game!''|'''[[Canadian Music|Stompin' Tom Connors]]''', "The Hockey Song" <!--[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jYzABMePJk "The Hockey Song"] the embedded Youtube link is breaking the display of the entire attribution -->}}

{{quote|"Hello Canada and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland..." <ref>Note that this is not a [[My Friends and Zoidberg]] joke, but rather during Hewitt's heyday, Newfoundland was a Dominion (a country quasi-independent countryof Great Britain); it didn't become a Canadian province until 1949</ref>|'''Foster Hewitt''''s traditional opening lines for [[Hockey Night in Canada]]}}

Hockey is to [[Canada, Eh?|Canada]] (as well as the Northern United States and parts of Europe) what [[The Beautiful Game|association football]] is to the rest of the world. It is an obssessionobsession, a [[Serious Business|religion]] that unifies Canadians of every race and colour. It is also our official national winter sport.<ref>Lacrosse, a native American game that's very similar to hockey, is the official national summer sport. And [http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/n-16.7/page-1.html here's the law that makes it so.]</ref> Hockey's true origins are uncertain, but the most widely believed story is that the game was created by a group of British colonists settling in Canada who were trying to create a winter version of rugby. Early versions of the game followed many of the offensive rules of rugby (no forward passes, a large number of players on the ice at once) with the goal-scoring of association football. Years later, the forward pass was added and hockey began to form its own identity, while the game began to grow in popularity throughout Canada.

* Hockey is a nationally -engaging sport. Much like [[American Football]] and soccer, though, it also attracts those stereotypical college students who drink beer and riot after games. Even so, full-on riots are rare, and usually there are just loud parties that break out on (city name)'s main streets. There are some notable hockey-provoked riots (see the "Richard riot" in the [[Serious Business]] article) but they prove to be the exception rather than the norm. The typical hockey-watching crowd in Canada are mostly families huddled around the television or a guy inviting his buddies over to watch the game (with or without alcohol).

The [[National Hockey League]] (one of the oldest still-running leagues in sports) is currently the largest hockey league in the world, which as of 2011 consists of 30 teams across North America (seven from Canada, 23 from the United States), with a team in [[Las Vegas]] (as-yet unnamed in June 2016) to join the league in 2017. There are also many important leagues in Europe, such as Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga, Sweden's Elitserien and Russia's <s> Superleague </s> Kontinental Hockey League, but they usually sit in the NHL's humongous shadow. The dream of many, but not all, European players is to join the NHL, and if an NHL player is sent to a European league [[Unfortunate Implications|it's considered a demotion.]]

The NHL was formed in 1917 with five teams<ref>Toronto Arenas, Ottawa Senators, Montréal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Quebec Bulldogs</ref>. Three of these teams -- and four of the seven expansion teams to come in the '20s -- dissipated and by 1942, there were officially six NHL teams (commonly referred to as [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|The Original Six]]<ref>though it's something of a misnomer, since the only teams in that group who were part of the ''original'' NHL were the Montréal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs (who were called the Arenas at the time)</ref>: the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montréal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Boston Bruins. Following the 1966-67 season, the league expanded to twelve teams and over several decades reached the thirty-team mark that stands today.<ref>Including a revived Ottawa Senators.</ref>

* The '''goaltender''', or "goalie," defends his goal and is the last line of defense preventing the puck from going into the net. The goalie is the only member of the team who has special equipment; his legs have large pads, he has a catching glove in his strong hand and a rectangular "blocker" on his off-hand<ref>Most goalies have their stick and the blocker on the right hand, and the catching glove on the left. Notable "full right" goaltenders (which have the catching glove on the right) are Rick DiPietro and Thomas Vokoun</ref>. He also wears a specially hardened face mask.<ref>In the NHL, the goalie's mask nowadays is decorated to the goalie's preference, and doesn't necessarily match the colour scheme of the team's uniforms.</ref> He is the only player that ''cannot be hit'' on the ice: hitting him is an interference penalty. Nevertheless, the idea of the other team trying to interfere with the goalie and get away with it (the refs can't catch everything) is often what sparks roughhousing, at least in the NHL, as the other players will skate up to protect their man (though a few goalies don't mind getting rough themselves - see Ron Hextall and Patrick Roy<ref>Pronounced "Wah" (he is French Canadian), not "Roy" like in, say, ''[[Super Smash Brothers]]''.</ref>)

* The clock runs continuously until a goal is scored, the puck is sent out of play, or a infraction (like grabbing the puck with your glove) is committed, wherein the referee or linesmen blows his whistle to indicate a stoppage in play. This is referred to as a "whistle" and is also used as a verb ("And the play is whistled dead as the puck sails into the home team's bench").

* When a player commits an infraction (provided the ref sees and identifies it), play is stopped once the offending player's team touches the puck. Said team is then forced to play short-handed while the penalized player sits in the penalty box, or [[Fan Nickname|"sin bin"]], and can not be substituted. This gives the opposing team a "power play" for two minutes for a minor infraction or five minutes for a major <ref>The difference between the two is generally, but not always, a violation of rules for a minor, and an intent to cause injury for a major, but not always.</ref>. The penalized player returns to the ice when the other team scores a goal (on minor penalties only) or when the penalty's time runs out. If two players are in the penalty box, their team is forced to play with only three men (called a two man advantage). If a third players is then sent to the box, the third penalty will not begin until the first has ended, as teams cannot play with fewer then three players (plus goalie) on the ice<ref>If you've ever watched a game of hockey and been confused as to why the goalie keeps slapping his stick on the ice loudly, it's to alert his team that the powerplay is ended, and they're about to face off against a suddenly full-strength team</ref>.

** The goaltender will leave play for an extra attacker in the case of a "delayed" penalty, indicated when an official raises his hand but doesn't blow the whistle (indicating an infraction drawn by the defending team). In this situation, the penalty is not called until the defending team touches the puck; the goalie won't be facing any shots, so the extra attacker can press the offence. Also, if a team needs to tie the game or face losing near the end of the game, the coach will "pull the goalie" by taking the goalie off for another skater, to hopefully score the tying goal. It leaves the net open ("empty net") so the other team can score a goal very easily, but there's usually no difference for the losing team if they lose by one goal or two.

For those who need a more visual illustration of this information and more, you can go to [[CBC]] Sports' webpage for the shorts of the cartoon character, [http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey-content/hockeynightincanada/peterpuck/video/ Peter Puck].

=== Works thematically based on hockey: ===

=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===

=== [[Film]] ===

* ''[[Goon]]'': A sort of [[Spiritual Successor]] to [[Slap Shot]], focusing on the gritty world of enforcers in pro hockey.

{{smallcaps|=== [[Live -Action Television]]}}} ===

* ''Rent-A-Goalie'': An Italian-Canadian man runs a service in Toronto where pick-up hockey teams can [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|rent a goalie]].

=== [[Western Animation]] ===

[[Category:The Forties{{PAGENAME}}]]