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History of Ice Hockey
Ice hockey is
undoubtedly one of the top four most popular games in
North America. According to Montreal Gazette records,
the first organized indoor game of ice hockey was
played in Montreal on March 3, 1875. In 1877 five
McGill University students, namely James Creighton,
Henry Joseph, Richard F. Smith, W. F. Robertson and W.
L. Murray, invented seven ice hockey rules. In 1883 it
was part of the Montreal's annual Winter Carnival. Lord
Stanley of Preston, the governor general of Canada,
attended the carnival in 1888 and witnessed a game of
hockey. He was so impressed by the game that he decided
to award the best team with a championship trophy. Then
“The Stanley Cup” was first awarded to the
champion amateur team in Canada. Till date, “The
Stanley Cup” is awarded to the National Hockey
League's championship team. Houghton, MI is the
birthplace of professional USA ice hockey, when the
Portage Lakers were formed in 1899.
Now, National
Hockey League or NHL is the largest organization of
professional ice hockey in North America. Presently,
NHL encompasses thirty professional ice hockey teams
from US and Canada. Each team in the NHL plays 82 games
and NHL has a unique system of ice hockey player
rankings based on the hockey player statistics,
commonly known as the NHL player ranking. The hockey
player statistics that are considered for the NHL
player ranking include number of games, goals, assists,
plus/minus and other parameters. Apart from the NHL
player ranking, National Hockey League also brings out
rankings of the NHL goaltenders. The hockey player
statistics that are used to determine if the NHL
goaltenders ranking are number of games, win, loss,
number of saves, goals against, shots against etc.
These ice
hockey player rankings are very much effective for
judging the performance of the players in the
professional circuit. The performances of the
professional USA ice hockey players are regularly
monitored to produce updated ice hockey player
rankings.
Hockey is also
played on at other levels, like the US college ice
hockey and University and youth hockey etc. Following
are some of the major Hockey Leagues in North America
other than NHL,
Professional
Minor
professional:-
Amateur
Leagues:-
Major
junior
US college ice
hockey leagues
Junior
College
Women
If you are
interested in ice hockey and NHL rankings but find it
difficult to follow the game, here we are presenting
some terms that are commonly used in the game.
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Plus/Minus - Plus/minus measures the team
goal differential when a specific player is on the
ice.
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Save Percentage - Save percentage (SV%,
SVP, PCT) is calculated by dividing the number of
saves by the total number of shots on goal.
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Goals Against Average - It is the mean of
goals allowed per game by a goaltender.
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Goaltender - The goaltender (or goalie or
netminder) is the player who defends his team's
goal net.
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Official - An official is a person who
has the responsibility of enforcing the rules or
maintaining the order of the game.
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Power Play - In ice hockey, a team is
said to be on a power play when at least one
opposing player is serving a 2-minute minor
penalty, and the team has a numerical advantage on
the ice
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Five on Three - Five on three is a term
used in ice hockey when one team has had two
players sent to the penalty box.
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Faceoff - A faceoff is the method used to
begin the play in ice hockey.
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