The Hockey Puck
Hockey is one of the most dangerous sports to play today, not because of the fast pace of the game, but because of the some of the equipment that is used. The most punishing and non forgiving piece of equipment in hockey is the puck. The word puck became mainstream in 1867 in Canada. It is possible that Halifax natives, who were Irish, introduced the word to Canada. The hockey puck has evolved over the years it came into existence just like the game itself. People have tried and failed to think of news ways to make a hockey puck, but only one way has proved itself to be the only one. Without the puck there would be no hockey culture. Lets lace up the skates and skate our way into what the hockey culture is and take a look at how the puck has created this culture from the beginning of its time.
Ice hockey is a sport that is played and loved all around the world. The hockey culture is like no other. I have firsthand experience with this culture and it’s different from many things. Hockey gets the reputation as a brutal sport with a bunch of goons trying to kill each other, but most people don’t get to see on the other side. Hockey brings people together whether you are a different race, have different beliefs, or a different gender it’s like one big happy family. Ice hockey wasn’t invented or it didn’t have a specific year it began. It all started around the 1800’s in Windsor, where three college students from King’s College, adapted their knowledge of the game field hockey to the ice, where a new winter sport was born. The boys called the game Ice Hurley which later got called to what we know today as Ice Hockey. As the years went by, the game was being played by soldiers across Canada, where it was carried o...
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...and hockey to people that didn’t live in cold climates. So Inline hockey was invented for those people. Inline hockey was introduced in the 1940’s by the NHL to help promote hockey across the country that didn’t have the privilege to play on ice. Inline hockey has all the same rules as hockey except there is one less person on each to on the rink at a time. The culture allows kids from different areas to enjoy some form of hockey and to be able to spark an interest in a sport.
The hockey puck has revolutionized the game of hockey to make it prosper from years to come. I feel like it has come along way from just being a rubber ball that was cut in has to all the improvement it has made. Who knows where the sport would be without the hockey puck. It has given people the chance to play a sport that they might love and might be able to make a living from playing it.
... milestone game in 1980, hockey in the United States has grown significantly at the professional and amateur levels. (USA Hockey, N.d.)
When the age arrived when fans became increasingly enthralled with hockey, these boards were no longer practical. This was where the conundrum started. Something was necessary to keep a hockey puck, hurdling at speeds
As stated in my thesis statement, the sport of hockey has been forced to compete with the growing mass popularity with other sports such as basketball and football. There once was a point in time where hockey had just as much popularity as those sports but because people are finding more interest in those sports, the National Hockey League found itself in a “drought” of unimportance with other sports. With not televising the sport as “commonly” as other sports.
Saul Indian Horse is an Ojibway child who grew up in a land which offered little contact with anyone belonging to a different kind of society until he was forced to attend a residential school in which children were being stripped away of their culture with the scope of assimilating them into a more “civilized” community. Saul’s childhood in the school, greatly pervaded by psychological abuse and emotional oppression, was positively upset once one of the priests, Father Leboutillier, introduced him to the world of hockey, which soon become his sole means of inclusion and identification, mental well-being and acknowledged self-worth in his life. It is though universally acknowledged how, for every medal, there are always two inevitably opposite
The most memorable moment in hockey history came thirty-four years ago with the 1980 Miracle on Ice. The Americans defeating the dominant Soviet team at the Olympics was not only an important triumph for USA Hockey, but for the entire nation. Contrary to popular belief, the underdog win was not only the result of a miracle; it was also the result of a hard-working team led by Coach Herb Brooks. With increasingly negative views on the position of the United States in the Cold War, the Miracle on Ice and the gold medal win lifted the spirits of the nation and brought hockey into the American spotlight.
The sport of hockey has a long proud history of being one of the best sports in the
Thomas Raddall, a Canadian historical analyst, once said, “When the soldiers were transferred to military posts along the Saint Lawrence and Great Lakes, they took the game with them; and for some time afterwards continued to send to Dartmouth Indians for the necessary sticks.” This quote goes to show that the game’s reputation took off, even during undesirable times such as during a war. Up to this point in time, the sport was primarily played by masculine males and not women. Skip ahead 75 years from the birth of the sport, in 1875 James Creighton, a native Canadian, devised the modern rules of the game. He strategically thought of all possibilities the game could ensue, and devised a set of rules in Montreal. A group of nine players, including Creighton, tried out his guidelines at the Victoria Skating Rink located at McGill University. They all agreed upon the fairness and rationality of the principles he set forth for the game. Instead of using a ball like they formerly did, they switched the ball out for a wooden puck; similar to today’s rubber puck. As the game’s organization progressed, seven years later, the first club ice hockey team was formed: McGill University Hockey Club. By 1880, there were enough club teams to start a tournament division that each team played against one
But, the most meaningful way I have connected myself to Russian culture is through ice hockey. I have played hockey throughout my entire life and many of my favorite players are Russian. I realized this connection when my teammates and I were watching the movie Miracle at a hockey tournament in Lake Placid, not in 1980 though. In the movie, it showed the Soviets having the best ice hockey program in the world at the time, while the young U.S. ice hockey program was developing. Throughout the entire movie, I was cheering for the Soviet Union because it was my homeland. But what I didn’t know at the time was that I was the only one in the room who had not seen the movie. During the first game that the U.S. played, the Soviets crucified the U.S. 10-3. … And then came the Olympics
In 1990 women’s hockey had its first World Championship. Team Canada was made to wear pink jerseys as described in Hockey: A People’s History which showed a clear difference in the opinions of men playing versus women, as the women did not get to wear the red and white that the men wore to represent their country. However, this was still an important step. Men’s hockey was introduced to the Olympic Games in 1920. Women’s hockey was not included until 1998. It took 78 years for female hockey players to get to the same level on an international scale that men had been welcomed to. Olympic competition is arguably the best of the best; as countries send their most successful athletes to compete against the best from countries that they may not have the opportunity to play against in regular competition. While it may have taken many years, the introduction of women’s hockey into the Olympics was a clear display of the legitimization of the game. Thanks to the addition, many girls in Canada and around the world have had more exposure to women playing hockey. Especially for Canadian’s, seeing Team Canada dominate so frequently on the world stage has helped the growth of the game for women and has helped with the acceptance of female
Participation in sports and games has long been a part of Native culture. The most significant example of a sport invented and played by Natives is lacrosse. Lacrosse is still designated as the official sport of Canada despite the overwhelming popularity of hockey (http://canada.gc.ca). Lacrosse was one of many varieties of indigenous stickball games being played by Native Americans and Canadians at the time of European contact. Almost exclusively a male team sport, it is distinguished from other stick and ball games, such as field hockey or shinny, by the use of a netted racquet with which to pick the ball off the ground, throw, catch and vault it into or past a goal to score a point.
Fitzpatrick, Jamie. About.com , "Hockey History: The Time Line, 1917-1945." Last modified 2012. Accessed January 8, 2012. http://proicehockey.about.com/od/history/a/history_timelin.htm.
...know" (The Canadian Press, 2013). Hockey is one of the most difficult sports out there, and dropping the gloves and looking another fighter straight in the face is one of the most challenging parts of it. Getting rid of fighting will not necessarily make the game safer, and it could potentially cause a decrease in the number of fan viewership. The players and leagues understand what they are getting themselves into and they are aware of the culture of the sport, which is rich with fighting history. They respect that aspect of the game, and they respect their opponents as players and fighters. There will never be a time when everybody is happy about the state of fighting in hockey, but for now, the NHL is taking the right steps toward maintaining this historically important part of the game, while also making adjustments to keep the players as safe as possible.
It first originated from ball and stick games played in Greece in 400 BCE. With the spread of civilization came the spread of the ideas and characteristics as well. Although there is archaeological evidence of people playing some kind of field hockey it was not played in an organized setting until the 1800’s. In 1872, a man from Nova Scotia by the name of James Creighton moved to Montreal bringing the sport of hockey with him. He brought his sticks and skates and sparked interest from those around him. He first begin to play with others indoor but because the sport was first played with a ball they eventually moved outdoors due to the danger of the ball flying all over indoors. It wasn’t long until Creighton designed a “flat circular piece of wood” later known as the puck that made it possible to play indoors again. Montreal became the hearth or node of Ice
Hockey and its modern roots date back to the late nineteenth century. Interestingly, one of the considered fathers of hockey, Lord Stanley, came to Canada and showed great interest in the amazing sport. He then donated a steel mug of his to the sport which was to become The Stanley Cup. It is the oldest trophy in all of sports. Hockey is the sport of all sports and there is not a quality of another sport one will not find in hockey. If so, it would be a more boring version of something similar that hockey already has to offer. For example, in Golf there is the putt and in Hockey there is the slap shot.
For decades, fighting in hockey has been instrumental to the identity, history and high energy that brings professional hockey fans to their feet. Supported by the players, coaches, and average fan, fighting has brought a unique dynamic to hockey that is unseen in any other sport in the world. However, fighting in hockey is one of the most debated themes in all sports. Although entertaining, some argue that the dangerous elements of fighting outweigh the benefits that it may bring to the players out on the ice or the fans sitting in the stands. Already banned in most minor hockey levels, some are advocating for fighting to be eliminated from Major Junior Hockey and professional leagues like the National