Friday, December 16, 2011

The Games of Hockey


It's important to note when discussing hockey trivia that hockey is actually the name for a whole group of sports. The game that most of us think of is properly called ice hockey, and is played on skates on ice, with five men to a side with a goalie. However, there are other versions of the game which sometimes appear on an obscure hockey quiz out of the other forms, field hockey has probably gained the most recognition as a professional sport in its own right.

Although indoor arenas are common now, for many years the most common place to see people playing hockey was outside on a skating rink made in the winter time. That is probably why hockey is most popular in countries where it is particularly cold. For example, game is extremely popular in Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and the Czech Republic. It is also very popular in the Northern parts of the US that get more severe winters. The professional level of the sport has caught on in many southern states now, but at the amateur level it has not gained the importance of a sport like football. In Canada, on the other hand, most minor athletics programs put a much higher emphasis on hockey than on football.

The professional hockey league in North America is revealed by a hockey quiz to be known as the NHL, or the National Hockey League. The league often refers to the six teams which were the primary teams for the first several decades of the league, although only two were around in the first year of league play. The "original six" as they are often referred to, are all still active teams in the NHL. Those teams were the Boston Bruins, the Detroit Red Wings, the New York Rangers, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadians.

Hockey has also been an Olympic sport since 1920, although it was interestingly enough first played at the summer Olympics rather than the winter. Hockey is often one of the flagship tournaments now played at the Olympic level, although its popularity in a given year often depends on the country it is being played in. Due to its being played in Canada this year, there has been a very high level of anticipation for the upcoming Olympic Hockey tournament in 2010 in Vancouver. Since 1998, NHL players have been allowed to play as members of their home country's Olympic teams.






Masters of Trivia is a website dedicated to trivia games and quizzes that cover several different areas of interest. The various trivia questions available on the site can be easily accessed and played by going to http://www.mastersoftrivia.com.







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