A catfish! No, not those awful fish that you cook and serve with your Sunday dinner – we’re talking about the fast-paced, high-stakes world of the NHL, where a single missed check or a blown coverage leads to a fast-paced breakaway for the opposing team. You’ll definitely have heard of the game, as the world’s highest-paying league takes place in North America and Europe during the winter months, attracting fans from all over the world. It’s one of the great American pastimes, and you probably know someone who’s followed it avidly or played it yourself. It’s time to find out what the heck this game is really about!
Table of Contents
Origins
It’s time to welcome the newest member of the hockey family: the catfish. This small, slippery creature – not a real fish, but sort of a cousin of the pike – has been a part of North American culture for centuries and was first played during the colder months, when the ice enabled skaters to move faster and more athletic players to emerge. These days, fish play a crucial role in the game as the officials use a flashlight to check for the presence of fish during play, resulting in several ejections – usually from the opposing team. But that wasn’t always the case, as early forms of the sport were heavily reliant upon a roll of the dice to determine the winner. In those days, a catfish could swim right in front of you and you’d have no idea what it was until the referee blew his whistle and you were either penalized or rewarded for your unwitting role in the sport. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the officials started keeping an eye out for fish during play, leading to the creation of the modern sport we now know and love.
Rules
This is quite a mouthful, but it basically means that the object of the game is to score more goals than your opponent. Each team will be entitled to two 20-minute periods of playing time, with a break in the action for a period of five minutes at the end of each period. The first team to reach five goals wins the game. There are several varieties of hockey that one can play, but only six of them are recognized as full-blown sports: hockey, football, baseball, cricket, rugby, and tennis. As mentioned, hockey is one of the six – though for many years it wasn’t even classified as a sport, as the NHL didn’t start holding its annual Stanley Cup Championship until after the First World War – and it’s the most popular of the bunch. In fact, the Stanley Cup is the most prestigious trophy in hockey, named after the late James A. “Scotty” Stanley, who created the National Hockey League in 1914. It’s considered the “champion” of the sport and is generally regarded as the culmination of a season’s worth of hard work and dedication – though it can also be the result of pure luck. Just ask Toronto Maple Leafs fans about that last one!
The game is quite simple, yet complex at the same time: there are just five players on the pitch at any given time, with two on each side. One of the primary differences between the two sports is that in hockey players are allowed to use their hands (but not their arms) to move the puck around, a rule that was instated to prevent injuries – mainly head injuries, as the game grew in popularity and became a professional sport in the early 20th century. It’s not just about scoring enough goals to win, either: there are several variations of the game that one can play to keep the puck out of the net. For example, you can drop your gloves and fight-gloria-style with the other team. (Though these days, helmets and gloves have largely done away with injuries in hockey, it’s still common to see players with a bloody nose or black eye after a fight.) One of the most exciting aspects of the game is its speed. The NHL is currently the second-largest market in professional sports, behind only the NFL. It’s common to see players move at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour, with some even performing acrobatics above the ice – or at least trying to!
The Prize
Perhaps the most important rule to keep in mind is the one that determines the winner of the game: the goal tally. As mentioned, the first team to reach five goals wins. It’s also possible for a player to reach five goals with no opposition players scoring any, although it’s extremely rare. In the 1927-28 season, NHL player Cooney Weldon became the first to score five goals in a single game, doing so against the New York Yankees. In the same season, he would set another record with 12 goals, helping him win the scoring title, and in 1930-31 he would help the Canadiens win its second straight Stanley Cup by scoring 15 goals. Today, the NHL prize for scoring the most goals is called the Art Ross Trophy and is presented to the player with the highest point total during the regular season.
The top scorers of all time are currently active players, leading to the creation of the Art Ross Trophy, named after its designer. The inaugural winner was Jean Béliveau, who helped the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup in 1924. Since then, the Art Ross Trophy has been won by a number of other hockey superstitions, including Red Berenson in 1937-38 and 1938-39, and Alex Delvecchio in 1961-62 and 1962-63.
The Players Association
You may be wondering how all these rules and regulations work in practice. For example, how does the goalkeeper fit into all of this? Well, the goalkeeper is considered part of the defense and will be allowed to handle the puck until a stoppage in play, when he must throw it away or pass it to a teammate. It’s also the other team’s job to break down the defense and establish puck possession, with the goaltender’s role being that of a stopper, standing in the middle of the ice and not moving until the referee gives the okay to start the play again.
Even experienced fans may not know the difference between a regular season game and a playoff game, as the former is played over the course of several weeks and the latter over the course of several days. Indeed, after a few games, the regular season turns into a battle for second place, as the teams fight for the final two playoff spots, with the two lowest-placed teams in the standings meeting in a single game, known as the crossover game. These two games decide who will play in the postseason, with the team that wins both games being declared the champions of the regular season.
The Stadiums
Though the game is usually played in theaters, sports arenas, and football stadiums, the NHL will occasionally send its games overseas, where the venues are smaller and more intimate. The Los Angeles Kings played several exhibition games at the Tokyo Dome in Japan in 2012, with the Kings and San Jose Sharks playing to a sellout crowd of over 80,000 fans. (The smaller capacity of these venues means there’s less need for crowd control, as seats aren’t as desirable as in a larger stadium.) It’s also quite common for teams to hold ‘home games’ in Florida, as the state allows for easier flights and more accessible venues, as well as an abundance of golf courses and sports arenas, making it the ultimate winter holiday for sports lovers.
The Clothing
You’ll need at least two jerseys – one for playing and the other for officiating – and if you’re participating in a fight, you’ll need a third, as referees aren’t allowed to wear the same colors as the players they’re supervising. Other than that, you can simply choose your favorite team colors. In fact, the Nashville Predators have become famous for wearing pink in honor of female hockey players, including their own captain, Megan Fox, who donates her time to the Megan Fox Foundation, which raises money for breast cancer research and supports survivors.