A Complete Guide to International Hockey
The birthplace of hockey was Canada; since its conception, the sport crossed over to experience popularity in Europe and the United States. The international men’s ice hockey world championships are highly regarded by Europeans and less regarded by Americans because it coincides at the same time the Stanley cup playoffs happen. For countries with a large number of NHL players, rounding up the best players of the sport is difficult, because many of them are playing for the Stanley cup trophy.
The world championships do not accurately reflect the world’s top players; this has not been true since the barring of professionals from playing for the NHL ended and Europeans began playing at an international level. Since 1924, hockey has been part of the Olympics; Canada won 6 out of 7 gold medals. The latter years of the twentieth-century saw professionals from American, Sweden, Finland, and Canada banned from participating in the Olympics; in 1960 the United States won the gold medal, but Russia won all but two gold medals from the years 1956 to 1988. In 1980, U.S.Non-pro college students beat the Russians and won the gold medal in Lake Placid, New York.
It was also then that the game experienced a new surge in popularity in a game most Americans weren’t previously paying much attention to. In 1972 and again in 1974, it had been determined that Russia and Canada were hockey rivals; the Summit series helped establish this fact. The Canadian Cup where the best of the best nations were able to play later followed it. The World Cup of Hockey was the name that replaced the Canadian Cup; in the aftermath of the name change the United States won the match in 1996 and Canada won in 2004. In 1998, the Olympics decided to allow NHL professionals to compete in their games; as a result, many of the top players were permitted to play in an area with other top players. There have been 9 women’s competitions in the Olympics, and the women’s game has been a part of the games since 1998.
Women have been able to make a noticeable amount of noise in this sport, as they play their games with the same fierceness of women. however, women are not yet on completely equal footing with men at either the international or domestic levels. This can only be expected in a sport like hockey, where men have long dominated the field; women have a lot to accomplish before they can be viewed as serious players. This sport today continues to attract the love and devotion of many; attendance records are regularly broken by the many loyal fans who love the sport. The love of this sport reaches the “pastime” level of game attendance, prompting the kind of devotion that many Americans put towards football, basketball, and baseball.
For many who play the sport of hockey, its rules and separate world are very sacred. For many, the sport is a very time consuming one that is as much a part of their life as the air they breathe; many are as involved in it day to day as some people are with soap operas. Some people will spend hours playing the game well into the late hours; often rinks will stay open to accommodate those buffs who want to spend 2-3 hours thrashing around a cold rink slapping a hard rubber circle around.
