100 Amazing Facts About Hockey

100 Interesting Facts About Hockey

The Diameter Of A Hockey Puck Is Three Inches.
Regulation Hockey Nets Are Six Feet Wide And Four Feet Tall.
The Hockey Hall Of Fame Can Be Found In Toronto, Ontario.
Goalies Cannot Carry (or Even Touch) The Puck On The Opposite Side Of The Center Line.
The Ice Of A Pro Hockey Rink Is Usually Three-ovuarters Of An Inch Thick And Is Kept At A Temperature Of -9 Degrees Celsius.
The Montreal Canadiens Have Won The Most Stanley Cups In Nhl History, With 23 To Date. Their Most Recent Cup Came Back In 1993.
Bobby Hull Has The Fastest Slapshot On Record, Which Registered At Ii8 Miles Per Hour.
The Standard North American Ice Rink Is 200 Feet Long And 85 Feet Wide.
The Original Stanley Cup Was Only 17.78 Centimeters High. It Is Now 89.54 Centimeters.
Prior To The I927-28 Season, Forward Passes Were Not Allowed In Hockey.
Frank Zamboni Invented The First Self- Propelled Ice-clearing Machine In I949. These Machines Can Still Be Found Cleaning The Ice At Hockey Rinks All Over.
Twelve Women Have Their Names Engraved On The Stanley Cup, Either As Owners Or Team Executives.
Wayne Gretzky Holds More Nhl Records Than Any Other Player, With 61 In Total.
The 1919 Stanley Cup Finals was the only game where no winner was declared due to an influenza outbreak, which hospitalized most of players from Montreal Canadiens and their general manager.
After the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1962, they accidently threw the Cup into a celebratory bonfire and had to pay a hefty amount to repair the ensuing damages.
In 1905, players from Ottawa Silver Seven, while drunk, kicked the Stanley Cup into the frozen Rideau Canal and had to retrieve it the next morning. (same source as above).
The Origins Of Ice Hockey Are Actually Fairly Murky. Some Say A Version Of The Game Was Played By The French And Irish During The I700s, While Others Claim That It Was Not Invented Until The Mid-i800s By Canadians With Homemade Sticks On The Frozen Ponds In Ontario.
The National Hockey League (nhl) Was Founded On November 22,1917.
The decision to install higher plexiglass panels in all hockey arenas was taken after a player-spectator brawl in 1979. After a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers, Mike Milbury of the Boston Bruins jumped over the glass, tore off a boisterous spectator’s shoe and proceeded to beat him with it. His actions resulted in a six-game suspension.
The Slovakian women’s hockey team qualified for the 2010 Olympics by beating Bulgaria 82-0. They later lost to team Canada in Vancouver 18-0.
An average professional hockey player during an average game can lose as much as 5 to 8 pounds (mostly water).
Remember the Disney movie The Mighty Ducks? The Anaheim Ducks are named after this movie. They used to be known as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim as the team was founded in 1993 by the Walt Disney Company. The team was named after the movie which came out the year before in 1992. Eventually the franchise was sold, and before the 2006-2007 season, the team switched their name to the Anaheim Ducks.
Some teams have multiple Stanley Cups, and leading the way is the Montreal Canadiens with 24. But there are 11 active teams who have yet to win a cup: the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, Florida Panthers, Ottawa Senators (expansion era), Arizona Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets.
Anyone remember Kris Draper, better known as the 1 dollar man? He was traded from the Winnipeg Jets to the Detroit Red Wings for just one dollar. This was a strange deal but Draper ended up playing over 1000 games with the Wings before retiring in 2011. He had 161 goals and 203 assists.
How many points do you see an average person recording in a single game? 1… 2… maybe 3? Very rare to see anyone go above 1 or 2 per game. Yet, on February 6th, 1976, Darryl Sittler from the Toronto Maple Leafs helped defeat the Boston Bruins racking up 10 points in a single game. He scored 5 goals and had 5 assists.
Speaking about racking up points, the first player to ever post more than 100 points in an NHL season was Phil Esposito (Boston Bruins) back in 1969. In 74 games, he had 49 goals and 77 assists, recording 126 points.
1914 marked another change within the hockey rules. Before 1914 referees had to place a puck on the ice between both centres’ sticks. This resulted in many cuts, bruises, fractures and breaks. The rule was passed in 1914 that the referee could drop the puck between the two sticks so they could avoid those injuries.
At the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, NHL pro Jarome Iginla struck up a conversation with four fans sitting next to his table and found out that they were sleeping in their car. He excused himself from the conversation and booked them at his own expense at the hotel his family was staying in.
If both NHL goalies are injured, the team can literally choose any available goalie to suit up and play and this includes fans.
Only in 1997 was a rule passed (grandfather clause) that all hockey players in the NHL were required to wear helmets. The 1979 NHL draft were the first group of players, who had to wear a protective helmet. The last player in the league to play under the “helmetless grandfather clause” was Craig MacTavish in 1997.
In 1930, a goalie named Abie Goldberry caught fire during a game when a puck hit a pack of matches he was carrying in his pocket. He was badly burned before his teammates put out the fire.
Even if Wayne Gretzky had never scored a single goal, he would still have more points than any other past or present hockey player. He had more career assists than any other player has total points.
At the age of 6, Wayne Gretzky played in 10-year olds league. The sweaters given to him were far too large for him and he managed this by tucking the sweater into his pants on the right side. He continued doing this throughout his NHL career.
In USSR, bears were trained and forced to play ice hockey as part of circus performance.
During the 1987 Junior Hockey Championship, a brawl broke between Canada and the USSR. It lasted so long the officials had to turn off the lights in an attempt to quell the fight, but they were unsuccessful.
In 1974, Buffalo Sabres’ manager purposefully drafted a hockey player, who didn’t exist to mock the slow drafting process. No one realized it until training camp started.
No one can definitively say they know for certain when hockey was invented. Some claim it could go back to the 1700’s. While that date has hardly been etched in stone, we can look at the first indoor hockey game that was ever organized. This dates back to the 1800’s — March 3rd, 1875 to be exact. The location was in Montreal at the Victoria Skating Rink. Not only was this rink used for the first indoor hockey game, it was also the location of the first Stanley Cup playoff games in 1894.
The Stanley Cup has been around longer then the NHL. The Stanley Cup was created in 1893, while the NHL was established in 1917 — quick math says that’s a 24-year difference. The Stanley Cup was named after Canadian Governor General Lord Stanley of Preston, who donated the trophy. The trophy at the time was only seven inches high.
Since the year 1914, the Stanley Cup has been awarded every single year except for two times. One time was during a Spanish Flu pandemic in 1919 and the more recent one occurred in 2005 during the NHL lockout.
The first NHL goal ever recorded was on December 19th, 1917. The goal came from Dave Ritchie of the Montreal Wanderers in a game against the Toronto Arenas.
Now, about the ice cleaning machine — that zamboni that goes around the ice several times each game to make sure players have a clean smooth piece of ice? That was invented in 1949 by Frank Zamboni.
Out of all the names on the Stanley Cup over the years, there are only 12 of them who are women. The first woman was Marguerite Norris, the president of the Detroit Red Wings in 1954-55 when they won. All the women are owners or team executives.
Manon Rhéaume (goaltender) was the first and only female hockey player to lace up her skates in the NHL. She tried out for the Tampa Bay Lightning and was signed as a free agent. Her first game she played was an exhibition game against the St. Louis Blues. She only played one period and let in 2 goals. Her only other NHL game, was a second exhibition game against the Boston Bruins.
The first million dollar contract was signed by Bobby Orr in 1971. The Boston Bruins signed him to a five-year deal, $200 000 per year.
The biggest hockey prank happened in 1974 when the Buffalo Sabres GM “drafted” a player from Japan who never existed, nor did the team he supposedly played for exist. This was GM Punch Imlach, who released a statement to the media and told the NHL officials he drafted Taro Tsujimoto of the Tokyo Kitanas.
The hockey puck. I cannot get through a full article about hockey unless we see a fact or two about the hard rubber black piece that is commonly seen in the back of a frustrated goalie’s net. The puck has a diameter of three inches, weighs six ounces, and they are frozen before each game to keep the pucks from bouncing on the ice and out of play.
The shortest player who has played in the NHL was Roy Woters who measured 5 feet, 3 inches tall. He served as goaltender throughout 1925-1937. He played 484 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Americans and Montreal Canadiens.
The tallest player in the NHL is defenseman Zdeno Chara. Chara was drafted by the New York Islanders in 1996. He currently plays for the Boston Bruins, winning a Stanley cup with them in 2011. He has played over 1000 games and has about 500 career points. Chara measures 6 feet, 9 inches and in skates is close to 7 feet tall.
During an intense NHL game, it’s imperative that players stay hydrated and full. This is why they eat protein before games and have lots of hydrating liquids with them on the bench and in the dressing room. In a game, the average hockey player can lose between 5-10 pounds, most of which is water.
The Buffalo Sabres are the only team to have killed a live animal during a hockey game. In 1974, the team killed a bat during the game.
Kris Draper was traded for just 1$ in 1993 to Detroit Red Wings. Thus, he began his reputation as the “One Dollar Man” and went on to win four Stanley Cups for Detroit.
In 1930 World Ice Hockey Championship, the Canadian team was considered so dominant that it did not participate in the knock-out tournament. Canada was right away put into the final game and the tournament was played to determine an opponent. Canada won.
Jarome Iginla donates $2,000 to the children’s charity Kidsport for every goal he scores. Since 2000, he has added more than $700,000.
Clint Malarchuk, while playing for Buffalo Sabres in 1989 had his throat slit open (jugular vein) during a game. The only reason he was able to survive was because of his trainer, who a former Army medic. His trainer reached into his neck and pinched off the bleeding until the doctors arrived.
In Space Jam, after Daffy suggests naming the team “the Ducks”, Bugs asks “Please! What kind of Mickey Mouse organization would name their team The Ducks?” This actually did happen. In 1993, Anaheim Ducks were established by The Walt Disney Company.
Two of the greatest hockey players of all time, Mario Lemieux and Patrick Roy were born on the same day only 200 km (124 miles) apart.
Former NHL player, Duncan MacPherson went missing while on a trip to Germany. His body was found after 14 years frozen in a shallow crevasse at the Stubai Glacier ski resort. It is believed that after a fatal accident, his supervisor concealed his body there to avoid bad publicity.
Mark Messier has taken the Stanley Cup to a strip joint twice.
NHL does not own the Stanley Cup and any hockey team could potentially challenge for the trophy in the event of a season-long lockout.
Doctors in British Columbia are banned from talking about hockey during surgery.
Due to their maturational advantage in development, ice hockey players born in the first quarter of the year enjoy a more easy passage into the NHL. They go more than 40 slots earlier in the draft compared to those born in the third and fourth quarters of the year.
There is a team of hockey-playing Roman Catholic priests called the Flying Fathers. They only play exhibition games to raise money for charities.
Tiger Williams holds the record for most career penalty minutes in the NHL. He has spent approximately 2.7 days (3966 minutes) of his professional life in the penalty box. – Source
The Buffalo Sabres hold the title of being the only team to have killed an animal (a bat) during an NHL game in 1974.
There are two dozen engraving errors on the Stanley Cup including misspelling Boston as “Bqstqn”, the Toronto Maple Leafs as “Maple Leaes,” and the New York Islanders as “Ilanders.” Only one of the errors is not a spelling error. When the Oilers won the cup in 83-84, owner Peter Pocklington had his dad’s name snuck onto the team roster. The NHL caught the error later and had Basil Pocklington’s name crossed out with X’s.

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