Tell me about Ice Hockey

[EmmaDibbs]

OK so this is the Canadian National Sport...I think. Although someone did once try to recruit me into playing Ice Hockey when I was at school I don't actually know what the rules are, who the teams are or anything and I feel that, since we want to emigrate to Canada, I should find out a bit more about the sport.

What are the rules?
Who is the best team?
Where is it played in Vancouver?
Are there any matches on in April that I could see (in Vancouver)?
Anything else important??

Educate me!!

 

[HOCK]

:arrow: Being from the UK/Europe, there is more professional hockey going on over there than here. Our professional teams (the National Hockey League or NHL) comprises of 30 teams throughout Canada and the US (6 Cdn teams and 24 US - about 50% of the players are Cdn). :naka: The NHL is not playing this year as it seems that the team owners and players can not get together on a appropriate contract/ payment system. Everyone is out on strike and the year has been offically cancelled :sign6: . As for the rules, best team, etc... is up to everyone's own interpretation. Playing for the Stanley Cup (the final round of the hockey play offs) was between Tampa Bay Lightning and the Calgary Flames with the Lightning taking the cup last year (2003/2004 season). Yes they do play in Vancouver (the Canucks) but not this year or until the dispute is resolved. There are many local semi pro hockey, junior, women's and kids hockey teams in the American League, Ontario Hockey, Quebec, Western, to name a few along with each city having teams/leagues of their own. It is only the greatest game on ice and hopefully the contract problems will be resolved before next season (season usually runs from Sep to the following Jun). Hope this helps a little
http://www.mapleleafs.com/home.ml (this is my team)
http://www.tsn.ca/ (you can try this link for sports - includes hockey)
http://nhl.com/hockeyu/rulebook/?clk=001 (one of the many links you can find hockey rules)
It is a great game and is best watched than it is reading about it....some day I'll have to ask about the fascination about those European games....but not today.... :canada:

 

[EmmaDibbs]

Thanks for that Hock...I can't believe the season has been cancelled!! Over money no doubt? I wanted to see a match. Any hockey on Vancouver Island? Or is it all on the mainland

 

[Girl82]

You could catch games in the WHL or BCJHL - both of which a pretty decent.

 

[Freaker]

The Vancouver Giants are the city's Western Hockey League team. They play their home games at the Pacific Coliseum. The WHL is pretty good. A lot of the players eventually graduate to the NHL.

 

[Blackleaf]

Think about how vast both Canada and the United States are. There are many Canadian and American provinces and states that are larger than the whole of Great Britain. But I read above that there are just 30 professional ice hockey teams in both Canada and the US combined. But take a look at "soccer" - there are 90 professional "soccer" teams in England alone, comprising an area slightly smaller than Florida. But that's just England. When you look at Scotland you find that there are around 40 teams in an area around half the size of Florida. That's 130 teams in total in a small area.

And Canada invented ice hockey but the US has 4 times as many ice hockey teams?

 

[Dalreg]

If one includes all pro leagues and semi pro leagues in North America, which would be similar to counting all the different levels of soccer in the UK, One would have:

NHL 30 teams
AHL 28 teams
ECHL 25 teams
UHL
CHL

Plus all the semi pro leagues, junior leagues, rec leagues etc.
There would probably be thousands of teams in total in Canada alone not to mention the USA.

As for the number of teams the USA also has almost ten times the population of Canada. 32 million to 300 million.

 

[talloola]

And Canada invented ice hockey but the US has 4 times as many ice hockey teams?



''''''''It's all about "money" my friend, Gary Bettman (Commissioner) is trying to spread hockey all over
the U.S. as the flow of money is so large, and not so in Canada, but in Canada the flow of passion
and love for the game is much bigger. Bettman is not doing well in the "money" area, as he can't
get many of the U.S. cities to fill their buildings. He should be "fired".''''''''

 

[talloola]

OK so this is the Canadian National Sport...I think. Although someone did once try to recruit me into playing Ice Hockey when I was at school I don't actually know what the rules are, who the teams are or anything and I feel that, since we want to emigrate to Canada, I should find out a bit more about the sport.

What are the rules?
go to nhl.com and look up "rules"

Who is the best team?
Carolina Hurricanes are last years Stanley Cup Champs, but this year Anaheim,Buffalo,Nashville, and on down the list are the best this year "so far"
Where is it played in Vancouver?
General Motors Place
Are there any matches on in April that I could see (in Vancouver)?
The way Canucks are playing right now they probably won't be playing in April, but Vancouver Giants will be playing, "Major Junior"
Anything else important??
On the island there is a team in Victoria, and a B.C. Jr. Team in Nanaimo