Ice Hockey, The Official Sport of Canada!

While Canada maintains very multicultural policies regarding their society, when you enter the country as a permanent resident you might want to consider participating in some of the cultural things that Canadians do. Becoming part of the community always makes the moving transition easier. Ice hockey happens to be extremely popular all over Canada and you might find yourself rooting for your home-team

Ice hockey is Canada’s national winter sport. This fact makes the game very important to Canadians and to their national identity, it conjures up feelings of home and fun times with family and friends. Indeed the game itself was invented there and Canadians are regarded as some of the best hockey players in the world. The highest achievable prize in the game of ice hockey is called the Stanley Cup, a rather large trophy which has been expanded since it was first rewarded in the late 19^th century by the current Governor General of Canada at the time, Lord Stanley of Preston.

The game is relatively simple to understand, but as is the case with all organized sports it doesn’t really become confusing until one begins to examine the minutia. The game is divided into three twenty minute periods where two teams facing each other attempt to move a small rubber disc (called a puck) across the ice with hooked sticks into goal areas, guarded by a member of the other team called a goalie, on the opposite side of the ice rink. When the puck goes into the goal the team gets one point. Ice hockey is somewhat similar to football (soccer) in structure. However, the game is overall much faster moving as the players are on ice skates and can really pick up some speed as they glide across the ice.

Ice hockey is a contact sport and hockey players wear rather heavy-duty pads to protect themselves from injuries that might occur. Speeding around a skating rink is bound to cause a few contusions. However, this element of danger is often cited as being an added bonus to the games.