Hockey

Hockey is any of a family of sports in which two teams compete by trying to maneuver a hard, round disc, ball or hockey puck into the opponent's net or goal, past the goaltender or goalkeeper (often abbreviated goalie), using a hockey stick.

The major forms of hockey are:

Field hockey, played with a ball on gravel, grass, sand- or water-based astroturf.
Inline hockey, played in an indoor rink with a ball or or a plastic puck.
Ice hockey, played on ice with a small, 168-gram (6-oz) rubber disc called a puck.

Most widely played in in North America and Europe. The dominant version of hockey in a particular region tends to be known simply as hockey, other forms being more fully specified. For example, in North America, hockey refers to ice hockey, whereas in the UK the same word denotes field hockey. Ice hockey is played almost exclusively in the northern hemisphere and predominantly in colder regions such as Canada, Russia, the USA and northern Europe..

Some assert that the game was started in the early 19th century, in Nova Scotia, by Scottish immigrants to Canada, who played on Skinner's Pond with sticks and skates, using cow dung as the puck. Others argue that ice hockey started in Montréal, Québec. Today, Hockey Night in Canada, which first broadcast at the beginning of the wireless age, is roundly agreed to be the most popular show on Canadian television every Saturday night. (wikipedia)

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