: Ice hockey stands as the undisputed fastest game on Earth. Players glide across frozen water while hitting a hard rubber disk at incredible speeds. Surprisingly, this sport began on frozen ponds with simple equipment before moving into massive arenas. Today, millions of fans watch the NHL for its unique blend of skill and physical toughness. However, the history of the sport contains bizarre stories about frozen poop and lost trophies. Prepare to lace up your skates.
Ice hockey
Officials freeze every ice hockey puck before the game begins. Scientific laws state that rubber bounces more when it is warm. Therefore, the referees keep the disks in a freezer to ensure they glide smoothly on the ice.
Originally, early players used frozen cow dung as pucks. Before rubber manufacturing became common, athletes improvised with what they found on farms. Consequently, the first games smelled much worse than modern matches do today.
Jacques Plante introduced the goalie mask after a terrible injury. A puck struck him in the face during a game in 1959. Afterward, he refused to return to the ice unless he could wear protection to save his face.
Engravers misspelled the team name Boston as “Bqstqn” on the Stanley Cup. Because the work is permanent, these errors remain on the trophy forever. Thus, the most famous prize in sports contains several embarrassing typos.
Fans in Detroit throw dead octopuses onto the ice for luck. This strange tradition began when winning the cup required only eight wins. Uniquely, the eight legs of the octopus represented those eight necessary victories.
Amazingly, a team once traded a future legend for a single dollar. The Winnipeg Jets traded Kris Draper to the Detroit Red Wings for practically nothing. Eventually, he won four championships and became a hockey icon.
Stan Mikita invented the curved stick blade by complete accident. He broke his stick during practice and shot the puck with the crooked debris. To his surprise, the curve made the puck spin and move unpredictably.
Mario Lemieux famously threw the Stanley Cup into his swimming pool. During a victory party, the captain decided the trophy needed a bath. Fortunately, the silver cup floats, so they retrieved it easily from the water.
Most professional ice hockey players lose at least one tooth eventually. High sticks and flying pucks damage mouths regularly during the season. Therefore, dentists often work directly on the bench to perform emergency repairs.
A “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” involves a goal, an assist, and a fight. The legendary player was famous for his toughness and scoring ability. Consequently, fans named this specific statistical achievement in his honor.
Frank Zamboni invented his famous machine to save time. Originally, resurfacing the ice took an entire team of men over an hour. Then, his invention reduced the process to just fifteen minutes of driving.
Ideally, players reach speeds of over twenty miles per hour on skates. The low friction of the ice allows them to move faster than running humans. Thus, collisions between players carry the force of a car crash.
Sometimes, regular accountants play as emergency goalies in professional games. The league requires a local amateur to be ready if both goalies get injured. Occasionally, these regular citizens enter the game and become instant heroes.
The first indoor ice hockey game took place in Montreal in 1875. James Creighton organized the match at the Victoria Skating Rink. Interestingly, the rules were adapted from rugby and field hockey to fit the ice.
A manager drafted a fake player named Taro Tsujimoto as a joke. He grew tired of the slow drafting process in 1974. Therefore, he invented a Japanese player to mock the league’s bureaucracy.
