Ice Hockey at Winter Olympics

Ice Hockey at Winter Olympics: Ice hockey is one of the popular team sports, which is played on ice. The old French word “hocquet” is the origin of the word “hockey”. In French, the meaning of “hocquet” is “stick”. The sport is said to have been developed during the 16 th century. Ice hockey is popularly known by the name of hockey in Canada, the United States of America and Russia. The sport is immensely popular in the snowy mountain regions of Canada and Finland. Ice hockey is the official national winter sport of Canada. In North America, ice hockey is played at the professional level. The International Ice Hockey Federation or the IIHF is the international governing body of the sport.

Ice Hockey in the Winter Summer Games: Ice hockey was introduced to the Olympic program at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games. The sport became a part of the Winter Olympics at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Olympics. Till the 1994 Lillehammer Games, only men contested at the Olympic ice hockey competition. The event was included in the women's schedule at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. The events contested at the Olympic ice hockey program at present are—

Rules of Ice Hockey: The International Ice Hockey Federation or the IIHF is authorized to set rules for ice hockey at the international level. Some of the rules are—

• The ice should not be marked during the competition.
• The ice hockey field, where the games are played, is known as the “rink”. The dimension of the rink is determined by the IIHF rule-book.
• The ice hockey rink should be divided in three parts—“defending zone”, “neutral zone” and “attacking zone”.
• During the competitions, electronic scoreboards should be used.
• The number of players in an ice hockey team is six—one goalkeeper, two defenders, two wings and one centre.
• The equipments used during the competitions have to be approved by the IIHF rule-book.
• The sticks used by the players during the games, should be constructed as per IIHF rules.
• According to the IIHF rule-book, all the players must wear protective helmets during the ice hockey competitions.
• The signals given by the referee during the competition should be as per the IIHF rules.
• Major penalties during the games can lead to disqualification from the competition.

Medal winners in Ice Hockey: Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and the United States have been dominating the field of ice hockey at international level. Some of the famous male ice hockey players are Eric Charles Brewer, Martin Brodeur, Simon Gagne, Niko Klaus Petteri Kapanen, Paul Tetsuhiko Kariya, Mika Hannula, Eric Bryan Lindros, Per-Johan Axelsson, Owen Liam Nolan, Stefan Liv, Michael Peca, Christopher Robert Pronger, Daniel Alfredsson, Christian Backman, Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Lundqvist, Mikko Koivu, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Henrik Zetterberg, Antero Niittymaki, Lasse Kukkonen, Niklas Backstrom and Jussi Jokinen.

Jennifer Botterill, Caroline Ouellette, Cherie Piper, Hayley Wickenheiser, Meghan Agosta, Gillian Mary Apps, Gillian Ferrari, Gina Kingsbury, Charline Labonte, Carla MacLeod, Sarah Marie Vaillancourt, Katie Weatherston, Cecilia Andersson, Jenni Asserholt, Emma Eliasson, Nanna Jansson, Kristina Lundberg, Kim Martin, Frida Nevalainen, Emilie O'Konor, Danijela Rundqvist, Therese Sjolander, Katarina Timglas, Anna Vikman, Pernilla Winberg, Caitlin Cahow, Julie Chu, Natalie Darwitz and Pam

Dreyer are some of the female ice hockey players who have been leading in the domain of the international ice hockey.