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Information about National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is the premier professional ice hockey league in the world and one of the five major professional sports leagues in North America. Every year, each team plays to qualify for the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup. The National Hockey League is composed of 30 teams from U.S. and Canadian cities. The league is wildly popular in Canada and the Northern United States where the long winters give the people the chance to play on frozen ponds and lakes.
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The National Hockey League draws the best ice hockey players in the world. Most of the professional players abroad come from Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia. Ice hockey and basketball are the most popular sports in these regions, which is a complete opposite to the football loving countries of Western Europe. Since ice hockey is the official sport in Canada, there are a higher number of professional hockey players in the NHL in proportion to the general population compared to the United States. Many consider Wayne Gretzky, nicknamed the Great One, as the greatest hockey player in the history of the National Hockey League.
The National Hockey League holds the most storied trophy among the five major leagues in North America. The NHL championship trophy is called the Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup is commonly known among the hockey world as The Cup, The Holy Grail, or the Lord Stanley's Mug. The Stanley Cup is the only trophy in North American professional sports that is passed from one championship team to another. Cup winners keep the trophy until the next champion is crowned; in which case, the team has to give up the cup for the next championship team.
The Stanley Cup tradition started in 1888, when Frederick Walter Stanley, then the governor general of Canada, donated the cup to be given to the top amateur hockey or college team in Canada. To get the cup, a team has to issue a challenge to the cup holder after a series of qualifying tournaments. In 1915, two professional sports ice hockey leagues, the National Hockey Association and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, agreed that the winner of their respective leagues would face each other for the right to the Stanley Cup. After a series of changes that led to the creation of the NHL, it became the defacto trophy of the premier league in 1926 and later became the de jure NHL championship prize in 1947.
The Stanley Cup is the pride of the NHL because no other trophy in North American sports holds the history and tradition similar to the Stanley Cup. The Cup is also the reason why millions of fans flock to the biggest ice hockey arenas in the U.S. and Canada to buy a ticket to watch the best NHL players slug it out.
Like all professional leagues, the National Hockey League has its own set of rules that differ slightly from international rules sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation. These rules change the dynamics of the game compared to international tournaments such as the Olympics. Although the rules are considered slight deviations from the standard game, the professional rules change the way the game is played.
In international play, infractions lead to either stoppage of play or a penalty for serious infractions. Additionally, the NHL removed the offside pass or the two-line zone, which means that a pass from the defensive zone to the offensive zone is legal given that the puck crosses the line before the receiving player. The NHL also has the "tag-up offside" rule, which allows the offensive attacker to get back on the onside once the player returns to the neutral zone. These rule changes addressed the league-wide decrease in scoring since the 1990's. Other rule changes imposed by the NHL include icing calls and penalties on major infractions and fighting.
The highlight of NHL's recent history is the league's resurgence after the post-lockout season in 2005. Despite the labor disputes and dwindling fan bases pre-lockout, the NHL posted a record number in attendance for the 2005-2006 season. Canadian NHL teams, especially, received a major boost with massive local fan support.
The upcoming seasons are a great time to buy National Hockey League Tickets. Thirty franchises all over North America are reliving the greatness during the time of dominance of the Montreal Canadians when they won 24 NHL championships. Although few players have the artistry of Wayne Gretzky, a new breed of talented ice hockey players is set to take over the league. An NHL game could be a great time to bring your family and friends, as you witness hard action from the greatest ice hockey players in the world. You can buy season tickets for your favorite National Hockey League team or buy separate packages for the playoffs and the championship.
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