brief introduction
1908, the International Ice Hockey Federation was established in Paris, and now it has been renamed the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. 1 The European Ice Hockey Championship was held on 19 10, and Britain won the championship. Seven years later, the National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in Montreal, Canada, with five teams at first. In recent years, NHL has become a very successful professional and business alliance in the world.
19 12 the Canadian national ice hockey association initiated the six-a-side system, which is still used by the international ice hockey Federation today. The influence of NHL is also growing. Similar to the NBA in the world basketball world, the Stanley Cup, the trophy of the American Ice Hockey League, has also become a legendary honor.
For millions of ice hockey fans, this sport is synonymous with winter, ice and snow, skating, bat, ice hockey, body collision, fighting and wonderful goal-saving line. Sports in Canada are based on its east coast. Most ice hockey historians believe that ice hockey originated in Windsor, Nova Scotia in the 1970s. This sport developed rapidly in the west of Canada, and by the end of 19, it had swept the United States and spread across the Atlantic to Europe.
With the development of ice hockey in North America, the number of ice hockey league teams has increased rapidly. In 19 17, the National Hockey Association -NHA was reorganized, and finally the National Hockey League-NHL came into being. NHL started with only five teams-Quebec Bulldogs, Montreal Rangers, Montreal Canadians, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Sportsmen. The early NHL was quite unstable. For example, the Quebec Bulldogs refused to play before the first game. Shortly after joining the league, the Montreal Rangers left the league because the Westmount Stadium was burnt down. Atletico Toronto was also suspended on 19 19. The first decade of NHL's existence was turbulent because of the joining and quitting of teams.
In the 1920s, after World War I, dark clouds enveloped North America, but ice hockey flourished. 1924, NHL expanded to six teams and joined the first team in the United States-Boston Bears. Montreal has developed a second team-pirates. Soon, with the rise of NHL in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh and new york, more and more American teams joined in. It can be said that the 1920s witnessed the real maturity of NHL as a professional ice hockey league. Now, the Stanley Cup is the exclusive property of the league, and its owner is the team that won the championship. However, after 20 years of prosperity, it was a difficult period during the Great Depression. Like other leagues, the national hockey league at this time was also affected by the economic recession in North America. The subsequent World War II was another difficult period in history, but NHL survived and laid the foundation.
After experiencing various changes and hardships in the first 25 years, NHL ushered in its golden age in the 1940s. During this period, the league consisted of six teams: Boston Bears, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadians, new york Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs-they were called "Old Six". These six teams limited their talented players and fought with each other for decades. Ice hockey in the fifties and sixties was considered the best by many people. Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canada won the championship with a ratio of 1955 to 1967. 1967- 1968 season, the team grew to 12, which opened a new era for NHL. This also encourages players in lower leagues to have the opportunity to play in NHL. The World Hockey Association (WHA) was founded in 1972, and has trained many future stars-Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Wayne Gretzky and Mark messier. The league almost died in the financial crisis of 1979, and the addition of new teams did not make the tragedy happen. The 1970s and 1980s witnessed three generations of NHL dynasties. Montreal Canadians in the 1970s, new york people in the late 1970s and 1980s, and oil producers in Edmonton in the middle and late 1980s attracted a large number of fans around the world.
In 1990s, NHL became the top hockey league in the world. With more teams joining, athletes all over the world are eager to show their talents in NHL. The 1990s and the new century also brought labor disputes to the alliance. Wages rose sharply, investors were unstable, and small teams were in financial difficulties, which made the league experience two crises. From the late 1990s to the new millennium, NHL has owned 30 teams, and the salaries of players have reached the highest level in history. But not everyone is satisfied-the fans seem tired of the diluted game and start to leave the stadium, which makes the bosses face bankruptcy one after another. After the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2003-04, NHL experienced the darkest period in history. Unable to reach an agreement on the group negotiation agreement, the league cancelled the 2004-05 season, setting a precedent for the North American professional sports league. Fortunately, the two sides reached an agreement on salary cap and alliance investment in the summer of 2005. The funds of the league provide guarantee and strengthen the cooperative relationship between players and bosses.
The National Ice Hockey League (NHL, French: Ligue Nationale de Hockey, LNH) is a professional sports league composed of North American ice hockey teams. NHL is the highest level professional ice hockey game in the world and one of the four major professional sports in North America. * * * Team is divided into two areas, East and West, and each area is divided into three sub-areas.
The alliance was founded in Montreux, Quebec 19 17. Initially, it had five teams. After a series of expansion, there are now 30 teams, 24 in the United States and 6 in Canada. After the cancellation of the whole 2004-2005 season due to the strike of players, the league was successful in the 2005-2006 season and the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Traditionally, most players are Canadian because of the Canadian origin of the league. With the NHL actively expanding to the United States, and compared with the high standards of other leagues and the output of ready-made high-level players after the collapse of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe, the number of European players and American players has increased significantly. Even so, half of the players in the 2005-2006 season were born in Canada.