Gamekeeping, Field Sports and Country Pursuits

Archive for the ‘Hockey’ Category

History of Hockey:

Throughout history people have played games involving a curved stick and a ball. There are drawings and depictions of such events in ancient Egypt, Greece and in the Middle ages in Europe. There is even evidence of people playing hockey or stick and ball like games on the ice in sixteenth century Europe. And of course as immigrants came to the Americas, they brought with them many of the games that they had played in their respective countries, such as hurling and other hockey like games.

Current ice and field hockey owe much to those ancient games. Of the two, field hockey is the forerunner and ice hockey was mainly an altering of the game to fit colder climates and such. The first organized ice hockey game is recorded to have taken place in Montreal, Canada at an indoor skating rink in March of 1875. It wasn’t until 1904 that the first professional league for ice hockey was formed in Michigan, United States, called the International Professional Hockey League. The league lasted all of four years, folding in 1907. For field hockey, the first international game took place between Ireland and Wales, with a high score of 3 to 0, Ireland winning.

In 1908 field hockey made its debut at the summer Olympics, it was dropped in 1924 but by the following Olympics in 1928 it was back. Ice hockey started at the winter Olympics in 1924 and has been played there since, but it wasn’t until 1960 that the U.S. won their first gold medal in ice hockey.

Hockey Ornaments:

Many hockey fans enjoy decorating their homes and Christmas trees with hockey and sports ornaments. Ornaments which help to convey ones love or enthusiasm for a particular theme which in this case would be the love of hockey. There are a variety of sports ornaments and specialty nutcrackers to help beautify and accent any sports enthusiasts home.

Playing the Games:

For a regular game of ice hockey it is of course played in an ice rink with a total of six players on each team, five regular players and one goalie. The object is to get the puck, which is made of hard rubber into the opposing teams goal and the team with the highest score wins. The players must use their sticks to move the puck around or to pass the puck from one player to another. A team can be forced to play with only 5 players instead of the normal 6 if a player commits a foul and is then placed in a penalty box for a short time which is usually about 2 minutes long.

Field hockey is played on a rectangular field measuring about 100 yards by 60 yards, with eleven players on each team. Again the idea is the same to get the small hard ball, not a puck, into the other team’s goal to score, to do this you must use your stick and teamwork. There is a defined semi-circle area around each goal that is called the shooting circle or arc. The team which has the ball is called the attackers, while the team that doesn’t have the ball is called the defenders. A game or match has two umpires to officiate, usually they split up the field down the middle and each takes care of their half of the field. The game has two periods each being 35 minutes long, with the half time break being about five minutes.

The history of hockey is similar to that of golf as it basically is rooted from any game that involved a stick and a ball or rock which have all been played for thousands of years. Very rough and crude forms of these games have been taking place for thousands of years throughout Europe, Egypt and South America that have formed hockey history.

Hockey began to form clearer roots throughout England in the sixteen and seventeen hundreds. These were treacherous games that often combined the entire village versus another village and teams could often have up to a hundred players and the players often played through major injuries and endured several days of these games.

The sport that we are more familiar with today began to form at Eton University in England when they actually began to formulate rules around 1860. Then the first Hockey Assoc. in the history of hockey was formed in 1875 which clarified more rules.

Further growth of the sport was spawning in North America as new settlers came to the continent. Montreal was credited with the first organized game in the history of hockey that was played in 1875 by college students. The students then formed more associations and leagues and created new rules at the same time.

The game continued to grow in popularity and became so popular that Montreal offered the first World Championship of Ice Hockey in 1883. European hockey continued to grow at the college level while a number of universities formed fierce rivalries.

Some dramatic rule changes were applied that helped progress the game to a field of eleven players while hockey equipment began to evolve as well. The use of safety equipment to include pads, helmets, mouth pieces and protective eye shields have dramatically improved from the early days of hockey history. It was not uncommon to not even wear head gear until the last few decades.

The international appeal of hockey grew tremendously due to the Olympic Games. It was first played at the Games in 1924 and only allowed male teams. Canada was a safe bet to win the gold medal as they won the first six out of seven golds. From the mid fifties to the eighties the Soviet Union dominated. Although the US won its first gold medal in hockey history in1960 it was the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” where our college amateur team went on to beat the heavily favored Russians that spurred a growth in Americas appetite for hockey.

The NHL as we know it today was formed in 1917 and consists of 30 teams 24 of which are from America and the remainder in Canada. The bulk of the players come from Canada, Europe and America. There is also an International Association called the International Hockey Federation which was formed in 1908 and continues today by hosting some of the largest international ice hockey tournaments. These two organizations have helped to form and govern hockey as we know it today. The sport has grown a lot from twigs and balls to a major international activity that produces billions in revenue each year and has some of the most amazing athletes on the planet, so goes the history of hockey.

Hockey trading cards may seem to wane in popularity, but if McDonald’s has its way, it won’t be for the next 100 years. They may probably have experienced spikes in demand thanks to McDonald’s hockey collectibles. These hockey cards that come from the house of Ronald McDonald are actually worth something, considering that it’s supplied only in Canada and that many kids actually don’t think much of them, leaving much of the loot and short supply to serious collectors. Many McDonald’s hockey cards are not even traded – they’re thrown away or left to rot someplace forgotten, like the attic or an old shoebox.

That is not to say that interest has never waned. Many collectors lost their love for hockey cards during the mid-90s when the market was filled to the brim. However, with the resurgence of interest in hockey and the continuing popularity of hockey collectibles including those from McDonald’s, it’s a good idea to start or re-start your collection now.

Getting McDonald’s hockey collectibles

The most popular hockey collectibles from McDonald’s continue to be NHL trading cards, the latest of which is from the Upper Deck Ice Heroes Collection. The new line features 50 cards, with special inserts that contain 51-card sets. Each pack costs $0.99 with purchase of selected McDonald’s products.

The number of cards contained in the card sets varies depending on the description. Cards in the Hardware Heroes set features winners of NHL awards in 6 die-cut cards to a pack. The Rookie Review and Hot Gloves sets have 20 cards in a pack while the Captains Checklist set contains cards featuring captains from the 6 Canadian NHL teams.

Another thing that adds to the excitement of getting the cards is that there are more than 4,000 official winning cards that include some important hockey memorabilia. The cards are instant-winning and need only to be verified to be redeemed. McDonald’s usually releases the new sets at the end of each year for the latest season.

There are also McDonald’s Canada hockey pucks that are issued by Canadian restaurants as part of their promotion to honor their hockey teams. These signature official pucks cost about $9.95 each.

Trading McDonald’s hockey collectibles online

On the McDonald’s hockey trading site (Mcdonalds.com.ca), you’ll have to sign up to become a member in order to trade. You must register your collection and include the quantity of every card you have. To trade a card, simply click on the ‘Trade It’ button and have someone find your offer. If you’re looking for a particular card, simply click on the ‘Need It’ button to advertise your requirement.

The site lets you save your card profile so you don’t have to re-enter information the next time you sign in. The site lets you trade and seek hockey card collectibles for free and sign up is fast and easy.

If you want to view the current roster of hockey collectibles, the site features a gallery that lets you view the players’ individual cards. Simply click on the names on the page and the site will give you a glimpse. Some of the most popular players are covered in the gallery, including Sergei Fedorov, Sidney Crosby, Steve Yzerman and Mario Lemieux.

Many grown hockey collectible fans who have seen the interest of young children in trading cards wane blame the rising prices. Hockey trading cards and collectibles cost anywhere from $5 to more than $100 in hobby shops and online stores. The McDonald’s hockey cards program in Canada hopes to attract more collectors and sports fans into creating sustained interest in cards as hockey collectibles.