Sports
Intro to the U.S.
Ice Hockey
Hockey is thought to have originated in Canada during the late 1800s where it was derived from the British game of field hockey and played on ice, using a puck instead of a rubber ball. The game is fast-paced with the puck reaching speeds of 105 mph.
The first professional team, the Portage Lakers was formed in 1903 in Houghton, Michigan. Hockey is now one of the four major North American professional sports (the other three are baseball, basketball and football) and is represented by the National Hockey League (NHL) at the highest level. The NHL - which includes both U.S. and Canadian teams - was formed in 1917. Six of the thirty NHL franchises are Canadian with the remaining twenty-four based in the U.S.
The sport's popularity in the U.S. is centralized in the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, and Alaska and 64 countries are members of the International Ice Hockey Federation. The Stanley Cup Tournament is the major annual U.S.-Canadian hockey event. The cup was first awarded in 1893 to the champion amateur team in Canada, Montreal, and continues to be awarded today to the National Hockey League's championship team.
During the 2005-2006 season a total of 1.230 professional hockey games were attended by 20.854.169 spectators in Canada and the U.S.
Sources: NHL, IIHF, HockeyDB
Mike Modano - One of Ice Hockey's Greatest
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| Mike Modano - USA vs. Sweden. (Photo by Getty Images) |
Mike Modano was born on June 7, 1970 in Livonia, Michigan, USA. He was an All-Star playing his junior hockey with the Prince Albert Raiders of the Western Hockey League and was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars as the first overall pick in the 1988 NHL amateur entry draft. He became only the second American to be drafted first overall and by 1989 he was a regular contributer to the North Stars team. He averaged almost a point per game in his rookie year with 75 points and was second in voting for the Calder trophy to Sergei Makarov of the Calgary Flames. He continued to produce for the North Stars, notching 20 points in the 1991 playoffs as he led Minnesota all the way to the Stanley Cup final.
Modano led the North Stars in points from 1991-93 and as the team moved south to Dallas, Modano came through with a 50 goal, 93 point season in 1993-94. He has been one of the most consistent NHL performers throughout the 1990s. The latter half of the decade saw Modano continue to work on his overall game, turning out to be more of a complete hockey player. He led the Dallas Stars to the franchise's first ever Stanley Cup win in 1999. Modano has also represented the United States in several international hockey tournaments. He is a two time World Juniors, World Championships and Canada Cup participant. He played on the gold medal winning American team at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and was also part of the second place Olympic team in 2002 at Salt Lake City.
(Source: Hockey Fans)
Learn More about Mike Modano
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