The origin of ice hockey is unknown, however, ice hockey probaly evolved from the game of field hockey that has been played in Northern Europe for centuries.

The rules of modern ice hockey were devised by Canadian J G A Creighton. In 1875, the first game of ice hockey with Creighton's rules was played in Montreal, Canada.

The first artificial ice rink (mechanically-refrigerated) was built in 1876, at Chelsea, London, England and was named the Glaciarium. It was built near the King's Road in London by John Gamgee.

The original Stanley Cup was only seven inches high. The names of every player from each winning team is etched on the base of the Cup. The cup and base now stands more than 35 inches high.

Fibreglass Canada worked with Canadiens Goalie Jaques Plante to develop the first-ever hockey goalie mask in 1960.

The Montreal Canadiens have won the most Stanley Cups -23. The Toronto Maple Leafs are second on the list with 13.

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If a regular season NHL game is tied after three periods (20 minutes each), the two teams play a sudden-death five minute overtime period to try to break the tie. In the playoffs, however, the game keeps going until someone scores.

The longest overtime game in playoff history was in 1936, when the Detroit Red Wings finally beat the Montreal Maroons in the sixth overtime period. They basically played almost three full games in one night.

Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky are the only players to be named MVP of three NHL All-Star games.

Superstar Wayne Gretzky won the NHL scoring title (known as the Art Ross Trophy) a record 10 times.

Bernie Geoffrion is credited with bringing the slapshot to the NHL in 1951. He was given the nickname “Boom Boom” because his shot was so hard and fast.

The first goaltender to regularly wear a face mask during a game was Montreal's Jacques Plante. A shot broke his nose in 1959 and he decided to wear one ever since. He was made fun of at first, but now every goaltender wears a mask. Thanks to him, many broken bones and stitches have been avoided.

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The first player to accumulate more than 300 penalty minutes in one season was Philadelphia Flyer Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, who had 348 in 1974. The next year, he had 472 penalty minutes, still the most ever.

In the 1985-86 season, Edmonton Oilers center Wayne Gretzky scored 215 points, breaking his own record that he set four years earlier. Of the top 10 best-scoring seasons of all-time, “The Great One” has eight of them while Mario Lemieux has the other two.

Toronto Maple Leaf Darryl Sittler scored 10 points in one game (six goals, four assists) against the Boston Bruins in 1976.

Quebec's Joe Malone holds the record for most goals scored in a game with seven against Toronto in 1920. He also had an eighth goal disallowed.

Joe Malone

The World Hockey Association (WHA) was a rival hockey league in existence from 1973 to 1979. Hockey legends Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, and Wayne Gretzky all played in the league, but it couldn't compete with the NHL. Four current NHL teams came over from the WHA - the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers (now Carolina Hurricanes), Quebec Nordiques (now Colorado Avalanche), and Winnipeg Jets (now Phoenix Coyotes).

Canada is widely known as the birthplace of hockey.

The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Canada. There is also a U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame for players, coaches, etc. that are American-born. There are 13 people that are members of both halls of fame.

Michigan has won the most Division I College Hockey Championships with nine, the last one in 1998.

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