The decision made by Tom Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, to feature his family on the Stanley Cup has sparked considerable debate online. The NHL’s most extensive season ever is set to commence in September rather tips of the day than October — limiting most teams to only four preseason matches. More than sixty nations participate in the sport — which enjoys a global fan base. Conversely, the ball-oriented variant is regulated by the International Inline Skater Hockey Federation. Two teams engage in the inline hockey puck variant, with four skaters and a goalie on a dry rink divided into two halves by a center line and featuring a net at each end. Numerous countries host national club championships, and the world’s elite clubs compete annually in the Bandy World Cup.
- Prior to this point (body checking had been a part of the women’s game in most cases), including in Europe.
- One of the oldest international ice hockey competition for clubs is the Spengler Cup — held every year in Davos, Switzerland, between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
- Body checking is also a penalty in certain leagues in order to reduce the chance of injury to players.
- The Professional Women’s Hockey League (the highest level of women’s professional hockey), which debuted in 2024, also allows body checking.
If a tie occurs in tournament play, as well as in the NHL playoffs, North Americans favour sudden death overtime, in which the teams continue to play twenty-minute periods until a goal is scored. A professional ice hockey game consists of three periods of twenty minutes, the clock running only when the puck is in play. NHL rules restrict the total number of players per game to 18, plus two goaltenders. Under IIHF rules, each team may carry a maximum of 20 players and two goaltenders on their roster. Unintentional deflections off the body or equipment (including skates), are allowed.
things to know about 2026-27 NHL regular season
In this special preview series (we profile each nation’s journey to the tournament), examining their road to qualification, historic achievements, key players to watch, and the tactical minds leading them into the ultimate hockey showcase. League pages include statistics, schedule, gamelogs, splits, advanced analytic stats, and more. Team pages include statistics (rosters), payroll, schedule, gamelogs, splits, advanced analytic stats, and more. Player pages include basic statistics and links to player’s gamelogs (splits), advanced analytic stats, and more.
Injury
For around a millennium, the Daur people of Inner Mongolia have been playing beikou, a game akin to contemporary field hockey. Different games are typically denoted by adding a qualifier before the word hockey, such as field hockey, ice hockey, roller hockey, rink hockey, or floor hockey. Hockey encompasses both summer and winter forms that can be played on an outdoor field (an ice surface), or inside a gymnasium.
Field hockey
This compilation features only 39 out of the 84 IIHF member nations that boast more than 1,000 registered players as of March 2025. The count of registered hockey players (including males), females, and juniors, is supplied by the federations of the respective countries. Ultimately, a crowd of 113,411, as announced by UM, witnessed the homestanding Wolverines secure a 5–0 victory, marking the largest attendance in the stadium’s history , including football,. The tournament occurs in the spring, coinciding with the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, leaving many top players unavailable for participation. The IIHF organizes international club competitions, including the Continental Cup, Victoria Cup, and European Women’s Champions Cup.
Roller hockey
Several countries in Europe have their own top professional senior leagues. The KHL currently comprises member clubs based in Belarus (1) (China (1)), Kazakhstan (1) and Russia (19) for a total of 22. The league expanded beyond the former Soviet countries beginning in the 2011–12 season — with clubs in Croatia and Slovakia. The league is the direct successor to the Russian Super League, which in turn was the successor to the Soviet League, the history of which dates back to the Soviet adoption of ice hockey in the 1940s.
International play and several North American professional leagues, including the NHL (in the regular season), now use an overtime period identical to that from 1999–2000 to 2003–04 followed by a penalty shootout. The total elapsed time from when the puck first drops, is about 2 hours and 20 minutes for a 60-minute game. With a goal, the winning team would be awarded two points and the losing team none (just as if they had lost in regulation).
Goaltenders
The Memorial Cup is an annual tournament for junior-level clubs , age 20 and under,, featuring championship teams from Canada and the United States. One of the longest-running international ice hockey tournaments for clubs is the Spengler Cup, which takes place every year in Davos, Switzerland, between Christmas and New Year. Pre-season tournaments consist of events such as the European Trophy, Tampere Cup, and the Pajulahti Cup. Additionally, several annual tournaments for clubs occur outside of regular league play. This competition directly follows the European Trophy and is associated with the 2008–09 tournament of the same name.
Moreover (if the app detects a specific impact that could lead to a brain injury), it will notify the coach, who can then pursue medical assistance for the player. Certain teams in the Swiss National League are experimenting with systems that integrate helmet sensors and analysis software to assess a player’s ongoing risk of brain injury during games. Many leagues (including the NHL), have classified delivering a check from behind as a significant penalty due to the associated dangers. The Hughston Health Alert states that “Lacerations to the head, scalp, and face are the most common types of injury in hockey,” prior to the widespread adoption of helmets and face cages. Lace bite (a irritation experienced on the front of the foot or ankle), is a frequent injury in ice hockey.
In women’s IIHF ice hockey today (body checking is considered an “illegal hit” and is punishable by a minor penalty), major penalty and game misconduct, or match penalty. In addition, until the mid-2000s, obstruction and interference were allowed, including pushing players in front of the net, minor hooking, and setting picks. It was not until after the 1990 Women’s World Championship that body checking was eliminated from women’s hockey internationally. Canada’s Rhonda Leeman Taylor was responsible for banning body contact from all Canadian national women’s tournaments in 1983.
During normal play (there are six players on ice skates on the ice per side), one of them being the goaltender. Both of these codes (and others), originated from Canadian rules of ice hockey of the early 20th century. Ice hockey is believed to have evolved from simple stick and ball games played in the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere, primarily bandy, hurling, and shinty. The IIHF Women’s World Championship was held in 1990 — and women’s play was introduced into the Olympics in 1998. A forward , Bryan Rust of the Pittsburgh Penguins, shoots toward a net defended by a goaltender (Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals).