Short story intermediate about history of Sports

It’s the third period with only twenty seconds left on the clock. The center for the Wild passes the puck to the right wing. The wing moves the puck down the ice. He hits the puck towards the net. Three, two, one, buzz! He scores right at the buzzer! . Sticks are waving in the air, players are hugging each other, and fans are pounding the glass. What a game!

Hockey is an exciting sport. It is a fast paced game of strategy, speed, and strength. Hockey is believed to have evolved from the Irish field game called Hurley. Hurley is played year round in Ireland with a stick (known as a “hurley”) and a small leather ball. Hurley was also played in the open fields of Nova Scotia back in the 1800’s. Winters were difficult for Hurley enthusiasts. It proved to be a difficult game to play in the snow, so it was moved onto the ice. .

At some point in the 1800’s, the game became known as Hockey. Some attribute the name change to a Royal Canadian Rifles officer stationed in Nova Scotia named “Hockey” who had his men play the game for years. . James Creighton, an engineer who learned how to play the game of hockey while living in Nova Scotia, is credited for bringing the game to a new level. He taught his friends at McGill University in Montreal how to play the game. In the mid 1870’s he organized the first hockey game that was played inside a rink. He established a set of rules for the game known as the “Halifax Rules.” One of the new rules was nine players per team.

Hockey spread throughout Canada and gained popularity in the U.S. as well. In the late 1880’s the first organized hockey league started in Kingston, Ontario with four teams. In 1892 Lord Stanley, Earl of Preston and Governor General of Canada, decided to donate a trophy cup that could be won by amateur hockey teams in Canada. In 1926 the National Hockey League (NHL), which is today comprised of thirty teams from the United States and Canada, gained control of the cup. . It has become the most coveted prize in the NHL.

Hockey has grown and changed in the last one hundred years. The first goals were two stones, each
frozen into one end of the ice. The equipment has evolved from a ball and straight stick to a puck and a long handled curved stick. Hockey helmets were not worn much until the 1970’s. They were mandated by the NHL for the 1979-80 season and beyond. There were up to thirty players on the ice for the first hockey games. . Even though various aspects of the game and its elements have changed over the years, the enthusiasm for the sport and the passion for those who play it remain strong.