Canadians Love To Watch NHL Hockey

The National Hockey League (NHL) has 26 teams. The teams belong to the Western Conference or the Eastern Conference. There are four divisions: Pacific, Central, Atlantic and Northeast. Each team in the NHL plays 82 games in the regular season. The play-offs between the 16 best teams begin in April. After the final game of the play-offs, the winning team gets the Stanley Cup.

The Stanley Cup gets its name from Lord Stanley. He was the Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. Lord Stanley gave the Cup for the best hockey team in Canada. Today, the Stanley Cup goes to the winning NHL team.

Did You Know?
  1. There are three periods in an NHL hockey game. Each period is 20 minutes long.
  2. Hockey players skate up to 50 kilometres per hour.
  3. A puck can travel 160 kilometres per hour.
  4. A goalie wears about 16 kilograms of equipment.

Background Information

This story is about hockey? What do you know about hockey? Do you know where the Stanley Cup came from? If you like hockey, talk about your favorite team and why you like them. Also talk about what changes you've seen in the NHL since you started watching.

Questions

1. How many teams are in the NHL?

2. What are the names of each division in the NHL?

3. What is a play-off?

4. Why do you think teams play so many games per season?

5. Do you think April is too late for play-offs? Why?

6. What does the winning team get?

7. Where does the name Stanley Cup come from?

8. What is a Governor General?

9. Who did Lord Stanley give the Cup to?

10. Why do you think a goalie wears so much equipment?

Hockey Player

Previous page Table of Contents Next page