Hockey, sometimes known as “ice hockey” or “just hockey,” is a team sport that is played on ice skates on a surface that has been specially marked out for the activity. It is a member of the hockey family of sports. A closed, vulcanized rubber disc called a “puck” is controlled, advanced, and shot into the opposing team’s goal by two opposing teams using ice hockey sticks. One point is awarded for each goal. The winning team is the one with the most goals scored. In a formal game, each side has six skaters on the ice at once, with the goalkeeper being one of them, barring any penalties. Full-contact ice hockey is a sport.
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which oversees both the men’s and women’s competitions at the sport’s main international amateur championship, the IIHF World Championships, is one of the Winter Olympics’ participating sports. Professional ice hockey is another sport that is played. The first indoor game of ice hockey was played on March 3, 1875, in Montreal, which is considered to be the birthplace of the current game. The length of the ice rink and the use of a puck are two elements of the game that have persisted to this day.

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Professional ice hockey first appeared around 1900, but amateur ice hockey leagues first appeared in the 1880s. The Stanley Cup, a symbol of ice hockey club dominance, was originally given out in 1893 to honor the Canadian amateur champion. It eventually changed its name to the National Hockey League championship trophy after being commissioned in 1892 as the “Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup” (NHL).
Although women participated in the game’s early development, it wasn’t until mid-1980s that body checking was officially banned from female ice hockey. By that time, the sport had already gained popularity in Europe and a number of other nations. Women’s play was first included in the Olympics in 1998, and the inaugural IIHF Women’s World Championship took place in 1990.