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ICE HOCKEY |
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| anaheim ducks |
If
you like your sport tough – bordering on violent – then the NHL is the
sport for you. This is one of the few sports where pushing, shoving,
checking and anything resembling thuggery are an accepted part of the
game. It is very rare to have a weekly sports highlights package that
doesn’t involve one major off-the-puck body check resulting in spilt
blood or a major concussion. However, the skills of the game can only be
really appreciated at the game – it is one of the fastest games in the
world and because of this it is hard to appreciate it on TV. The NHL is also divided into divisions similar to the NBA – and like the
NBA, teams generally play every other team over the year. There are also two American Minor Professional League feeder competitions to the NHL – the American Hockey League (with teams from all over the US and Canada) and the East Coast Hockey League (with teams that are largely from the eastern half of the US from north to south). Up until 2000 there was the now defunct smaller International Hockey League (which had select teams from both Canada and the US). Even further below these are the Atlantic Coast Hockey League West (with teams from Florida and the Carolinas) and the Central Hockey League (with teams from the central states like Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma and New Mexico). Other competitions include the semi-professional Ligue de Hockey Semi-Pro de Quebec and the National Women’s Hockey League, with teams from Canada. |