What's your favorite sport? Well if you read this article on ice hockey maybe you'll pick ice hockey.

The first appearance of ice hockey in the Olympics for men came during a summer Olympics in 1920. Women's Olympic ice hockey began in 1998. The Russian men's hockey team was the best hockey team ever for many years. No other team was better than that team. Twenty years ago, a group of American college hockey players beat the best hockey team in the world to win the Gold Medal at Lake Placid, NY. American women won the first gold medal in women's ice hockey. I wonder who will win the next Olympic Gold medal for Ice Hockey?

The men's tournament has 14 different teams. Six of those teams automatically qualify for the final round. In order to automatically go to the final round your team has to go to the tournament the year before, then you can go to the final round automatically. The women's tournament has 8 teams.

Ice hockey is played on an oval ice rink. The rink is usually 200 feet long and 85 feet wide. It is a very fast moving game with five people on the ice for each team and a goalie. Each team has six players on the ice at one time, two defenders, a right and left one and three offensive players a center, a right, and left wing and a goalie. All the players wear a helmet that includes a mask, shoulder pads, a neck pad, a pair of hockey skates, socks, pants, and a jersey to go over their chest equipment. The goalies are protected with even more padding and a special helmet. They all have sticks, that's a very important piece of equipment. 

The object is to hit the puck up the ice with a curved stick to the other end of the ice and get the puck in the other team's goal. The puck is a hard rubber disc made in a circular shape.

If you play ice hockey you have to rely on the ice. If ice is soft, hilly, or even bumpy you and the puck will go slower. If the ice is rock hard and smooth you will go much faster and so will the puck.

The goalie has to stay in the goal and is allowed to block the puck and roll it to a teammate. The defender's job is to keep the other team from getting the puck.

I hope you try ice hockey one day because it is a lot of fun!