ICE HOCKEY

   

   What is Hockey?
   Hockey has been played for longer than any of us has been alive, but we can't tell you exactly
   when it was invented, or by whom, because no one really knows for sure. We do have some idea
   of how it got started, however, and we can describe the ways the game has grown and changed
   over the years. Once a relatively obscure recreation for people who lived in the north, hockey
   is now played all over the world and has become one of the most popular winter sports.

   

   The Origins of the Game
   Most historians place the roots of hockey in the chilly climates of northern Europe,
   specifically Great Britain and France, where field hockey was a popular summer sport more than
   500 years ago. When the ponds and lakes froze in winter, it was not unusual for the athletes
   who fancied that sport to play a version of it on ice.

   Articles in London newspapers around that time mention increasing interest in the sport, which
   many observers believe got its name from the French word “hoquet”, which means a “bent stick.”
   A number of writers thought this game should be forbidden because it was so disruptive to
   people out for a leisurely winter skate.

   

   Hockey Comes to North America
   Not surprisingly, the earliest North American games were played in Canada. British soldiers
   organized contests on frozen ponds in Halifax in the 1870s, and about that same time in
   Montreal students from McGill University began facing off against each other in a downtown ice
   rink. Hockey became so popular that games were soon being played on a regular basis between
   clubs from Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. The English Governor, Lord Stanley of Preston, was
   so impressed that in 1892 he bought a silver bowl with an interior gold finish and ordered
   that it would be given each year to the best amateur team in Canada. That trophy, of course,
   is known as the Stanley Cup and is awarded today to the winners of the National Hockey League
   playoffs.

   

   Ice Hockey and Politics

   International hockey has often been played in an atmosphere of tension and conflict. From the
   1960s through the 1980s, games between North American and Soviet Bloc teams reflected Cold War
   tensions. But perhaps the most memorable "political" games in hockey history took place at the
   1969 world championship, a few months after the democracy movement in Czechoslovakia was
   crushed by a Soviet invasion. The Czechs defeated the Soviets twice during the tournament
   (which was played in Sweden), causing thousands to pour into the streets of Prague in
   celebration. A sign in the crowd told the Soviets, "This time you can't count on your tanks."

   

   What They Wore - and Didn't Wear - In Years Past
   It's remarkable how little equipment the hockey players of the past wore and how basic the
   gear really was. The quality of the gear progressed over the years, with true hockey skates
   being made and players wearing protective gloves. Shin guards eventually came into being, but
   many times they didn't do much to soften the blow of a puck or stick, and players were known
   to stuff  newspapers or magazines behind them for extra protection.

   Amazingly, goalies played without masks until 1959. It's also surprising to think that players
   didn't begin wearing helmets until the early 1970s; prior to that the only people who wore
   them did so mostly because they were recovering from a head injury, or, as was the case of one
   former Chicago Blackhawk forward, because they were embarrassed about being bald. The League
   passed a rule saying that anyone who came into the NHL from the start of the 1979-80 season
   had to wear a helmet.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   A Match the expressions from the text with the expressions with similar meaning:   

        Obscure            

        Chilly

        To fancy

                                               Disruptive

        Remarkable

        Guard

        To stuff

        To recover

        To want to do something

        Unusual, impressive

        To fill

         Not clear, not easy to understand

         Something you wear for protection

         To become fit and healthy again

         Cold enough to be unpleasant

         Causing trouble that interrupt something

        

   B Study the text and find sentences with similar meaning in the passive:

        1.     People have played hockey for ages.

        2.    Somebody invented the game long ago but we don´t know exactly when.

        3.    Nowadays people play ice hockey all over the world.

   4.     Many writers thought that somebody should forbid the game. 

        5.    They award the Stanley Cup to the winners of the National Hockey League playoffs.

        6.    A Soviet invasion crushed the democracy movement in Czechoslovakia.

        7.    They played the tournament in Sweden.

   

   C Answer the questions:

   1.      How did the game originate?

   2.     Why did some people want ice hockey to be forbidden?

   3.     How did the Stanley Cup become a famous trophy?

   4.     What were the political aspects of the game?

   5.     How has the equipment changed since the early times of the game?