In 1972 and 1974, only Canada and the Soviet Union played in the Summit Series.
In 1977, the IIHF World Championships finally allowed professional players, but this series typically occurs during the Stanley Cup playoffs, so most major professional players do not attend, rendering them a minor unofficial professional championship.
In 1998, NHL players were given the opportunity to play in the Olympics for the first time.
2006 Turin Olympics may not be a major professional championship, as the NHL may prohibit players from attending due to labor strife in the 2004-05 NHL season.
The skates worn for ice hockey differ from those used for figure skating and speed skating in that the blade is thinner and shorter, with a plain, pointed end, and the boot is lower and thicker.
The worldchampionship in 1997 served as a qualifier for the Winter Olympics in 1998, when women’s ice hockey was admitted as a medal sport.
The Hockey Hall of Fame was established in Toronto in 1943.
In 1972, the WorldHockey Association (WHA) was formed, and though it never challenged for the Stanley Cup, its status as a potential rival to the NHL did not go unnoticed.
The National Hockey League originated in 1917 with 5 teams, and through a sequence of team expansions, reductions and relocations currently consists of 30 teams, 24 of which are based in the United States and 6 in Canada.
The National Hockey League season is divided into a regular season, where teams play each other in a predefined schedule, and a playoffs, which is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a best-of-seven series in order to advance to the next round.
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