Hockey: How your kids can play at home

Hockey is Canada’s national winter sport and it’s also one of the fastest sports, with some players skating close to 40 km/h. Canadian hockey teams are often the ones to beat in international competition.

How ice hockey started

Games using a stick and a ball have been played throughout history (the Vikings even played them on ice). But modern ice hockey became popular in Montreal in the 1870s when played by a group ofMcGill University students. James Creighton helped organize the first games and establish seven rules, based on those governing field hockey.

The first ice hockey world championship took place during Montreal’s Winter Carnival in 1883—McGill won. A rivalry between the ice hockey teams from England’s Oxford and Cambridge universities has been ongoing since about 1885.

Here’s how to watch ice hockey

• Two teams have five “skaters” and one goalie on the rink at a time
• Games are made up of three 20-minute periods
• Each team defends a net at either end of the ice
• The skaters try to shoot the puck into the other team’s net
• The winner has the most goals at the end of the game

Watch this amazing moment

You might get emotional as you watch Sidney Crosby score the goal that won Canada a gold medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

What you need to play street hockey

If your kids are feeling inspired by the Winter Olympics, try playing hockey at home! You don’t need a rink or even skates. Here’s how to do it.

• Sticks: You don’t need to spend a bunch of money on hockey sticks. Older kids will have extra sticks that are too worn for them to use but are great for road hockey. You can also purchase plastic blades that can be attached to broken sticks. If you do need to purchase sticks, you don’t need to spend top dollar; get cheap ones.
• Pucks: The hard rubber pucks used on the ice aren’t great for everyday, so look to tennis balls, orange street hockey balls, and soft foam rubber pucks.
• Goals: It’s great if you can find goals with netting because they’ll cut down on chasing down balls and pucks, but they aren’t necessary. Anything, including extra toques or gloves, can be used to mark goalposts.

Where to play

• Larger/longer driveways
• Many cul-de-sacs are traffic-free enough to play in
• Unused basketball and tennis courts
• Unused parking lots
• Backyards (but the grass will suffer)

How to play

• If there are enough players, all you really need to do is divide into two teams and get the game started. (To randomly form teams, have everyone toss their stick into a pile. Then one person just divvies them up into two piles.)
• With only a couple of players, you can set up shoot-out competitions where everyone gets a chance to play goal.
• Younger children benefit from games of passing and shooting to work on developing those skills.

You can play hockey indoors too!

Some of the most fun playing hockey can happen inside. Here’s what you need:

• Plastic mini-sticks, wooden cooking spoons, or just hands
• A tennis ball, racquet ball, or a ball made up of rolled-up socks
• An open floor space (move any breakables to safety)

Have kids play on their knees and try to get the ball into their opponent’s goal, which can be a doorway, a piece of furniture, or even masking tape on a wall.

Editor’s note: This article was first published on Feb. 21, 2014.