History of the National Hockey League

The largest hockey league in the world is the National Hockey League. The league was introduced in 1917, and originally had only five teams. Today it has grown to far greater proportions, now boasting 30 teams, each with an 82 game season, and if a team makes the playoffs, there can be up to another 28 games played on top of that. "The NHL is an elite league that houses only the best players from around the world" (History). The rules used in the NHL are generally used as the standard all over the world. Each game consists of three 20 minute periods, with an intermission between each period. If at the end of this 60 minute game there is a tie, there shall be an additional 5 minute overtime period during season play. If a tie is reached during a post season game, the game will enter a series of 20 minute overtimes, which will only come to an end when one of the teams scores. Other well known hockey leagues are the United hockey league, the Central Hockey League, the East Coast Hockey League, and of course, the American Hockey League. Each of these leagues is a professional hockey league, just a step below the NHL. The most well known of the four is the AHL, which is home of the farm teams of their NHL counterparts. Such teams include the Rochester Americans, which is the farm team of the Buffalo Sabres, the team that all Amerks aim to eventually be drafted on to. The AHL is where players go that aspire to someday reach their pinnacle, and play in the NHL (AHL Update). The referee is called upon to make sure that the game is played fairly and to make sure that either team is penalized for an illegal action. There are five classes of penalties that currently are enforced in ice hockey. The first type is a minor/bench minor penalty, which is a low in class penalty that is punished with the loss of a man for two minutes. The player shall be let back on the ice and each team will return to full strength if the team on the power play is to score a goal.