Doughnut
Forum Admin
mmmmmm ... Doughnuts
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Post by Doughnut on Feb 17, 2004 15:22:49 GMT
Just guessing this is the right board to post these questions.
Has ice hockey always been played over 3 periods?
Why is an ice hockey game played over 3 periods when most other sports are played over 2 or 4?
Just curious.
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Paul
Robert Lachowicz
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Post by Paul on Feb 17, 2004 16:32:00 GMT
The only reference I can find states that the 3 periods were introduced in 1911. There's no explanation as to why.
I can remember some rinks like Blackpool in the 1980s where teams changed ends mid way through the 3rd period because conditions were so different at each end.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2004 20:45:11 GMT
I'm going to sound like a crusty old professor (no offence, all you professors who may be reading), but in the interests of public service, here goes.
I've got a great book I sent to Canada for years ago about the history of professional hockey in North America. In there it says the first recognised rules of hockey were written in 1879 (The McGill Rules). Nine men per team on the ice, no substitutions, no checking, a face off whenever the puck went behind the goal and games to last two hours. In the 1880s the duration of a game was reduced to two thirty-minute halves with a ten minute intermission.
By 1914, before the NHL had started, there were more than half a dozen pro leagues in Canada and the USA. The most go-ahead was the Pacific Coast Hockey League, run by brothers Lester and Lynn Patrick and consisting of three teams (Vancouver, Victoria and New Westminster) and a total of 23 players. They were always tinkering with the rules; amongst other things they introduced numbers on players' shirts, match programmes, the blue lines on the ice, permitting forward passing (no, I can't imagine a game of hockey where you can only pass backwards either, but that's how it was played then), assists on goals, delayed penalties and abolition of the rule that goalies had to stay on their feet at all times. The book also says, quote 'they accepted the eastern innovation of three twenty-minute periods, which tended to produce faster play throughout a game.'
In their 1940s/1950s incarnation, Panthers used to swop ends half way through the third. When they resumed in 1980 we still had the old clock, which led to that memorable night - against whom I forget - when we forgot to reset the clock in the third and the hooter went after 10 minutes. That got a buzz going in the crowd, I can tell you.
If anyone's interested, the book is called Checking Back by Neil D Isaacs, published by Norton - ISBN 0 393 08788 3. Cracking read if you're interested in the history of the game, but no photos.
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MP
Paul Adey
Hail hurts and rain is cold. Summer in the mountains
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Post by MP on Feb 17, 2004 21:26:52 GMT
Glad to see you finally made it into this section of the forum Stef - was worried you'd got stuck in PuckBunny corner! That sounds to be a very interesting tome you have there - I suspect it will be called upon again in the future when these obscure hockey questions surface.
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Doughnut
Forum Admin
mmmmmm ... Doughnuts
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Post by Doughnut on Feb 18, 2004 9:29:40 GMT
Thanks Stef,
So it's to promote faster play then. But why 3 periods and not 4 - like in American Football or Basketball.
An even number just seems to make more sense some how.
I was wondering if it might have something to do with spending more time shooting at the goal that most of your team's fans can see.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2004 19:52:38 GMT
... and, of course, 4 periods would mean an extra beer break.
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Post by Alf Garnett on Feb 18, 2004 20:51:57 GMT
Why not have 6 10 minute periods then?
That would give us 5 beer breaks!
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britfan
Terry Kurtenbach
be very afraid
Posts: 2,994
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Post by britfan on Feb 18, 2004 20:58:12 GMT
i was at a game once when there were 6 10 minute periods, lol ;D
but that was because things kept happening 10 minutes into each period, eg. the plexi smashing, a fight/player getting injured and something else, can't remember what it was though, lol ;D
was quite a funny game though. was loads of fun on the team bus on the way back though, as half the team were kicked out and started drinking before we actually got on the bus, lol ;D
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Admin
Forum Admin
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Post by Admin on Feb 20, 2004 14:28:36 GMT
Another highly recommended book ... for newbies and the more experienced ...
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hockey by Malcom G. Kelly and Mark Askin. ISBN 0-02-864257-0
Covers a whole range of topics from the modern rules ... records ... early history in N.America and Europe ... how the NHL came about etc etc ... loads of great information and in a good format.
Priced at CAN $28.95 ... if you can find a copy on Amazon or wherever then you should buy it. ;D
(I'm not on commission! I just think it's a great book!)
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Post by heja on Feb 22, 2004 14:18:48 GMT
so the three periods are there 1) to make it add up to 1 hour
2) so you don't have to keep having along break
3) to promote faster play by having clean ice
and 4) to gives the guys a break.
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Post by Stanton #84 on Jul 21, 2004 16:58:17 GMT
Whilst reading through an old issue of Face-Off (April 2004)(not really that old), i came across this article on pabe 49
*In 1910 the National Hockey Association, the forerunner of the National Hockey League, decided to forever change the game. To increase the number of chances to make money at concessions stands in their new indoor arenas, the governors decided to change from two 30-minute halves to three 20-minutes 'periods'. Going from one halftime to two intermission would give the owners more chances to sell refreshments to the fans.
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Post by heja on Oct 27, 2004 17:04:16 GMT
perhapes they should now start selling decent food that people want.
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