Hockey
Hockey is any of a group of sports where two teams try to maneuver a ball or puck around the field of play into the opponent's goal using sticks.
Hockey has reportedly existed for 4,000 years, with origins tracing back to ancient civilizations in Europe, Africa and South America. Its original form resembled field hockey, which involes a ball and stick and is played on grass.
Unlike the more popularized ice hockey, field hockey is played on gravel, grass, or artifiicial turf and uses a small hard ball in place of a puck. Its sticks are also designed differently than ice hockey sticks, which are are slim and L-shapped, whereas today's field hockey sticks are J-shaped. Field hockey is an Olympic sport, which has both mens and womens teams and is governed by International Hockey Federation.
Ice hockey evolved from field hockey in Northern Europe, though its modern origins lie in Canada, where J.G. Creighton invented the modern day sport. Today, ice hockey's most well-known sports league is the National Hockey League, or NHL. The NHL consists of 30 teams divided into two conferences, the Eastern conference and the Western Conference, and six divisions, three per each conference. Like its predecessor, ice hockey is also an Olympic sport, though it is a part of the Winter Olympics.
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