Learn the five unique things about hockey
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| Braden: Top 5 Most Unique Things About Hockey |
| Ann: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the top 5 most unique things about hockey. |
| Braden: Unique things? |
| Ann: Yes. Hockey is a very unique sport. That’s part of the reason people have such a hard time understanding it. Some things are strange, but some of them are really interesting, but we’re only gonna look at 5 of them. |
| Braden: Oh, okay, so which are they? |
| Ann: Playoff beards, doing it for the team, bitter rivalries, sudden death overtime, and Olympic hockey. |
| Braden: Okay, and those sound pretty interesting. Let’s get to it. So, our number five most unique thing about hockey is playoff beards. |
| Ann: In other words, during the playoffs, hockey players do not shave their beards. That is, not until they are beaten out or win the Stanley cup. |
| Braden: Now, in our research, we couldn’t really find out where or why this tradition started. However, it is pretty universal and a sign of hockey "manliness" and “manlihood.” |
| Ann: Our number 4 most unique thing about hockey is that the players do whatever it takes for the team and for the fans. |
| Braden: This is different from many other professional sports because many of the players in basketball and football are quite frankly "in it for the money." |
| Ann: In other words, they tend to be more concerned about getting paid than they are about playing a good game. |
| Braden: Hockey players are different. Hockey is full of stories of players getting injured and playing on the injury. |
| Ann: In other sports, the person would just request to be substituted out and walk off the field. Some of the more extreme are broken legs, broken wrists, and broken ankles. |
| Braden: And they do all of that for around 10% of what most NBA players make, so it’s pretty significant. |
| Ann: Our number 3 most unique thing about hockey is the bitter rivalry. |
| Braden: In general, hockey is more violent than most sports but that doesn't often translate into bitterness and anger. |
| Ann: In the playoffs, however, that changes quite a bit. |
| Braden: By facing a single opponent for up to two weeks, the players will focus much more on individual match-ups. |
| Ann: When you focus on just one player, you can imagine how you might start getting annoyed by him. Every game has a hero. |
| Braden: And in hockey, every game has a villain as well. |
| Ann: Our number 2 most unique thing about hockey is sudden-death overtimes. |
| Braden: Right and I thought this word was actually kind of cool. In most sports, when the score is tied at the end of the game, there is a period called an "overtime." This gives the teams a few more minutes to win and kind of decide who wins the game. |
| Ann: Also in most sports, overtime is a specific period of time. Usually, overtime is between 10 minutes to 30 minutes, and whoever has more points after a complete overtime wins. |
| Braden: Now, hockey has a 20-minute overtime, but it’s a sudden death overtime. “Sudden death” means the first team to score wins and the overtime is over. |
| Ann: This makes them very stressful and intense, because any shot could make you or your team lose. |
| Braden: And our number one most unique thing about hockey is Olympic hockey. |
| Ann: Different from other professional sports, when the Olympics come around, the National Hockey League cancels all games for that year to allow players to represent their countries at the Winter Olympics. |
| Braden: This is fascinating how players who were rivals just weeks before are now teammates and must play together. |
| Ann: And play together very well. Many players take the honor of representing their country very seriously, and some place a higher importance on an Olympic Gold than they do on a Stanley Cup. |
| Braden: Now, Hockey's most famous championship, the Miracle on Ice, took place at the Olympics. |
| Ann: We talked about that in lesson 19, so be sure to check that out. |
| Braden: That just about does it for this lesson. Thanks for listening! |
| Ann: Have a good one. |
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