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Ice hockey is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hockey sticks to control, advance, and shoot a closed, vulcanized, rubber disc called a "puck" into the other team's goal. Each goal is worth one point. The team which scores the most goals is declared the winner. In a formal game, each team has six skaters on the ice at a time, barring any penalties, one of whom is the goaltender. Ice hockey is a full contact sport, and is considered to be one of the more physically demanding team sports. It is distinct from field hockey, in which players move a ball around a non-frozen pitch using field hockey sticks.
The National Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered to be the top ranked professional ice hockey league in the world, with players from 17 countries as of the 2023–24 season. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) also views the Stanley Cup as one of the "most important championships available to the sport". The NHL is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
Saskatchewan is a province in Western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the United States. Saskatchewan and Alberta are the only landlocked provinces of Canada. In 2023, Saskatchewan's population was estimated at 1,221,439. Nearly 10% of Saskatchewan's total area of 651,900 km2 (251,700 sq mi) is fresh water, mostly rivers, reservoirs, and lakes.
The Canadian Football League is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a city in Canada. They are divided into two divisions: four teams in the East Division and five teams in the West Division. As of 2024, it features a 21-week regular season in which each team plays 18 games with three bye weeks. This season traditionally runs from mid-June to early November. Following the regular season, six teams compete in the league's three-week playoffs, which culminate in the Grey Cup championship game in late November. The Grey Cup is one of Canada's largest annual sports and television events. The CFL was officially named on January 19, 1958, upon the merger between the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union or "Big Four" and the Western Interprovincial Football Union.
In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations or teams can command large incomes. As a result, more sportspeople can afford to make sport their primary career, devoting the training time necessary to increase skills, physical condition, and experience to modern levels of achievement. This proficiency has also helped boost the popularity of sports. In most sports played professionally there are many more amateur than professional players, though amateurs and professionals do not usually compete.
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2022, it is estimated that the population of the Halifax CMA was 480,582, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County.
The Canadian Soccer Association is the governing body for soccer in Canada. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, the federation is a full member of FIFA and governs Canadian soccer at the international, professional, and amateur levels, including: the men's and women's national teams, Canadian Premier League, youth organizations, beach soccer, futsal, Paralympic and deaf national teams. The Canadian Soccer Association also administers and operates the Canadian Championship.
The Trinity Western Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. The university's teams are members of U Sports, and compete in the Canada West Universities Athletics Association, and where applicable, in the Pacific division.
Sports in Canada consist of a wide variety of games. The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s, culminating in the development and popularization of the major professional games of ice hockey, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, soccer, football and cricket. Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Golf, baseball, tennis, skiing, ringette, badminton, cricket, volleyball, cycling, swimming, bowling, rugby union, canoeing, curling, squash, and the study of martial arts are widely enjoyed at the youth and amateur levels. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists. There are numerous other Sports Halls of Fame in Canada.
Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 15- to 20-year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from the 2024 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
Sports in the United States are an important part of the nation's culture. Historically, the national sport has been baseball. However, in more recent decades, American football has been the most popular sport in terms of broadcast viewership audience. Basketball has grown into the mainstream American sports scene since the 1980s, with ice hockey and soccer doing the same around the turn of the 21st century.
The Battle of Alberta is a term applied to the intense rivalry between the Canadian cities of Calgary, the province's most populous city, and Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta. Most often it is used to describe sporting events between the two cities, although this is not exclusive as the rivalry predates organized sports in Alberta.
Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, for the purpose of fun and exercise or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words intra muros meaning "within walls", and was used to describe sports matches and contests that took place among teams from "within the walls" of an institution or area. The term dates to the 1840s. It is contrasted with extramural, varsity or intercollegiate sports, which are played between teams from different educational institutions. The word intermural, which also correctly means "between institutions", is a common error for "intramural".
Sports in Montreal have played a major role in the city's history. Montreal is best known for being home to the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League, which are currently the city's only team in the Big Four sports leagues.
The Canadian soccer league system, also called the Canadian soccer pyramid, is a term used in soccer to describe the structure of the league system in Canada. The governing body of soccer in the country is the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), which oversees the system and domestic cups but does not operate any of its component leagues. In addition, some Canadian teams compete in leagues that are based in the United States.
Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada traditionally include four leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL). Other prominent leagues include Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Sports in Saskatchewan consist of a wide variety of team and individual games, and include summer, winter, indoor, and outdoor games. Saskatchewan's cold winter climate has ensured the popularity of sports including its official sport, curling, as well as ice hockey, ice skating, and cross-country skiing. The province also has warm summers and popular summer sports include baseball, football, soccer, basketball, track and field, rodeo, horse-racing, and golf.
The Canadian Premier League is a professional men's soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary national soccer league competition. The league consists of eight teams, from five of Canada's ten provinces. Each team plays 28 games in the regular season which is followed by playoffs culminating in the CPL Finals.
Cavalry Football Club, is a Canadian professional soccer club based in the Calgary metropolitan region of Alberta. The club competes at the top of the Canadian soccer league system in the Canadian Premier League, and plays their home matches at ATCO Field on the grounds of Spruce Meadows in Foothills County.
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 Lists of sports teams in Canada | |
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| Ice hockey by province | |
| Other sports | |