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.
The 2008 IIHF Women's World Championships were held from 4 to 12 April 2008, in Harbin, People's Republic of China. The games took place at the event's main arena, Baqu Arena. It was the 11th holding of the IIHF Women's World Championship and was organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The Division I tournament was played in Ventspils, Latvia, at the Ice Hall of the Ventspils Olimpiskais Centrs from March 10 through March 16, 2008. The Division II tournament was held during 25 to 30 March 2008 at the Suomen urheiluopisto in Vierumäki, Finland.
Pond hockey is a form of ice hockey similar in its object and appearance to traditional ice hockey, but simplified and designed to be played on part of a natural frozen body of water. The rink is 50 to 80 percent the size of a standard NHL-specification rink, and has no boards or glass surrounding it; usually only a barrier of snow keeps the puck in play. In addition, because there are no protective barriers behind the goal to contain high errant shots, the top of the goal is lower, in fact only slightly taller than the width of a puck, and the game does not have a formal goalie. Because of these differences, pond hockey places more emphasis on skating and puckhandling ability and less on shooting and checking. Non-competitive pond hockey is played with improvised goals, rinks of a variety of sizes, and no boards or snow barriers. There can only be 4 players playing per team at a time but have many subs to sub in.
The 2008 IIHF World Championship was played between May 2 and May 18, 2008 in the Canadian cities of Halifax and Quebec City (Quebec). The two venues were the Halifax Metro Centre and the Colisée Pepsi. The tournament was won by Russia which claimed its first gold medal since 1993.
The 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, was the 33rd edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship and was hosted in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Games were held at the Ottawa Civic Centre and Scotiabank Place. The tournament set a record for WJC attendance at 453,282. Canada won the gold medal for a record-tying fifth consecutive time.
The 2001 IIHF Women's World Championships was held April 2–8, 2001 in six cities in the state of Minnesota. Venues included the Ice Center in Plymouth, the Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, the Recreation Centre in Rochester, the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, the Columbia Arena in Fridley, and the Schwan Super Rink, in Blaine. Team Canada won their seventh consecutive gold medal at the World Championships defeating the United States. Russia upset Finland 2–1 to capture their first medal in women's hockey.
The 2012 IIHF U20 World Championship was the 36th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. It was hosted in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It began on December 26, 2011, and ended with the gold medal game played in Calgary on January 5, 2012. Sweden defeated defending-champion Russia 1–0 in overtime to win their first title in 31 years. Russian forward Evgeny Kuznetsov was named MVP of the tournament. Denmark was relegated to Division I and Germany was promoted to the 2013 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
The 2009 IIHF World Championship took place in Switzerland from 24 April to 10 May. The games were played in the PostFinance Arena in Bern and Schluefweg in Kloten.
The 2009 IIHF World Women's Championships was held in Hämeenlinna, Finland, from April 4 to 12, 2009. This was the 12th women's championship run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The defending champions United States defeated Canada 4–1 in the final match to win the gold medal and retain their top standing another year.
The 2011 IIHF World Championship was the 75th IIHF World Championship, an annual international men's ice hockey tournament. It took place between 29 April and 15 May 2011 in Slovakia. The games were played in the Orange Arena in Bratislava, and the Steel Aréna in Košice. The Czech team was the defending champion.
The 2007 Rink Hockey World Championship was the 38th edition of the Rink Hockey World Championship, being held between 16 and 23 June 2007, in Montreux, Switzerland. It was disputed by 16 countries and it watched Spain achieving his 13th title, after an 8–1 win over Switzerland, in the final. The event marked the first time Switzerland reached the final of the most important international roller hockey competition. It also marked the worst performance ever for Portugal, with a disappointing 6th place.
The Rink hockey World Club Championship is a worldwide competition with the best rink hockey teams. This competition was held for the first time in 2006, in Luanda, Angola.
The 2009 Rink Hockey World Championship was the 39th edition of the Rink Hockey World Championship, held between 5 and 11 July 2009, in Vigo, Spain. It was disputed by 16 countries.
The 2005 Rink Hockey World Championship was the 37th edition of the Rink Hockey World Championship, held between 6 and 13 August 2005, in San Jose, United States. It was disputed by 16 countries.
The 2003 Rink Hockey World Championship was the 36th edition of the Rink Hockey World Championship, held between 27 September and 4 October 2003, in Oliveira de Azeméis, Portugal.
The 2001 Rink Hockey World Championship was the 35th edition of the Rink Hockey World Championship, held between 29 September and 7 October 2001, in San Juan, Argentina. It was disputed by 15 countries. The final watched Spain beating hosts Argentina to claim their 11th title.
There are a number of indoor ice rinks in African countries that are used for ice hockey. Enthusiasts have formed national teams in several countries and an inaugural African Nations Cup of Ice Hockey was planned for 2009. The first African Nations Cup of Ice Hockey was planned for South Africa between 19–26 September 2009. The matches of the championship were to be played at the ice rink of "Festival Shopping Centre" in Kempton Park. The competing countries were to be South Africa, Morocco and Algeria. However, the tournament was postponed due to lack of response from the invited countries and never played.
The 1998 IIHF World Championship was held in Switzerland from 1–17 May 1998. The format expanded to 16 teams for the first time. The teams were divided into four groups of four with the top two teams in each advancing to the next round. The two groups of four then played a round robin with the top two teams in each moving on to the semi-finals. The semi-finals were a two-game total goals for series as was the final.
Ice hockey at the 2011 Winter Universiade was held from January 27 through February 6 at the Erzurum GSIM Ice Arena complex in Erzurum, generally called "3000 Ice Rink" and "500 Ice Rink" during Universiade in reference to the seating capacities of its two sheets of ice. In most cases, men's matches were played at 3000 Ice Rink and women's matches were played at 500 Ice Rink, although exceptions were made for the women's semifinals and medal games played in the larger rink, while some lower men's placement games were played in the smaller one. The selection of participating teams – 12 in the men's tournament and six in the women's tournament, including the hosting Turkey sides in both cases – was announced on August 27, 2010, while the draw to place the teams into their assigned pools took place on October 2, 2010.
The 2008 Rink hockey World Club Championship was the of the Rink hockey World Club Championship and took place in Reus, Spain from September 22 to 28, 2008.
Spain 
Argentina (4th title)
Italy 
Brazil 
France 
Germany 
United States 
Portugal 
Switzerland 
Angola 
Mozambique 
Chile 
