The National Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league in North America, currently comprising 31 teams: 24 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and 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 World Cup of Hockey is an international ice hockey tournament. Inaugurated in 1996, it is the successor to the Canada Cup, which was held every 3 to 5 years from 1976 to 1991 and was the first international hockey championship to allow nations to field their top players. The World Cup has occurred thrice before on an irregular basis, with the United States winning in 1996 and Canada winning in 2004 and 2016. Following the 2016 tournament, it is uncertain if the series will continue, with the 2020 tournament being cancelled.
The National Hockey League All-Star Game is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many of the League's star players playing against each other. Each team plays with four players. The Game's proceeds benefit the pension fund of the players.
Zdeno Chára is a Slovak professional ice hockey defenceman for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, and Boston Bruins. At 44 years of age, he is the oldest active player in the NHL.
An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams, playing competitively against each other at the professional, collegiate, or high school level. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels. Conferences often, but not always, include teams from a common geographic region.
Sports in the United States is an important part of culture in the United States. American football is the most popular spectator sport to watch in the United States, followed by baseball, basketball, ice hockey and soccer, which make up the "5 major sports". Indoor soccer, indoor American football, Rugby union, Rugby league, tennis, golf, auto racing, softball, field lacrosse, box lacrosse, handball, volleyball, cricket, Australian rules football, field hockey, and water polo are also played in the country. Based on Olympic Games, World Championships, and other major competitions in respective sports, the United States is one of the most successful sports nations in the world.
The 1998 National Hockey League All-Star Game took place at General Motors Place in Vancouver, home to the Vancouver Canucks, on January 18, 1998.
The 2002 National Hockey League All-Star Game took place on February 2, 2002, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The final score was World 8, North America 5. This was the last NHL All-Star Game to have the North America vs. World All-Star format. It was also the last All-Star Game that was held in the same year as the Winter Olympics until the 2018 edition.
Jonathan Bryan Toews is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL).
World Team or Team World is a designation for a sports team in many competitions. It is usually equivalent to a "rest of the world" team, which is pitted against a particular territory.
The major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada are the highest professional competitions of team sports in those countries. The four leagues traditionally included in the definition are 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).
The International Ice Hockey Federation is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey and in-line hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 81 member countries. Over two thirds of registered members are North-American.
The United States ice hockey structure includes elements from traditional American scholastic high school and college athletics, affiliated and independent minor leagues, the unique "major junior" leagues, as well as other various amateur junior and youth hockey leagues. The hierarchy of the ice hockey league system forms a pyramid with many regional minor and development leagues making up the base of the pyramid and a linear progression through the professional minor leagues leading to the National Hockey League at the top of the pyramid.
The 2012 National Hockey League All-Star Game, took place on January 29, 2012, at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. This edition of the All-Star Game featured the "fantasy draft" format first seen in the previous 2011 NHL All-Star Game. The participating players voted for team captains, selecting Daniel Alfredsson of the All-Star host Ottawa Senators and Zdeno Chara of the defending Stanley Cup champion, the Boston Bruins.
The 2015 National Hockey League All-Star Game was an exhibition ice hockey game played on January 25, 2015. The game was held in Columbus, Ohio, for the first time, at Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The team captains were chosen by NHL Hockey Operations: Nick Foligno of the All-Star Game-hosting Blue Jackets served as captain for the home team, and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks served for the away team. Team Toews won the game 17–12, as the teams and players broke a variety of All-Star Game scoring records.
Dylan Larkin is an American professional ice hockey player and captain of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). Larkin was drafted 15th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
The 2016 World Cup of Hockey was an international ice hockey tournament. It was the third installment of the National Hockey League (NHL)-sanctioned competition, 12 years after the second World Cup of Hockey in 2004. It was held from September 17 to September 29 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Canada won the championship, defeating Team Europe in the best-of-three final.
The ice hockey competitions of the 2018 Winter Olympics were played at two venues within the Gangneung Coastal Cluster in Gangneung, South Korea. The Gangneung Hockey Centre, which seats 10,000, and the Kwandong Hockey Centre, which seats 6,000, were both originally scheduled to be completed in 2016 but appear to have been completed in early 2017. Both venues contain Olympic-sized rinks.
The 2018 National Hockey League All-Star Game took place at Amalie Arena in Tampa, home of the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 28, 2018. Tampa last held the NHL All-Star Game in 1999. The All-Star Game was played in lieu of NHL participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics, as the NHL Board of Governors ruled against interrupting the season to send players to Pyeongchang from February 10 to 25.
The 2020 National Hockey League All-Star Game was held on January 25, 2020, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, the home of the St. Louis Blues. The city previously hosted the NHL All-Star Game in 1970 and 1988 at the former St. Louis Arena. For the fifth year, the All-Star Game used a 3-on-3 format, with teams representing each of the league's four divisions competing in a single-elimination tournament.
Canada + 
USA 
