Looking for your fix of hockey facts?  This page will be for you.  Well actually this will be the place on thehockeyfanatic.com where you will be able to find obscure hockey facts and stuff that you may have not known about your favorite team our favorite player.  This will be a living page with frequent updates so be sure to check back and view our fun facts.

For now, here is a look at 30 fun facts about the game of hockey.

Hockey: Did You Know

• Did you know that JG Creighton is credited with cresting the first set of rules for the game of hockey about 150 years ago? See The Origin of Hockey for additional details.
• Many suggest that the name “hockey” came from the French word “hoquet”. Learn more about the “Origin of the Name “Hockey“
• Did you know that since 1873, Stanley Cup winners have had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup?
• According to NHL.com, Montreal Wanderers defensman Dave Ritchie scored the first ever goal in the NHL on December 19, 1917.
• Did you know that prior to signing with the Oilers in 1978, Wayne Gretzky was this close to becoming a Winnipeg Jet?
• Did you know that Chicago Blackhawks forward Stan Mikita who experimented with a v-curved stick becoming the first NHLer to play with a curve? (Mikita’s teammate Bobby Hull also experimented with a curve around the same time). See more on the History of the Hockey Stick.
• Did you know that Bobby Hull is considered the first millionaire hockey player when he joined the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA in early seventies?
• Did you know that franchises in Vancouver and Ottawa have previously won Stanley Cup championships?
• Did you know that both Montreal and Calgary won the Stanley Cup in years in which they hosted the Olympics?
• The 1956 Montreal Canadiens team featured twelve future Hall of Famers.
• Did you know that Lord Stanley (for whom the Stanley Cup is names after) was the sixth Govenor General of Canada?
• Did you know that Lord Stanley moved to England without ever having seen a Stanley Cup game?
• Did you know that Detroit’s Terry Sawchuck had a 0.63 goals against average in the 1952 playoffs?
• Did you know that the NHL took control of the Stanley Cup after the 1926 season where the Montreal Marroons were reigning champions as they had defeated the Victoria Cougars.
• Did you know that Paul Coffey set an NHL record for defensemen with 37 points in the 1985 playoffs?
• It took eight years for the first all expansion team Finals when the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Buffalo Sabres to win the Cup in 1975.
• The Edmonton Oilers won their first Stanley Cup in year five of their existence.
• In a playoff game between the Leafs in Wings in 1960 saw the Red Wings use oxygen in a game to try and boost performance… the Leafs ended up winning the series.
• Maurice and Henri Richard combined to score over 900 goals (902) and win nineteen Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens during their careers
• Doug McKay is the only player to have made his sole NHL appearance with a Cup winning team in the finals (Detroit Red Wings – 1950)
• The first team to have nine forwards who scored a minimum of ten goals each was the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1941-1942.
• Milt Schmidt, Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumary made up the Boston Bruins “Kraut Line”
• Dave “Tiger” Williams holds the all-time NHL record for penalty minutes with 3,971 PIMs. See Top 100 NHL Fighters of All-Time
• Eric Lindros, Mikael Renberg and John LeClair made up the Flyers L.O.D. (Legion of Doom) line
• Wayne Gretzky was a +100 during the 1984-85 season (in which he put up 208 points)
• Did you know that the standard size for an NHL ice rink is 200 feet long by 85 feet wide?
• Canada has the most ice hockey rinks in the world with approximately 5,000 outdoor rinks and 2,860 indoor rinks. (Russia has the most outdoor rinks with around 6,000) (Data Source: Statista)
• Did you know that Nicklas Lidstrom tallied 1,142 regular season points in the NHL and that nearly 52% of his points came on the Power Play? See: Top 50 Swedish Hockey Players of All-Time
• Did you know that during a game vs St, Louis on Nov. 14, 2021, McDavid became the sixth-fastest in NHL history to score 600 points when he had a goal and an assist for Nos. 600 and 601 in a 5-4 win against the Blues. Only Wayne Gretzky (274), Lemieux (323), Peter Stastny (394), Mike Bossy (400) and Jari Kurri (419) took fewer games than McDavid (421) to reach the milestone.
• Through his first 500 NHL games, Connor McDavid’s 724 points were the second-most through 500 games among players selected No. 1 in the NHL Draft behind Mario Lemieux (971).

Browse The Hockey Fanatic for more interesting stories and stats about the game of hockey.