Bet on Ice Hockey

While Montreal, Canada is considered as the center of Ice Hockey's modern development, undoubtedly, the sport has its origins in European ice.

Stick and ball games have a long history dating to pre-Christian times. In Europe, these games included the Irish sport of hurling, the closely related Scottish sport of shinty, and versions of field hockey, including "Bandie ball," played in England. European immigrants to Canada brought their games with them and adapted them for icy conditions.

Often these games were recreation for British soldiers on postings. In Canada, from oral histories, there is evidence of a tradition of an ancient stick and ball game played among the Mi'kmaq First Nation in Eastern Canada. In Legends of the Micmacs (1894), Silas Rand describes a Mi'kmaq ball game people called tooadijik. Rand also describes a game which was played (likely after European contact) with hurleys, called wolchamaadijik.

Early 19th century paintings show "shinney," an early form of ice hockey with no standard rules, being played in Nova Scotia, Canada. These early games may have also absorbed the physically aggressive aspects of what the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia called dehuntshigwa'es (lacrosse).

Games of shinney are also known to have been played on the St. Lawrence River at Montreal and Quebec City and in Kingston and Ottawa in Ontario. The number of players on these games was often large. To this day, shinny (or shinney) (derived from Shinty) is a popular Canadian term for an informal type of hockey, either on ice or as street hockey.

Today, Ice Hockey continues to be very popular throughout Europe. In fact, Ice Hockey Leagues all over the continent remain as exciting as ever. These leagues include:

• Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL)
• Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL)
• SM-liiga

As its popularity continue to grow so is the interest in betting on Ice Hockey. Generally, there are two types of Ice Hockey bets, these are:

• Outright Hockey Tournament Winner - a bet on which team will be the outright of an Ice Hockey tournament (e.g. bet on this year's Elite Ice Hockey League or SM-liiga champion).

• Hockey Matchups - a bet on the winner of an Ice hockey match (e.g. bet on the winner of the match between Eisbaren Berlin and EHC Munchen or Hpk and Assat).