Sports

Ice hockey

The modern form of ice hockey began in Canada in the late 1800s, and is widely considered Canada's national pastime, with high levels of participation by children, men and women at various levels of competition. The most popular leagues are the amateur Canadian Hockey League, and the professional National Hockey League, which has six teams in Canada: the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks. The Canadian NHL presence peaked with eight teams in the mid-1990s, before the Quebec Nordiques relocated to Denver, Colorado in 1995 and the Winnipeg Jets relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in 1996. Hockey Night in Canada is a longtime national Saturday night television broadcast featuring Canadian NHL teams. Hockey Canada is the sport's official governing body in Canada and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation.