Ice hockey Ice hockey Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent's net to score points. The sport is known to be fast-paced and physical, with teams usually consisting of six players each: one goaltender, and five players who skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team. Ice hockey is most popular in Canada, central and eastern Europe, the Nordic countries, Russia and the United States. Ice
Germany men's national ice hockey team Germany men's national ice hockey team The German men's national ice hockey team first participated in serious international competition at the 1911 European Hockey Championship. When Germany was split after World War II, a separate East Germany national ice hockey team existed until 1990. By 1991, the East German teams and players were merged into the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund association. The team is not considered to be as elite as Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden or the United States, but they are ranked 8th in the world (2017) by the IIHF. Since re-unification, their best recent results include