This Tim Hortons commercial tells you everything you need to know about hockey in Canada:

(Tim Horton was a hockey player. The chain of donut shops he founded has become a national institution.)

Some countries call it ice hockey to differentiate it from field hockey (a completely different sport that’s played in summer), but in Canada there is only one kind of hockey. Hockey is played on an ice rink (indoor and outdoor) and players wear ice skates to move around the rink. Two teams play against each other in a game and there are 6 players on each team (including the goaltender, who guards the net and tries to prevent the puck from entering the net). Players try to score a goal by hitting the puck with their hockey sticks into the opposing team’s net at the opposite end of the rink. Whichever team scores the most goals wins. It’s fast and it’s physical (and the players are always getting into fights).

Hockey is a part of the Canadian way of life. In the summer when there’s no ice, kids set up their nets and play ball hockey in the streets. In the winter, people of all ages play in hundreds of organized leagues across the country. ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ is the most popular TV show in the country. The most watched TV event in the history of Canadian TV – ever – was the men’s hockey gold medal game at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics between the Americans and the Canadians. We won.

There are only 6 Canadian teams in the NHL (the National Hockey League, the professional hockey league in North America), but more than 50% of the players in the entire league are from Canada. The 6 Canadian teams are: the Vancouver Canucks (a slang word for Canadians), the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens (French spelling of Canadians).

Toronto is a hockey-mad city! The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in downtown Toronto. The Toronto Maple Leafs were one of the original 6 hockey teams in the NHL. Though they have won 13 Stanley Cup Championships (second in the league only to the Montreal Canadiens, who have won 24), they haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967. This does not deter their fans (who call themselves the “Leafs Nation”) from supporting them!

You can feel the excitement in the air as we get closer to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver! Here’s a Coke commercial that’s playing on TV right now that captures the excitement: