And now it's time for Who Smarted?
Psst, hey, smarty pants.
See if you can guess where I am and what I'm doing.
Did you say at an ice rink, ice skating?
Nice.
But what specific thing am I doing?
No, it's not Who Smarted on ice, though that could be fun.
No, it's not the smartscapades.
Here are some audio hints.
Okay, smarty pants, did you get it now?
If you said playing ice hockey, you're right.
Unfortunately, I'm the goalie and I just gave up a goal to my friend, Guy.
Of course, I thought we'd agreed, no slap shots.
Sorry, trustee, my bad, eh?
Force of habit, you know.
Guy is from Toronto, Canada, and he's been playing ice hockey since he was five years old.
He started skating when he was only two.
Soon as I learned to walk, my parents put me on skates.
Guy has invited me to check out a very cool place.
Both literally and figuratively, that's been the site of not one but two major international winter events which take place every four years in different countries.
Any idea what I'm talking about, smarty pants?
Did you say the Winter Olympics?
That's right!
And right now I'm in a beautiful little village in upstate New York called Lake Placid, which was the host city for the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics.
It was during those 1980 Winter Games that the USA's men's hockey team pulled off what many consider the greatest upset in sports history, when they defeated the team from what was then called the Soviet Union.
Do you believe in miracles?
Yes!
Team USA would go on to defeat Finland and win the gold medal.
But it was their underdog victory over the unbeatable Soviets that remains one of hockey's most memorable moments.
Oh, sure, if you're American.
But Canada has had plenty of memorable hockey moments, too.
All right, trusty, try and stop this one, eh?
No slap shot, I promise.
Okay, let me get set.
Alrighty, Geek.
Go for it.
I got this.
I got this.
I got this.
He shoots!
He scores!
I don't got this.
Oh, that's another bad goal given up by the trusty narrator.
I don't even know why the coach is leaving him in the net.
They could probably just put a road cone or a pylon in front of the goal and have a better chance of stopping the puck.
Thanks, Chet.
But it's not easy stopping a small flat disc made of hard vulcanized rubber flying at you at 100 miles per hour.
Oh, that was just a wrist shot, eh?
More like, uh, 85 miles per hour.
Oh, thanks, Key.
Well, you won't see me in the net or on the ice.
I'm good up here in the broadcast booth, so helmet's off to you for trying, trusty.
Appreciated, Chet.
But while I'm not very good at stomping pucks, I am good at asking and answering questions like how, where and when did ice hockey originate?
What are some basic rules?
Is it true the first hockey pucks were made from cow poop?
Now that I did not know, eh?
Then get ready for another whiff of science and history on... Who Smarted?
Who Smarted?
Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up, everyone.
We make smarting lots of fun.
Who's smart?
That's exactly what KiwiCo brings to kids today.
With KiwiCo, every crate is a chance for your child to tinker, create, and innovate.
They'll learn the fundamentals of science technology engineering, art and math, while actually having fun.
I love that these projects build skills over time.
One month it's learning to design a working bow and arrow and the next it's building a robot.
And what makes KiwiCo special is that these aren't one-and-done projects.
They're built to last so kids can play, experiment, and keep discovering long after the box is open.
KiwiCo makes it easy to give your child the gift of curiosity and confidence, delivered right to your door.
Tinker, create, innovate.
Get up to 50% off your first crate at KiwiCo.com with promo code SMARTED.
That's K-I-W-I-C-O.com, promo code SMARTED.
So, Guy, I'm noticing lots of flags from other countries hanging from the rafters here.
Hockey must be a very popular sport worldwide.
Oh, you betcha.
There's around 80 different countries that participate in international competitions.
That's pretty high considering it's primarily a winter sport.
Yeah, it definitely helps to have cold weather.
My grandpa told me when his family migrated to Canada from Europe, all his kids would play hockey as soon as the ponds froze.
Smarty Pants, true or false?
Hockey originated in Canada.
The answer is, surprisingly, false.
Nope.
Hockey didn't come over to North America until the late 1800s, when British soldiers made their way to eastern Canada.
So hockey started in Europe?
Supposedly during the 1600s in Scotland.
There was a game called shinty where folks used branches from trees to pass a ball around on frozen ponds.
He shoots!
He shinties!
Then, in the mid-1700s, a similar game called bandy was played in England.
It wasn't until the mid-1800s when royalty began taking interest as they bandied about on a frozen lake at Windsor Castle.
So when did things start to get organized on this side of the pond?
On frozen ponds?
Oh, depends who you ask, eh?
The first organized game in Canada was played in 1875 with nearly two dozen fellas from the Victoria Skating Club in Montreal.
They'd go on to establish some basic rules of the game.
And they played with the puck, not a ball.
Oh, the puck, you mean the thing that flies past me.
Anywho, what new rules did they establish?
For starters, they used nets so goals could be scored and counted.
They also established the number of players that should be on the ice for each team.
Smarty Pants, how many players does each team line up with to start?
Is it A, six players, B, eight players, or C, 11 players?
If you said B, six players for each team, you're right.
In today's modern game, those six players consist of two defensemen, who mostly protect their goal, three forwards who try to score goals and one goalie whose job it is to keep the puck out of the net.
Ooh, kick, save, and a pute!
Yeah, that was the other team's goalie.
How long does a hockey game last?
A hockey game is 60 minutes long, eh?
However, it's broken up in a way that's unique in sports.
Unlike other timed games like soccer, aka football, which is broken up into two halves, or American and Canadian football, or basketball, which is broken up into four quarters, hockey is broken up into.
Wait, let's see if the Smarty Pants can guess.
Smarty Pants, how is a 60-minute hockey game broken up?
Is it one hour-long game, three 20-minute periods, or six 10-minute frames?
The answer is... Three 20-minute periods, eh?
Good job, Smarties.
But the time doesn't just keep running.
Nope, there are many stoppages of play due to penalties.
Or rule violations. or when the goalie has control of the puck.
And, of course, when a goal is scored, eh?
I see lots of lines drawn on the ice.
Those all mean something, right?
Yep.
The lines separate the ice into three zones.
The blue lines mark each team's defensive zone, and the red line is the center of the ice.
There are very specific rules associated with each of those lines.
For example, the puck has to cross the blue line before an offensive player.
Otherwise, the play is offsides, eh?
And the dots?
Those are face-off dots.
Whenever play is stopped, like if the puck leaves the rink, the teams will line up and the referee will drop the puck on the dots between one player from each team.
And what about scoring?
Well, a goal is worth one point, eh?
The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
In some ways, hockey's a lot like soccer.
Ah, nice.
Goal!
Besides playing three periods, another unique feature of hockey versus other sports is it doesn't use a ball.
Smarty Pants, we've mentioned the puck several times now, but what exactly is a puck?
Way back in the early days of the sport, they used a square piece of flatwood as a puck.
After that, they took solid rubber balls, sliced them into thirds, and used the middle section.
Today they use a disc made of vulcanized rubber or rubber that's been heated and hardened.
Feel like you're leaving something out smarty pants.
True or false?
Before vulcanized rubber or sliced rubber balls or wooden squares, did hockey players actually press cow poop into discs and let them freeze to be used as pucks for outside games?
Believe it or not, that's true.
He poops, he scores Okay.
Now that we know a little bit more about the origins of the sport, what can you tell us about the origins of the professional hockey league, known as the NHL?
Oh, geez.
A lot, actually.
Great.
I can't wait to hear it right after this quick break.
Who Smarted is brought to you by Squarespace.
Now, you know I'm good about creating new adventures and episodes of Who Smarted, but you don't know that I procrastinate on other stuff, like a website for one of our new projects.
Oops.
When the website builder Squarespace reached out about sponsoring Who Smarted, I decided to test it out.
And now I feel silly for putting off building that website.
Squarespace's Blueprint AI thing literally built me a custom website in minutes.
I just told it a few details about the project and boom, it generated everything.
And everything you need is right there.
I can schedule guest interviews, send email campaigns, even sell merch all from one dashboard.
And when you're ready to launch, you can use code SMARTED to save 10 on your first purchase of a website or domain.
That's squarespace.com slash SMARTED.
Code SMARTED.
Autumn is in full swing and, if your homeschool is anything like the ones I know, fall is a time to get back into routines, while still juggling field trips, co-ops and even prepping for the holidays.
That's where IXL comes in.
It keeps your lessons structured and steady, while giving you the flexibility that homeschool families need.
What I love most about IXL is how personalized it is.
IXL adapts so kids can move forward when they're ready or revisit a topic until it really clicks.
IXL is an award-winning online learning platform with interactive practice across math, language arts, science and social studies for every grade, from pre-K through 12.
It gives kids the right challenge at the right time, keeps them motivated and gives parents real-time feedback and progress tracking.
Over 15 million students already use IXL and more than 75 research studies prove that it really works.
There's real peace of mind for homeschool parents.
Make an impact on your child's learning and get IXL now.
Who Smarted listeners get an exclusive 20 off IXL membership when you sign up today at ixlcom slash smarted.
That's 20% off at ixl.com slash smarted.
Now back to Who Smarted.
Smarty Pants.
I'm with my hockey player friend Guy, who's about to tell us how the Professional Hockey League started.
Technically, the Professional League started in the early 1900s with four teams.
But it was in 1942, what's referred to as the original six era, that the NHL truly began.
Smarty Pants, do you know what NHL stands for?
If you said National Hockey League, you're right.
There was the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins.
And all are still playing today.
Just six teams, huh?
Oh, yeah, you betcha.
Believe it or not, those original six teams were the only ones in the league for 25 years, until six more were added in 1967.
Today, there's 32 teams in the league, eh?
The newest, the Seattle Kraken, were just added in 2021.
Over the course of the league, several teams have moved cities, gone extinct or have been added, but every team is in it for just one reason to win the most famous trophy in all of sports.
Smarty Pants, do you know what the trophy for winning the NHL is called?
Is it A, the Stanley Bowl, B, the Stanley Plate, or C, the Stanley Cup?
If you said the Stanley Cup, you're right.
But why Stanley?
Who's Stanley?
The trophy is named after Lord Stanley, the Governor General of Canada, who donated the cup to the League.
Oh, I see.
And what makes it so special?
Oh, gosh.
It's a magical object.
If you could see it, you'd understand.
Yeah, well, I don't think there's any way I'm ever going to win a Stanley Cup.
That's true.
But we could just go to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and see it.
Oh, that's easy.
Hold on.
Thanks to my teleportation app, here we are.
Whoa, is that the Stanley Cup in that glass case?
It's huge.
Oh, yeah, don't you know?
It's nearly three feet or one meter tall and weighs nearly 35 pounds or 16 kilograms.
It's a big silver bowl or cup sitting atop a base.
It's been awarded to the championship team every year for over 100 years.
But that's not what makes it so special, eh?
Hmm, smarty pants.
Do you know what makes the Stanley Cup different than other sports trophies?
Yeah, me neither.
Hey, wait a sec.
Are people's names written on the trophy?
You betcha.
When your team wins the Stanley Cup, your name gets engraved right on the trophy.
I see.
Is that all the winning teams ever?
Oh, gosh, no.
If they did that, the trophy would be taller than this room.
Every 13 years they remove a section or band of metal with names on it and slide the other bands up.
This leaves room at the bottom for new names to be added.
The band they remove is retired and put on display here in the Hall of Fame.
Nice.
Another cool tradition going back decades is, after winning the championship, every player, coach and staff member gets to take the Stanley Cup home with them for a few days to share with friends and family.
The Stanley Cup has traveled all around the globe.
Lord Stanley's Cup has been used as a flower pot, a candy dish, and a cereal bowl.
One player had his daughter baptized in it.
And both dogs and horses have eaten out of it.
The Montreal Canadiens hockey team have won the Cup 23 times, more than any other team.
Who knows, trustee, maybe with some practice you can win one too.
Sure, go ahead, take another shot.
I'm stopping this one.
Do you believe in miracles?
Uh, not today.
A big body check of a shout out to Carter in Cedar Grove.
We hear you love listening with your family and that you especially love the fart sound effects.
Guilty as charged.
Thanks for letting us make learning fun for your whole smarty family.
This episode Ice Hockey was written by Dave Double Miner Davis and voiced by Justin Drop, the Puck Dodd, Adam Chex Davis and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh, High Sticking Han.
Who Smarted? is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max, Crosscheck Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian, Slashing Suarez.
With lyrics written and performed by Adam, Chex Davis.
Who Smarted? was created and produced by Adam, Chex Davis, and Jerry Colbert.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
Hey parents, we'd like to know more about what your child listener thinks about our podcast.
And we'd like to know a little bit about you, the parent.
So we're asking you to fill out our short survey with your child.
As a thank you, we'll give you a chance to win one of three $100 Amazon gift cards.
Fair deal?
Check out the survey at StarGlowSurvey.com.
That's StarGlowSurvey.com.
