The National Hockey League The modern game originated in Canada
in the 1800s, and the first modern indoor hockey game was played
in Montreal in 1875. By the 1890s it had become extremely
popular and had spread to the United States. Since 1917 the
National Hockey League (NHL), with teams in both countries, has
been the primary professional association. The rival World
Hockey Association (WHA), launched in 1972, ceased operation in
1979; several of its 12 teams gained entry to the NHL. The NHL's
current 30 teams play in two conferences, the Eastern and
Western, each with three divisions. Though most NHL players have
always been Canadian, an increasing number of players from the
United States and Europe have appeared since the 1980s. Teams
vie for the Stanley Cup—originally donated to the Canadian
Amateur Hockey Association (1893) by Sir Frederick Arthur
Stanley—the NHL's championship trophy and the symbol of world
professional supremacy. In recent years the NHL has been marked
by contentious labor relations, le