The NHL: A Global Ice Hockey Powerhouse

Ice hockey is a sport that has been regionally popular in Europe for a long time, but is now growing in relevance even outside of such classical heartlands as Czechia, Sweden, and Finland. If you’ve been to the Berlin district of Friedrichshain in the season, there’s a good chance you ran into the huge crowds that pile into the Uber Arena for Eisbären games, for example.

But nothing compares to the level of competition featured in the North American NHL. All the world’s top players end up there, making its talent concentration unrivaled by any other league in any other sport. What’s more, since 2017, the NHL Global Series has brought regular season games to European countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Finland and Czechia. Stay tuned to find out where this year’s games will be, and where you can watch NHL games in your country!

A Brief History of Ice Hockey

The origins of ice hockey trace back to a diverse series of ball and stick games played both across the British Isles and by various Native American groups from the east coast of what is now the United States and Canada. It is now thought that the modern game of hockey was first played in Halifax, Nova Scotia by players from both the European-Canadian and local Mi’kmaq communities.

The game was then brought to Montreal, where the first organized indoor game was played in 1875. From there, it grew rapidly expanding first across Canada, then into Europe and the US. The first European championship was held in Switzerland in 1910, which was won by Great Britain. By 1920 hockey appeared, somewhat curiously, in the Summer Olympics with a gold medal going handily to Canada, the only country with a professional hockey league at the time, the National Hockey League, aka the NHL.

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The Birth and Rise of the NHL

The NHL was founded in Montreal in 1917 with just four teams, all in Canada. The first US team, the Boston Bruins, was added in 1924, during a time when there were multiple professional hockey leagues competing for dominance across the continent. The NHL eventually came out on top, though the Great Depression reduced the league back down to only six teams, which came to be known as the “Original Six.”

It wouldn’t be until 1967 that the League expanded again, adding six more teams, and it has been growing ever since. Perhaps remarkably, it also wasn’t until that point that players started wearing helmets. Despite being a fast-paced and violent game, it was believed they impeded vision too much until 1968, when Bill Masterton the only player to die as a result of injuries from an NHL game sadly passed. Still, they didn’t become fully ubiquitous. Face masks on the helmets were an even harder sell, even for goaltenders until 1974, when veteran Minnesota North Stars goaltender Gump Worsley finally relented, donning a face mask for the last six games of his career.

Though European players had been present in the league since its earliest days, recruiting players directly from Europe didn’t begin in earnest until the 1980’s. The first star born outside of the American continent was Börje Salming from Sweden, who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. This coincided with an era of increasing internationalization of the sport, with the Summit Series of 1972, where top Canadian NHL players faced off against an elite Soviet squad for the first time, resulting in an epic win when Paul Henderson scored against Vladislav Tretiak with 34 seconds remaining in the eighth and final game. The next big shift came at the end of the ’80s, with the fall of the Iron Curtain and subsequent influx of players from the former Soviet Union.

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The NHL Today

Through the 1990’s, the league expanded to include many locations where snow does not fall from Anaheim, California, to Phoenix, Arizona, Dallas, Texas, and even Miami, Florida. Eventually, this expansion led to the modern 32-team league with two conferences (Eastern and Western) and four divisions (Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central, and Pacific). The league championship, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, remain one of the most intense and prestigious tournaments in professional sports.

Where to Watch in Europe

If you’re a fan of this fast paced sport, and located in Europe, it can sometimes feel hard to know how to watch it. If you’re in Sweden or nearby, 2025 is your lucky year because there will be two games in Stockholm at Avicii Arena on November 14th and 16th, both featuring the Nashville Predators against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For everyone else, it can feel a bit overwhelming, but no worries, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a table of every country we sell to with options for where to watch.

The perfect Teufel Setup for the next Stanley Cup

▶ ULTIMA 40 Surround 5.1 Set: All the components of Teufel’s ULTIMA set are perfectly tuned to each other. The powerful subwoofer lets you enjoy every second of the game and its sonic landscape, putting you directly into the middle of the action.

▶ THEATER 500 Surround 5.1 Set: Why not take a step up? The THEATER 500 set is for those who want to use their speakers to also enjoy the more technically demanding music genres with resolution and sound quality you’ll love. Don’t miss a thing!

Teufel Soundbars: an Audio Hat Trick

CINEBAR ULTIMA Surround "4.0-Set"

879,99 €979,99 €In various colors

CINEBAR ULTIMA Surround "4.0-Set"

879,99 €979,99 €In various colors

CINEBAR LUX

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