A historical past of hat methods in sports activities : NPR

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Bruce Bennett/Getty Pictures North America The boys's hockey match on the 2026 Milan Cortina Video games is underway and plenty of followers are hoping to see the thrilling feat of scoring three targets in a single sport, higher often called a hat trick.

" I am curious to see over in Italy for the Olympics, if we'll see a hat trick to start with, after which second will folks throw their hats?" stated Ty Di Lello, a hockey historian based mostly in Winnipeg, Canada.

The worldwide sporting occasion will mark the return of Nationwide Hockey League gamers after a 12 12 months absence. It comes because the NHL set a brand new file for probably the most hat methods in a single month this January.

Hat methods have a wealthy historical past on the planet of hockey, however it did not begin there. Actually, the phrase originated in cricket and unfold to many sports activities, together with soccer, darts and horse racing.

On this installment of NPR's Phrase of the Week collection, we hint hat trick's some 150-year-history and why it is significantly particular on a hockey rink.

How 'hat trick' was coined in cricket In cricket, a hat trick refers back to the dismissal of three batters by the identical baller with three successive balls. Rodney Ulyate, a spokesperson for the Affiliation of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, compares it to when a pitcher in baseball will get three consecutive strikeouts.

"I collect it is a quite common factor in baseball. I feel you name it a no hit inning," he stated. "However in cricket, belief me, it's vanishingly uncommon."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2626x3438+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4d%2Fad%2Fdcae99f64ab082b074c6aa070486%2Fgettyimages-3400210.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2626x3438+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4d%2Fad%2Fdcae99f64ab082b074c6aa070486%2Fgettyimages-3400210.jpg" class="img" alt="A gentleman playing cricket, depicted in a drawing by John C. Anderson from 1860." loading="lazy"/> A gentleman enjoying cricket, depicted in a drawing by John C. Anderson from 1860. Hulton Archive/Getty Pictures/Hulton Archive cover caption

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Hulton Archive/Getty Pictures/Hulton Archive Now, it stays unclear who coined hat trick, however its origin did certainly contain headwear.

Within the nineteenth century, there have been experiences in British newspapers of cricketers being given a hat after reaching what's now often called a hat trick. Ulyate stated on the time, cricketers earned little or no for competing, so their pay was usually supplemented with materials prizes like bats, balls and watches.

By 1874, hat trick was the widespread time period for taking three wickets in three consecutive balls — beating out expressions "hat feat" and "bowling a gallon." The latter stemmed from some cricketers being awarded a gallon of beer.

" I have to say that given the portions of beer that cricketers are infamous for ingesting … it is stunning that 'bowling a gallon' did not take off," Ulyate stated.

It is also a thriller why "cap trick" did not catch on since cricket gamers generally wore caps, Ulyate added.

Over time, cricketers had been gifted all types of headwear, from a straw hat to a inexperienced felt, feathered Tyrolean hat. Whereas the phrase hat trick stays in cricket, hat prizes themselves started to vanish within the early 1900s, through the interwar interval.

"It is fairly exhausting to think about at the moment that any millionaire cricketer could be very impressed by the reward of a hat," Ulyate stated.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4428x2952+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8f%2Fc3%2Fe83f87cf473e91a6a62d5015e03d%2Fgettyimages-2042066629.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4428x2952+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8f%2Fc3%2Fe83f87cf473e91a6a62d5015e03d%2Fgettyimages-2042066629.jpg" class="img" alt="An ice crew member cleans hats off the ice after a hat trick by David Pastrnak #88 of the Boston Bruins during the third period against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Feb. 26, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. " loading="lazy"/> An ice crew member cleans hats off the ice after a hat trick by David Pastrnak #88 of the Boston Bruins through the third interval in opposition to the Seattle Kraken at Local weather Pledge Area on Feb. 26, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. Steph Chambers/Getty Pictures North America cover caption

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Steph Chambers/Getty Pictures North America Hat trick's particular place in hockey In hockey, a hat trick not solely refers to scoring three targets or extra in a single sport, however it's usually adopted by spectators hurling their beanies, caps and different headwear onto the rink.

Like in cricket, the phrase hat trick in hockey additionally started with a free hat. However who precisely launched the time period? Effectively, that is up for debate between two hat retailers in Canada — Sammy Taft: World Well-known Hatter retailer in Toronto and Henri Henri in Montreal. In each origin tales, the house owners started gifting hockey gamers a hat from their retailer as a advertising alternative.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1920x1524+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3b%2F37%2Fb442d41644bfb2e338194c6f512f%2F03de8484-4eb2-477d-8154-a29ae4d42531.jpeg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1920x1524+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3b%2F37%2Fb442d41644bfb2e338194c6f512f%2F03de8484-4eb2-477d-8154-a29ae4d42531.jpeg" class="img" alt="Co-founder of Henri Henri, Jean-Maurice Lefebvre (R), shakes hands with Montreal Canadiens coach Elmer Lach (L) on the rink of the Montreal Forum, in 1947." loading="lazy"/> Co-founder of Henri Henri, Jean-Maurice Lefebvre (R), shakes palms with Montreal Canadiens coach Elmer Lach (L) on the rink of the Montreal Discussion board, in 1947. Henri Henri cover caption

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Henri Henri "As soon as that connection between three targets and hats was established, followers mainly took it over themselves," stated Di Lello who has written about hat methods.

"That most likely began occurring regularly within the late '40s and '50s as hockey crowds acquired larger and traditions began forming," he added.

Marie Lansiaux, assistant hatter at Henri Henri, stated on the time, spectators who flung their hats onto the ice would go retrieve their headwear at a counter after the sport.

That gave the proprietor of Henri Henri one other thought: hand out playing cards that may be tucked right into a hat's sweatband. On one aspect, the cardboard listed the schedule of the Montreal Canadiens video games, whereas the opposite aspect learn "Like Hell it is yours! Put it again and check out one other."

"And you can write your title on the cardboard and show that it was your hat, in order that manner no person may pinch your hat out of the bins," Lansiaux stated.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4080x2745+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1b%2F84%2F57c469064a48b9d6071d1d34d343%2Fgettyimages-2187173671.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4080x2745+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1b%2F84%2F57c469064a48b9d6071d1d34d343%2Fgettyimages-2187173671.jpg" class="img" alt="Nico Hischier #13 of the New Jersey Devils is congratulated by teammates on the bench after he scored a hat trick on Nov. 25, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey." loading="lazy"/> Nico Hischier #13 of the New Jersey Devils is congratulated by teammates on the bench after he scored a hat trick on Nov. 25, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey. Elsa/Getty Pictures North America cover caption

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Elsa/Getty Pictures North America These days, the tossed hats are given to the participant who scored the hat trick, or they're placed on a show within the lobby of the world, in response to Philip Pritchard, vp and curator of the Hockey Corridor of Fame.

"It is a terrific unwritten rule within the sport of hockey," he stated.

Pritchard added that whereas different sports activities have deserted the free hat custom, the truth that hockey followers have saved it alive speaks to what he loves most concerning the sport: its reverence to custom.

"The hat trick is simply one other a part of it and one other story on why the human aspect of the sport actually reveals within the sport of ice hockey," he stated.