Right and the reason it works as a Winter Sport is because it originated as, and remains (at the professional level) an indoor sport. So like you said, it synergizes with the outdoor sports in Fall and Spring. The snow/cold sends everyone indoors, so we break out the basketballs and play an indoor sport. Once it warms up we go back outside for more outdoor sports. It makes no sense to put the basketball season in spring, summer or fall, because you don't need the warm weather to play since you're playing indoors. You save basketball for the winter when you can't play outdoors.
As @Valka D'Ur has already pointed out, you don't need ice to play hockey. You can play field hockey, floor hockey,and street hockey with no ice whatsoever. But like basketball, hockey is a convenient winter sport, because while other sports, particularly at the youth and High School level must be played outdoors, hockey can be played indoors. So when the cold season rolls in and you're limited in the sports you can do, that is the time to do hockey, rather than in the fall or spring when there are so many other sports for your athletes to do and for your spectators to attend.
Yes, there are many ways to play hockey. I played a lot of floor hockey in school (and wasn't bad at it). But hockey began as an outdoor sport that didn't need a fancy venue to play in, and the kids get excited when the time of year comes to make backyard rinks or neighborhood rinks in green spaces - or if they're lucky enough to live near a pond that has ice thick enough to skate on. The kids are all about hockey, and on the days when it's too slushy on the rinks, they play on the street. My dad used to make homemade hockey pucks for the kids when he and I lived with his girlfriend and her kids... just find a plastic mold of the approximate right size, fill it with water, add some food coloring, and stick it in the freezer. When one puck gets worn down, breaks, or starts to melt, you've got a dozen more.
That's field hockey, which is very different from ice hockey. I've never played field hockey, and have basically zero interest in watching it.
Went out with style. I thought that spin shot was going to stop on the button.
Do you know what kind of teuchters play curling? I'd need Kan to interpret for me, then pass the gist on to you.
We force our kids into winter sports before they're old enough to refuse. Which is kind of cheating.Our heroes the Muricans are now only 3 medals behind the naughty Canadians and 4 medals behind the even naughtier Germans. There's probably no catching the evil Norwegians, sadly, who must be cheating somehow
You probably have to scale that down quite a bit, as curling is very much a niche sport here (though it's popular on the telly during championships). In fact, in northern Norway all ice sports are pretty niche.
