Ice Hockey (Principia Moderni IV Map Game)

Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent's net to score points. The sport is known to be fast-paced and physical, with teams usually consisting of six players each: one goaltender, and five players who skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team.

The sport is most popular in northeast Arcadia, particularly in Nova Belgica, where it was invented, as well as in northern Europe. Arcadia's largest hockey league, the Arcadian Hockey League, is the highest level for men's ice hockey, and the strongest professional ice hockey league in the world.

Early Developments
The sport of ice hockey was first created in Nova Belgica in 1871, based upon the traditional Burgundian and Dutch game of IJscolf. The first organized indoor game is believed to have taken place in March of that year in the Sint Jan Skating Rink, between teo nine-player teams. During the first few years of its existance the rules of the game would be altered, with the number of players per side eventually being reduced to seven. By 1872 several small clubs would be founded, with some developing into full teams in the following years. This included Wilhemina HC, Sint Jan HC, Queen's University, and the Sint Jan Capitals.

The government of Nova Belgica sought to popularize the sport in an effort to increase the prestige of the nation, while also promoting cooperation with neighboring nations. As a result Nova Belgica's governor, Frederick Stenweide, created the "Stenweide Cup", a challenge cup for Nova Belgica's best amateur hockey club, to help promote the sport. The first team to win the Stenweide Cup would be Wilhemina HC later that year. Additionally many of Stenweide's children became hockey enthusiasts, with his son Artuur helping to found the Amateur Hockey Association of Nova Belgica (AHANB), and his daughter Isobel being one of the first women to play the sport.

Within the next twenty years over a hundred teams would be founded in Nova Belgica alone, as well as in other nations. Nova Belgica's mother nation, Burgundy, would be one of the first nations to adopt the sport outside Arcadia. The first team in Arcadia outside Nova Belgica, the New Amsterdam Jagers, would be founded in 1874 by Belgican businessman Gerrit Kuiper, who was also a proprietor of the first artificial ice rink in New Netherlands.

During this time a number of early ice hockey would be formed. In addition to the AHANB founded in 1872, the Lakes Hockey Association (LHA) would be founded in 1874, as a league comprising the southern most teams in Nova Belgica and the surrounding area. In 1875 both leagues decided to merge into the Arcadian Hockey League, which became the largest Ice Hockey League in the continent.

The first international hockey match would be held in New Amsterdam in 1874, between the New Amsterdam Jagers and the Icaria Lakers. Soon after exhibition matches would also be held in New Rome, New England, as well as Cinigrad, Novorossiya. The first international game against a European team would take place in 1876, when the Ameland Patriots played the Brussels Belegeraars in Brussels, Burgundy.

List of Stenweide Cup Champions

 * 1872 - Wilhemina HC
 * 1873 - Wilhemina HC
 * 1874 - Tholen Wanderers
 * 1875 - Sint Jan Capitals
 * 1876 - Wilhemina HC