The 2021-2022 NHL Championship is the 105th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). The regular season kicked off on October 12, 2021 and will run through April 2022, followed by the Stanley Cup playoff series.

This season, the NHL has added a new Seattle club, the Seattle Kraken, bringing 32 clubs to the 2021-2022 Championship - 7 from Canada and 25 from the United States. The Seattle Kraken play in the Pacific Division of the Eastern Conference and the Arizona Coyotes have moved to the Central Division.

Thus, this season, the league returned to its usual divisions, each of which now has 8 teams and a division into the Western and Eastern Conferences (due to restrictions last season, there were virtually no conferences and the Canadian Division was created).

During the regular season 2021-2022, all clubs play 82 matches (last season only 56), each team will play each at least twice. The match calendar includes a break for the 2022 Olympics from February 4th to 22nd.

Bemorepanda collected some funny memes about the new season.

1.The Islanders have fans

2.All I want

3.Like a boss

The National Hockey League is a professional sports organization that brings together the hockey teams of the United States and Canada. Nowadays, most experts recognize the NHL as one of the strongest on the planet. It should be noted that at the moment it is one of the main sports leagues in North America, along with the NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball. The league was formed on November 26, 1917, and on December 19, 1917, the first season began, uniting only 4 teams.

   By the end of the 1930/1931 season, a total of 10 teams were playing in the NHL, vying each year for the league's top prize, the Stanley Cup. Originally, the Stanley Cup was played between the winner of the NHL and the winner of the Western professional hockey leagues, and since 1926 the Cup has become the full property of the NHL. However, the Great Depression, and various financial difficulties after it, dealt a severe blow to the league and the NHL was reduced to six teams. These teams, which have played in the league for 25 years since 1942, are still known as the "Big Six" (Original Six) - "Montreal Canadiens", "Toronto Maple Leafs", "Detroit Red Wings", "Boston Bruins", New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks.

4.A 5 dollar

5.Only Patrick here

6.Every time I make a save

7.I become anything

In the mid-1960s, teams began to emerge in the minor leagues, especially from the western United States, that could compete with the NHL teams. The strengthening of the Western Hockey League, which experts predicted its transformation into a league equal in strength to the NHL, as well as financial considerations prompted the NHL in 1967 to undertake the first expansion since the 1920s. Six more teams were admitted to the league, which formed a new division. They were the Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues, Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Oakland Seals and Pittsburgh Penguins. Three years later, the Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabers joined the league.

   In 1972, the World Hockey Association (WHA) was formed. Although the WHA never submitted a proposal to the NHL for a joint Stanley Cup, everyone recognized the league's strength and considered it a worthy competitor to the NHL. In this regard, the NHL decided to urgently continue its expansion policy and added the New York Islanders and Atlanta Flames to the league in 1972, and the Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals two years later.

8.Pulling 2 teeth

9.For sure

10.French girls

However, the increase in the number of teams in the league caused a decrease in the overall level of the game. These leagues fought for strong players until the collapse of the WHA in 1979. Four WHA teams have joined the NHL: Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordics, Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets. The Edmonton Oilers are currently the last team from the WHA to continue to be based in the same city where they were based. Quebec Nordics, Winnipeg Jets and Hartford Whalers have now changed their name and moved to other cities.

   The NHL has continued to expand, and since the 2000/2001 season, the number of teams in the league has increased to its current maximum of 30 teams from 29 cities in the United States and Canada. Of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League, 7 are in Canada and 23 are in the United States. All NHL clubs have their own "farm clubs" - the so-called subsidiary teams, where hockey players who have failed to break into the main team play.

11.So funny

12.Snipes

13.Hey Patrick

14.Roberto

At the moment, the NHL has the following structure: there are two conferences in the NHL, each with three divisions, and each division with five teams. In the regular season, each team plays 82 games - 41 home and 41 away, each team playing at least one game with every other team in the league. The team gets two points for winning, the team gets one point for losing in overtime or in shootouts, and none for losing in regular time. At the end of the regular season, the team with the most points in its division becomes the division champion (points from games with all teams are taken into account, not just the teams of its division). Division winners and top 5 other teams from each conference advance to the playoffs and compete for the Stanley Cup.

15.Rangers Candle

16.Sabres fans

17.Mike Smith

18.The floor is lava

19.Puck

20.Back

21.Dear Basketball

22.Glass case

23.Grinds my gear

24.Glamouros 

25.I play hockey

26.I got a cup

27.Brain on check

28.Lakers Parade

29.I have an army

30.Elf power

31.The sea creators

32.Underfeated

33.Goalies

34.Penalty box

35.For the record

36.Three rules

37.Social distancing

38.Leafs

39.Dollar beer night

40.The rangers

41.Steve Dangle

42.Rangers fans

43.Coffee

44.NHL games

45.Four to one

46.Toronto

47.Cover tution

48.Everywhere I go

49.McDavid

50.Kraken are in the metagame

The 2022 NHL Winter Classic between the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild took place on January 1, 2022 at the Minnesota Twins' Target Field, Major League Baseball team, in Minneapolis. The match, originally scheduled for the first day of 2021, will continue the tradition of outdoor play begun in 2008. 2022 will mark the 14th anniversary of the first "Winter Classic" in Buffalo.

The 2022 Honda All-Star NHL Weekend will take place in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena on February 4-5. Skill contests will take place on Friday, February 4, and the next day will be the "All-Star Game".

On February 26, as part of the 2022 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series, the Nashville Predators will play Tampa at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, home of the NFL Tennessee Titans. This will be the second open-air match for the Predators and the first for the Lightning, who will be the 27th team to play outdoors.

Each team in the 2021-22 season will play 82 matches, and there will be a total of 1,312 matches. The last day of the regular season will be Friday, April 29, when 30 out of 32 teams will take to the ice.

Bemorepanda prepared some interesting facts about NHL.

1. Olympic Break: To date, no final decision has been made on the participation of NHL hockey players in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Negotiations are ongoing. If the players' union and the International Ice Hockey Federation agree to resolve all issues, including insurance for hockey players on COVID-19, as agreed in the collective agreement, then the calendar will provide a pause between February 7 and 22. 

2. If conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorate or the health and safety of players is threatened, the NHL and the players' union will refuse to participate in the Games. If NHL players compete in the 2022 Olympics, the regular season will resume on February 23rd. If, for any reason, hockey players do not play at the Olympics, the NHL will publish a revised regular season schedule.

3. The National Hockey League is considered the most prestigious, popular and professional league in the world of ice hockey. The most loyal fans, the most spectacular matches and the most prestigious awards are directly related to the NHL. 

4. The history of the league is very long, because during its existence there have been many truly significant events, let alone the number of really talented athletes who have made their careers in the NHL. We have already talked about the strongest players in the NHL, talked about the best clubs and even recalled the history of the main hockey attributes, but now we want to talk about a few interesting facts that will help you learn hockey even better. 

5. The history of the league dates back to the late 19th century, when in 1892 the Governor General of Canada, Lord Frederick Arthur Stanley, established the country's main hockey trophy - the Challenge Hockey Cup. 

6. The devoted fans of Canada fought for the cup. Any team could challenge the current trophy holder, and he had to accept it. After the death of the Governor-General, the prize was named in his honor - the Stanley Cup. 

7. Now  the Stanley Cup is considered the most prestigious of those that a professional hockey player can win in his career, which is why many athletes tag in the NHL in order to try their luck in the championships. It is worth noting that we talked about the history of hockey in more detail in one of our previous articles.

8. As for the first official goal, which marked the beginning of professional hockey, it was scored by Dave Ritchie, who was a player of the Montreal Wanderers. The puck flew into the net on December 19, 1917, and it was the first official match in NHL history, followed by a huge number of sports fans. Then on the ice against "Montreal" came "Toronto Arenas", which conceded the same goal.

9. Many will wonder why the Stanley Cup was established almost at the very beginning of the 20th century, and the first puck was hammered only 20 years later? The fact is that the NHL was just beginning to develop, many teams did not immediately reach the professional level, and the championships were not held as cool as we see in this picture now. It is difficult to say at what point it is worth starting a report on the existence of the National League, but here everyone decides for himself.

10. Selling and buying players is quite a fun process. Of course, now popular players cost a lot of money, and many clubs go broke just to take possession of the legend of big sports. But in the history of the NHL there was a case when a player was bought for only one dollar. 

11. We are talking about one Canadian ice hockey player, Chris Draper, who was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in 1993 under the general number 62. The athlete had practically no playing practice and had zero experience in the NHL, which is why he was sold to the famous Detroit for just one American dollar.

12. Moving to a new team, Chris was not left without an inverse nickname - "man for one dollar." But the nickname did not humiliate the athlete at all, and even brought its own benefit. Perhaps it's all about motivation and the desire to prove to the majority of his worth, but Draper was able to quickly advance to the main team, and then take the post of the leader of Krasnye Krylia. He became one of the club's top players at the time, significantly increasing his value in professional sports. It is worth noting that Draper played 1137 games for Detroit, scored 128 goals in them and helped the team win four Stanley Cups.

13. We have already talked about the origin of this trophy, but the award deserves special attention for several more reasons. Interestingly, the original height of the Stanley Cup was 18 centimeters, now it is much larger. It is also worth noting that there is a certain tradition according to which each member of the team that won the Stanley Cup has the right to personally own the cup for one day in the summer off-season after the victory. This happened for the first time in 1997, after the victory of the Detroit Red Wings, where the Russian Five played. 

14. Often the practice of giving away the cup for a day to the players led to curiosities. In 1996, Colorado defender Sylvain Lefebvre christened his little daughter Alexanna in a cup. Now Aleksanna Lefebvre plays for the university's hockey team. In 2008, the Stanley Cup was again used as a cup for infant baptism: Thomas Holmstrom baptized his nephew in it. In general, they didn’t fill the cup with anything during the celebrations. Ice cream, melted chocolate, soup, chili sauce, applesauce, and even dog food. 

15. Goalkeeper Martin Brodeur, after winning the New Jersey Devils in 2003, went to the cinema with the kids and took a goblet with him to fill it with popcorn. Here is such an interesting trophy.

16. The best hockey player in the history of the National Hockey League! Wayne became the leader in almost all offense-related indicators: points (2857), goals (894), assists (1963), points in equal squads (1818), majority (890), minority (149) and goals in an empty net (57). 

17. Wayne also became the only NHL player to score more than 200 points per season in 1982 (212 points), 1984 (205), 1985 and 1986 (208 and 215 points, respectively). It's hard to find a hockey fan who hasn't heard of this athlete. This hockey player is truly unique and is a legend in the National Hockey League. 

18. Despite the unique records, the athlete did not differ in versatility, often lost in speed indicators to his rivals and did not always demonstrate decent defense. But he could always competently choose his position on the court, defeating the opponent with perfect technique and a strong throw. Interestingly, many note the fact that even if Wayne had not scored a single goal, he would still have been the leader in terms of the number of points scored in his career. Here is such an interesting character, famous all over the world.

19. The first goalkeeper to score an unusual goal against an opponent was New York Islanders goalkeeper Billy Smith. 

20. Philadelphia Flyers goalkeeper Ron Hextall became the second goalkeeper to score, and the first to score. Most of the goals against rivals are on the personal account of Martin Brodeur. He was able to score as many as three goals. In general, a rather unusual situation when the puck flies into the goal from the goalkeeper of another team, but often this is due to the unpredictability of hockey. 

21. There are times when the goalkeeper repels a strong attack from the opponent, and then the incomprehensible force of the rebound comes into play, and it happens that the goalkeeper himself wants to take the initiative into his own hands, like the above-described hockey players.

22. This interesting fact can be noted in as many as two matches in the history of the National Hockey League. The first happened in the third season of the NHL, when the Montreal players were able to beat their age-old opponents from Toronto with a score of 14-7. The second-highest scoring match in league history came in 1985 when the aforementioned Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton fired on Chicago. 

23. In this meeting, "Edmonton" was able to win with a score of 12-9, while the legendary Gretzky, without scoring a single goal, gave his teammates seven assists. It is worth noting that in each season of the NHL you can see many interesting, spectacular and memorable matches that make the history of the league unique.

24. Theoren Fleury is a truly great ice hockey player from Canada, born in 1968. His height was only 168 cm, but this did not stop him from achieving unprecedented heights in sports. The hockey player scored 1,088 points in the NHL, won the Stanley Cup, became a gold medalist at the Olympic Games, a silver medalist in the World Championship and received the honorary title of "Player of the Year" in the NHL.

25. And the tallest player in the history of the NHL was born in Slovakia. In his 44 years, Zdeno has also broken a large number of prejudices. With a height of 206 cm, the defender continues to play for the Washington Capitals to this day. The good news is that such a truly unique player does not lose heart and does not even think about the end of his career. On account of his 1608 games in the NHL, for which he was able to score 207 goals. 

26. Zdeno Hara, which we wrote about above, also set another record worthy of attention. The hockey player has one of the most powerful shots in NHL history. Zdeno Hara was able to throw the puck at 105.4 mph (169.6 km / h) in 2009. By the way, Hara liked to break records - and he did it a couple more times, reaching 107 mph (172.2 km / h) in 2012. But here it is worth noting another athlete who achieved higher numbers. 

27. The incredible Bobby Hull was able to break absolutely all the records of big sport, accelerating the hockey puck to 193 km / h with his powerful click. Experts also say that the athlete could make a throw with a maximum puck speed of 169 km / h using a wrist technique. 

28. Bobby Hull was one of the best strikers in the NHL in the 1960s. The player was awarded the title of best sniper of the regular season between 1959 and 1969 as many as seven times, making him the second strongest hockey player in this indicator. Bobby Hull was able to score 54 goals in 1965/66, making him the only player to score over 50 goals in the NHL regular season. Throughout his career, the athlete took part in 1,063 matches of the regular season and in 119 playoffs. But now the legend of world hockey is already 82 years old, and it is simply impossible to check or refute his records. 

29. Thus, the National Hockey League contains in its history many unique moments that will be of interest to every fan of big sport. It is these facts and records that are the basis of interesting hockey, a professional sport that has a huge number of fans. Important events are remembered by many, making hockey even more popular and even more spectacular, which is why this sport quickly gained worldwide popularity and annually indulges us with legendary events.

30. On November 26, 1917, representatives of four Canadian clubs (Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators and Quebec Bulldogs) decided to create the National Hockey League. A little later, Toronto Arenas joined the organizers.

31. The first NHL matches took place on December 19, 1917. There are currently 30 teams in the world's strongest professional hockey league.

32. In 1943, the Hockey Hall of Fame was opened in Toronto, where the names of the best hockey players on the planet were entered. Currently, more than 300 world hockey legends have been awarded this honor, including 6 of our compatriots: Anatoly Tarasov, Vladislav Tretyak, Vyacheslav Fetisov, Valery Kharlamov, Igor Larionov and Pavel Bure.

33. On February 14, 1934, the Toronto Maple Leafs permanently assigned the number 6 jersey to team star Ace Bailey. Later, the tradition of removing the numbers of great hockey players from circulation gained wide popularity in the NHL. Pavel Bure was the only Russian to be awarded such an honor. In 2013, the Vancouver Canucks secured form with number 10.

34. In 1959, the Montreal Canadiens goalkeeper Jacques Plant began wearing a mask. Not everyone liked this novelty, and many even called Plant a coward. But after a few years, the mask became a common attribute of the goalkeeper's uniform.

35. According to statistics, 68% of professional hockey players lost at least one tooth during a match.

36. The legendary Gordie Howe was distinguished not only by high performance, but also by an aggressive game. Therefore, if one hockey player manages to throw the puck in a match, make an assist and take part in a fight, then such a result is called "Gordie Howe's hat-trick."

37. Since 1993, every hockey player who has won the Stanley Cup, the NHL's premier trophy, can take it home for a day. But there is one secret: the athletes are given a copy of the prize, and the original is kept in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

38. April 16, 1999 ended the sports career of the most famous hockey player in the history of the NHL - Wayne Gretzky. In NHL games, Gretzky has scored 894 goals and made 1,963 assists. Its result has not been surpassed so far.

39. Bobby Hull had the most powerful shot among the pros. After his impact, the puck flew at a speed of 190.4 kilometers per hour.

40. In the entire long history of the NHL, the Stanley Cup has not been played twice. In 1919, the tournament was stopped due to the flu epidemic, and in 2005 the championship was canceled due to a hockey strike.

41. In the first month of the 2017-18 season, 212 matches were played. On average, the teams scored 6.1 goals in them (excluding 18 goals in shootouts). This is significantly more than the figure for the same period of the last championship - 5.6. On average, NHL teams scored 5.45 goals per game that season.

42. The last time NHL clubs managed to cross the line of six goals per game in the 2005-06 championship was 6.05 in 1230 games. And the level of 6.1 goals per game was exceeded for the last time in the regular championship of 1995-96 - 6.29.

43. This figure may be impressive, but it is still significantly less than 25 years ago, when NHL clubs averaged 7.25 goals per game.

44. There is another indicator of the increased performance: all 24 top scorers in the league (as of Saturday) are gaining an average of points per match. Last season, only eight of the top 24 played as effectively.

45. Pittsburgh have won all four games between Crosby and McDavid: two in regulation, one in overtime and one in shootouts. Now they can meet again at best only in the playoffs. Or next season.

46. “Islanders” figured out the game in the majority: “New York Islanders” for three weeks to establish the game in the majority and, apparently, the team was able to find the cause of failure and draw the right conclusions.

47. The first took place during the third season of the NHL - Montreal beat Toronto (St. Patrick's) with a score of 14-7, but then such a score was the norm.

48. The second such a productive match had to wait for more than 60 years - until the end of 1985, when Edmonton, led by the inimitable Gretzky, staged a shootout with Chicago and won 12-9. At the same time, Wayne did not score a single (!) Washer, but he helped his partners as much as seven (!) Times, which became a record for transfers in one game.

49. Andrew Hammond, who defended the gates of Ottawa and Colorado, got his nickname "The Hamburglar" (ie "Burgervor") long before the NHL during one of the varsity games for Bowling Green State University (NCAA). First, one of his teammates, Wade Finegan, began calling Hammond "Robber" for his ability to "steal" victories for his team. Then the nickname evolved into "Burglar" ("Thief"), then simply "Burgs". The result of this chain is the nickname "The Hamburglar", which is the name of a friend of Ronald McDonald, and this friend, as you might guess, loves to steal burgers on the sly. It was he who was depicted on the mask of the Canadian when he played for Ottawa.

50.Eighteen-year-old Alec Regula was selected by Detroit in the third round of the 2018 NBA Draft pick as # 67.

As part of the NBA regular season, the Chicago Bulls and Sacramento Kings will meet face to face. The start of the meeting is scheduled for February 17th.

12.4 and 13.5 - this is how many losses the teams allow on average per match. It makes sense to bet on total losses under 26.5.

The “Sacramento Kings” in the current NBA campaign make 23.3 assists per fight on average.

“Chicago” is not a bit embarrassed by the loss of key performers in the face of Caruso, Ball and Lavin. At the moment, the team has four victories in a row, they still occupy the second place in the standings in the East. Derozan is in crazy shape and single-handedly gaining either 38 or 40 points. Also note that the “Bulls” in recent fights markedly decreased the number of spectacular block shots (3, 3, 3, 5, 2) with an average of 4.5 per game. As an option, you can take the individual total of blocked shots of the first team under 4.5.

Sacramento have got Holiday and Sabonis from the Pacers, with whom the team wants to get into the play-in. So far, the “Kings” are located on the 13th line of the Western Division, but the density of the standings in a good scenario allows you to count on getting into the top 11 teams in the conference. “Sacramento” notably added and won three of the last five battles.

Still, the class of teams is significantly different. We venture to suggest that the “Bulls” will not experience any problems with the upcoming opponent. “Kings” are disgusting on the road (7-20), and “Chicago”, on the contrary, are extremely good in their native arena (22-8).

Here are some interesting facts about the 2021- 2022 season.

1. After the championship era, the Chicago Bulls had three playoff-level periods. Beginning with the 2004-05 season, the Chicagoans were limited to the regular season only twice in 13 years. 

2. At first, under the guidance of Scott Skiles, the newcomers of the summer of 2004 set the tone - Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni, Chris Duhon, along with Kirk Heinrich received the year before. For two seasons, Chicago's ceiling was the first round of the playoffs.

3. The now bloated Bulls roster includes 19 players. Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Javonte Green, Ayo Dosunmu, Derrick Jones, Kobe White, Troy Brown, Alize Johnson, Matt Thomas, and even the newly hired Stanley Johnson are in quarantine. Everyone is quarantined for 10 days or until two consecutive negative tests are taken within 24 hours.

4. The next postseason was an experiment with Vinnie Del Negro as head coach, the young Derrick Rose as the undisputed leader, and the help of old-timers John Salmons and Brad Miller. But again the same two knockouts in a row in the first round of the playoffs and another change of coach.

5. The summer of 2010 can be compared to the summer of 2021. In addition to Rose, Noah, Deng, Taj Gibson, who filled the bumps, the best of the remaining agents on the market were added to the company. 

6. The former trio from Utah closed several positions qualitatively at once, while Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer became the Bulls at the same time. But most importantly, the team was led by the tough Tom Thibodeau. With Tibbs, the Bulls did the unbelievable that season - the first place of the season, the title of the best coach and the best player of the regular season. This fire of the updated composition of "Chicago" went out only in the conference finals.

7. But a promising start was the beginning of the end. Thibodeau ruined his squad by overheating the leaders, which continued to crush opponents in the regular season, but did not live up to the playoffs. For more than 5 years, Tom at the helm of Chicago has never reached the NBA semi-finals, although she has always made the playoffs. 

8. The team changed to similar snipers - Korver, Belinelli, Dunleavy, McDermott. In the absence of the eternal knee-healing Rose, Nate Robinson caught the high point. Once again, the involvement of the aging representative of the championship “Detroit” of the 2004 model, Rip Hamilton, did not bring any benefit.

9. Well, for the last time in the playoffs, the Chicago team went out under Fred Heuberg, when Jimmy Butler took on the burden of leadership, whom Thibodeau managed to trust in his last Chicago year due to the constant injuries of Rose, and then the crumbling Deng. 

10. But again, this cannot be called a separate era. Fred relied on Tom's old yeast. The 2016-17 season ended for the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs with Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo in the starting lineup along with Jimmy. Moreover, it was Rondo's injury that predetermined the outcome of the 2017 playoff series against Boston, in which the dream season was spent by Isaiah Thomas, “second”.

11. It turns out that over the past 6 years, "Chicago" has only one exit to the playoffs and already 4 passes in a row. And now in the first quarter of the 2021-22 season, the Chicagoans began at the level of those years when they went out in the relegation series. 

12. They have been at the top of the Eastern Conference several times already. After four wins in a row at the start of December, the Bulls were back in the lead in the East. During this series, the current conference favorite Brooklyn was defeated for the second time in the season, but then COVID-19 intervened and Billy Donovan's team started its way down, losing twice to Miami and Cleveland by an average of -25. 

13. And now, after the 10th player was quarantined due to a positive test, the NBA decided to postpone the next two games of Chicago against Detroit and Toronto (December 15 and 17). And while everything acquired by the Bulls was not lost or everything turned into a lockout, let's take a look at what this team managed to attract attention to.

14. The Bulls made a major overhaul with the arrival of Arturas Karnisovas as Vice President of Basketball Operations. Only three players since the start of last season have donned a Chicago Bulls uniform this season - Zach LaVine (Chicago's 5th year), Cobe White (3rd year), Patrick Williams (2nd).

15. And only LaVine has not missed a single game so far. Williams was out for the rest of the season after five games, while Kobe was only able to play in nine games in the second half of November.

16. Thanks to those who managed to trade or sign in the summer, a whole Californian landing was formed in Chicago. 

17. DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso were added to Nikola Vucevic and "old-timer" LaVine as a result of a trade during the last season.

18. Several old connections have been restored. Vucevic and DeRozan spent one season as students together for the team of the University of Southern California (USC), based in Los Angeles. For Vuch, this was only the first of three years in the NCAA, and Deebo had one year to move to the NBA. From that 2008-09 USC roster, three made it to the NBA. 

19. In addition to this pair of newly minted Bulls, their student partner Taj Gibson was the first to wear the Chicago uniform. Together with them, the colors of USC were defended at that time by one of the leaders of modern CSKA, Daniel Hackkett.

20. Caruso and Ball started their NBA journey at the same time, with the Lakers for the 2017-18 season. Only Alex had to prove his affiliation in the Development League a year before, and Lonzo was accepted as a rising star, without regretting the 2nd pick in the draft. 

21. However, the first entrenched for 4 seasons and became the NBA champion, and the second, after two years, was not spared for the sake of the second component of that same championship - Anthony Davis.

22. In addition, Lonzo also has a common alma mater with Zach - they played in different years for the student team of the University of California UCLA. Moreover, one year was enough for each to be selected in the NBA draft. An interesting fact is that both Zach in the 2013-14 season and Lonzo in the 2016-17 season played a pair of twins (Alec and Isaac Wolf, Travis and David Ware).

23. At the moment, only 8 Montenegrin basketball players have experience in the NBA. But in “Chicago” there are now two of them at once. He was born in Switzerland in the family of the Montenegrin basketball player Borislav Vucevicva - Nikola Vucevic (born in 1990) is a long-term player of the Montenegrin national team.

24.  As well as a young center from Montenegro, Marko Simonovic (born in 1999), who has yet to play for the adult national team of his country, as well as prove his worth in the NBA. Not to be confused with the Serbian "old man" Marko Simonovic, who previously played for the St. Petersburg "Zenith".

25. But in "Chicago" they are not the first representatives of this part of the former Yugoslavia. Montenegrin native Nikola Mirotic played for the Bulls four seasons earlier.

26. This unusual Bulls line-up featured two winners of the NBA dunk contest. Zach Lavigne was the best twice in a row in 2014 and 2015, and Derrick Jones in 2020.

27. Derrick Rose is still greeted with a standing ovation in Chicago, even though he has been on the United Center floor for 6 years as a rival to the Bulls. Sure, he led the Bulls to the Conference Finals as MVP of the season, but Chicago generally loves its fellow countrymen. 

28. So this season, the home audience of the Windy City was pleased with the presence of its own - Ayo Dosunmu, who was trusted by the new management of the club in the second round of the 2021 draft.

29. But at this difficult moment in the season, Dosunmu was not the only Chicagoan in Chicago. The other day, due to a looming personnel crisis, another Chicago-born forward was attached - forward Alfonzo McKinney. And that's not all - there is one in the coaching staff. Known for his career as both a player and coach, Maurice Cheeks was also born in Chicago.

30. Among the players of the past, such assistants of Michael Jordan in his two 3-peat series as Darrell Walker and Randy Brown managed to play "at home" to such assistants. At the end of their careers, Dwyane Wade, Kendall Gill, Hersey Hawkins, Nazir Mohammed, Casey Russell came to the Bulls. They sheltered their Jabari Parker for a short time, and opened the doors of Jannero Pargo's Chicago several times.

31. As for Ayo, he has already managed to play his first match in the Chicago starting five, when he spent 42 minutes on the home floor in the winning game with Denver, scoring 11 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds.

32. After 25 games this season, Chicago was 17-8. Since the 1996-97 season, this is the second best result. Only in the 2011-12 season at this stage there were more victories - 19 with 6 defeats. But that year was marred first by a lockout and the start of the championship in late December, and ended just horribly when, in the first game of the playoffs, Derrick Rose suffered his first ill-fated knee injury, when Thibodeau classically overexposed him in the “garbage” time.

33. Twice more after 25 matches, Chicago had 16 wins each. In both of those cases, LeBron blocked the road with Miami and Cleveland, adding to the collection of lost finals (in 2011 and 2015). And Chicago had exactly the same indicator of 17-8 in the 1993-94 season, when Pippen led the team for the first time without Jordan, bringing it to the 7th match of the second round of the series with New York.

34. DeRozan broke the club record by scoring 425 points in his first 16 games, one more than Michael had in his first season in the NBA.

35. As DeRozan said, we are all now trying to reach for the standard of protection that Caruso shows us. Alex tops the leaderboard in steals per game (2.2). At the same time, being the only one from the top eight who is a bench player and does not have an average of 30 game minutes per match.

36. For comparison, in the previous three years, Caruso, playing an average of 20 minutes, made 1.1 interceptions per game. Let's see what his performance will be at the end of the season. It will also be interesting from a career point of view. As a Chicago player, Jordan averaged 2.48 steals per game. 37. Only Jerry Sloan (2.15) and Scotty Pippen (2.09) consistently managed to intercept more than two times per game.

38. Looking at past seasons, 2 or more steals were consistently managed by Chris Dunn in the 2019-20 season (2.0 - second in the NBA) and Ron Artest in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons (2.0 and 2, 6 - second place). And if you look even further, then Jordan in 9 of his 11 full seasons made more than two steals per game, leading the NBA in this indicator three times (3.2 in the 1987-88 season and 2.8 in the 1989-90 and 1992-seasons). 93). Twice, when Michael left, Pippen did 2.9 interceptions. This pair was especially annealed in defense in the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons, when in total they had a result of 5.4 and 5.1 interceptions per game for two.

39. Surpassed in personal statistics within the club of the great Michael, not only DeMar, but also the second leader of the modern Bulls - Zach LaVine. In the fourth game of the season, he overtook Jordan as the top trucker for Chicago. In 13 regular seasons, in two of which he did not play more than 18 games, Michael had 555 accurate three-pointers, which he implemented with an accuracy of 33%. It took 930 games to complete. With the same success, he attacked from behind the arc and in the playoff series, adding another 148 accurate three-pointers. LaVine already has 625 long-range hits in 5 incomplete seasons, which took 232 games in the form of Chicago. Zach has made 79 3-pointers in 25 games this season and is now No. 3 in Bulls history.

40. The next goal is Pippen, who in 12 seasons and 856 matches was accurate in 664 attempts. Her conquest can take place already in the course of this season, matches through 13-14. In the next in-game year, or by the end of this one, Zach could also make it to 2nd place, beating Ben Gordon (770 over 5 seasons). The question is how many matches he can play. And topping the list is Kirk Heinrich (1049 in 11 seasons and 748 matches). Zach follows Michael in terms of average performance as part of Chicago. Jordan has maintained a statistic of 31.5 points per game, LaVine has been 24.6 for five seasons.

41. The only problem is that in the playoffs, LaVine does not have three-point hits, where he has not yet played in his 26 years. And now is the season when it's time to start! 

42. At the end of November, taking into account several games in October, Billy Donovan was recognized as the best coach of the Eastern Conference. Since the Bulls' first season in the NBA (1966-67), Donovan is the 18th coach and only the 5th to win the award. Although this title itself in the NBA appeared only in 1982.

43. The last time the Chicago coach became the best by the end of the month was almost 9 years ago, when Tom Thibodeau added to his personal collection in January 2013. Doug Collins became a pioneer among Chicago mentors in 1987. The great Phil Jackson took the "Best Coach of the Month" four times, Scott Skiles did it twice, and the leader is the storm of the regular season - the same Tibs (6).

44. Let me remind you that Donovan is Noah's student coach, with whom they won two consecutive NCAA championship titles together. And Joachim himself has become a Bulls ambassador this season. Selected 9th in the 2007 draft, he plowed nine seasons for Chicago. During this time, he managed to win the title of "Best Defensive Player of the Season" (2013-14).

45. DeMar DeRozan's game shone with new colors under the direction of Billy Donovan. While this athletic forward was more often marked by power dunks through everyone before, now he has perfected his average shot after a series of runs, with a deflection, at the end of possession. As it was with Jordan in his last years in Chicago. His efforts didn't go unnoticed in the NBA office either, with the Bulls' No. 11 becoming the 11th player in club history to be named Player of the Week. In Week 7 of the season, DeRozan helped his team win all three games, averaging 30.3 points and 5.7 assists.

46. The previous holder of this title in Bulls uniform was Jimmy Butler in April 2017. In addition to this pair, Nate Robinson, Carlos Boozer, Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Orlando Woolridge, Reggie Theus and Artis Gilmour had similar titles for Chicago.

47. DeMar managed to play 24 games for Chicago, in which he scored 26.4 points (4th in the NBA), 5.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists. He also ranks third among all NBA players in average free throws made per game (7.5). And he's unrivaled in the league in fourth-quarter points with 178. During his title week, DeMar averaged 12.3 points in the fourth quarter, shooting 15 of 24 field goals (62.5 percent). When he was on the court in those three games, his +/- indicator was +69.

48. In two games in a row at the start of the fall and winter of 2021, three Chicago players managed to do what happened last time more than 30 years ago. DeRozan, LaVine, and Vucevic scored at least 25 points each, shooting at least 50% of their field goals in wins against Charlotte and New York.

49. After a great victory over Brooklyn in the 25th game of the season, the Bulls roster began to crumble by leaps and bounds. On Monday morning, December 13, after two devastating defeats in a weakened rotation, it became known that of the 22 NBA players quarantined, 9 were from Chicago. At that time, it seemed that with nine players hastily signed, the Chicagoans would still somehow enter the match with Detroit, scheduled for December 15th. But when Alize Johnson brought the Bulls infirmary team to 10 players with his positive test, the NBA decided to move the next two Bulls games somewhere farther on the calendar.

50. By December 13, the team from Chicago managed to play 27 matches. And only 2 players didn't miss any of those games - Lonzo Ball and Zach LaVine. From the main ones, DeRozan and Caruso did not play 3 times each, Green - 4, Vucevic - 7.

Major League Baseball (MLB) is an American professional baseball organization and the oldest professional sports league in the United States and Canada. There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball: 15 in the National League (NL) and 15 in the American League (AL). NL and AL were formed as separate legal entities in 1876 and 1901 respectively. Beginning in 1903, the two leagues cooperated but remained legally separate entities. Both leagues operated as separate legal entities until they merged into a single organization under the leadership of the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000.

This season is the last season in which the Cleveland Indians compete under the moniker after decades of controversy. On 14 December 2020, the team announced that they would be introducing their new nickname and associated kit and stadium changes prior to the 2022 season to replace the 106-year-old nickname.

As for games between leagues, matches will be between teams from the following divisions:

LA vs. Central LN

L.A. Central vs. West of LN

West of Los Angeles vs. L.N.

Meanwhile, it is the calendar of the regular MLB 2022 season. It will end on October 2, 2022.

Between the special dates, the calendar from the 2022 regular season of MLB is like this:

April 15, 2022 (Jackie Robinson Day)

July 19, 2022 (All-Star Game - All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles ).

Already MLB teams publish their calendar for the 2022 Major season.

Bemorepanda collected some interesting facts.

1. MLB oversees Minor League Baseball, which includes 256 teams affiliated with major league clubs. MLB and the World Confederation of Baseball Softball co-administer the World Baseball Classic international tournament.

2. The first fully professional baseball team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings, founded in 1869. Prior to this, some teams secretly paid some players. The first few professional baseball games were characterized by league-to-league rivalries and players who often moved from one team or league to another.

3. The period before 1920 is known as the dead-ball era, during which players rarely hit home runs. Professional baseball in the States survived a plot to fix the 1919 World Series that became known as the Black Sox Scandal. 

4. The sport's popularity in the 1920s and experienced periods of decline during the Great Depression and World War II. Shortly after the war, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier.

5. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of club expansion and relocation for the AL and NL. New stadiums and artificial turf started the rules of the game in the 1970s and 1980s. 

6. The home run dominated the game during the 1990s, and the use of anabolic steroids among MLB players in the mid-2000s was discussed in the media. In 2006, an investigation resulted in the Mitchell Report, implicating many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, including at least one player from each team.

7. Today MLB is made up of 30 teams: 29 in the US and 1 in Canada. Teams play 162 games each season, and five (5) teams per league advance to a four-round post-season tournament that culminates in the Best of the Best World Series. seven championship series between two league champions that date back to 1903. 

8. Baseball games are broadcast on television, radio on the Internet in North America and in some other countries. MLB has the largest total season attendance of any sports league in the world with over 69.6 million viewers in 2018.

9. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution. This document has gone through several incarnations since its inception in 1876. Under the direction of the commissioner of baseball, MLB hires and maintains officiating teams and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. MLB maintains a unique relationship of control over the sport, including the majority of Minor League Baseball. 

10. This has much to do with the US 1922 Supreme Court ruling in Federal Baseball Club v. National League, which held that baseball was not an interstate commerce and therefore not subject to federal antitrust law. In subsequent years, this rule was slightly relaxed. 

11. The easing provided owners with more stability and led to double-digit price increases. There were several challenges to MLB championship in sports between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916; the last attempt at a new major league was the aborted Continental League in 1960.

12. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, currently Rob Manfred. COO is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives: president (business and media), chief public relations officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer, and chief baseball officer.

13. Based in New York City, the multimedia division of MLB is MLB Advanced Media. This chapter oversees MLB.com and the websites of each of the 30 teams. Its bylaws state that MLB Advanced Media has an independent newsroom from the league, but is under the same ownership group and revenue sharing plan. 

14. MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league focusing on video and broadcast media. MLB also owns 67 percent of the MLB network, with the remaining 33 percent split between cable operators and satellite provider DirecTV.

15. In 1920, the weak National Commission that had been set up to manage relations between the two leagues was replaced by the much more powerful Baseball Commissioner, who had the power to decide all of professional baseball unilaterally. From 1901 to 1960, the American and National Leagues fielded eight teams each.

16. In the 1960s, the MLB expansion added eight teams, including the first American team (Montreal Expos). 

17. Two teams (Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays) were also added in the 1970s. From 1969 to 1993, each league consisted of an East and West division. In 1993, the National League expanded with two teams, the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies, to equalize the number of teams in both leagues. 

18. A third division, the Central Division, was formed in each league in 1994. Until 1996, the two leagues only met on the field during the World Series and the All-Star Game. The regular season of Interleague Play was introduced in 1997.

19. In March 1995, two new franchises, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now known as the Tampa Bay Rays), were awarded by MLB to start play in 1998. This addition brought the franchise total to 30. In early 1997, MLB decided to have one new team per league: Tampa Bay joined A.L. and Arizona joined the NL. 

20. The original plan was to have an odd number of teams in each league (15 in each league, five in each division), but in order for each team to play daily, this would require interleague play to be scheduled throughout the entire period. the whole season. 

21. However, it was not clear at the time if interleague play would continue beyond the 1998 season, as this would have to be approved by the players' union. For this and other reasons, it was decided. one existing club would have to change leagues. 

22. The Milwaukee Brewers agreed in November 1997 to move from the AL to the NL, thus making the NL a 16-team league. At the same time, the Detroit Tigers agreed to move from East Albert to Al Central (to replace Milwaukee), with the Tampa Bay expansion Devil Rays joining East Albert. 

23. Later, when the Houston Astros changed ownership prior to the 2013 season, the team moved from the Central Northern League to Alberta Western, resulting in both leagues having three divisions of five teams each and giving all teams a more balanced schedule. The Interleague is now played throughout the season.

24. In 2000, the AL and NL became a single general league similar to the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL), albeit with two components called "leagues" rather than "conferences" .

25. Both leagues use the same rules and regulations, with one exception: AL operates under designated hitter rules, while NL does not. This difference in rules between leagues is unique to MLB; other sports leagues in the United States and Canada have a single set of rules for all teams.

26. In the 1860s, with the help of soldiers playing in the camp during the Civil War, "New York" style baseball developed into a nationwide game and spawned baseball's first governing body, the National Baseball Players Association. 

27. NABBP existed as an amateur league for 12 years. By 1867 over 400 clubs were members. Most of the top clubs remained clubs based in the Northeast United States. MLB uses 1869 as the founding year of Professional Baseball, when the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was formed.

28. Between professional and amateur ball players after the founding of the Cincinnati club. NABBP was divided into amateur and professional. The National Association of Professional Baseball Players, often known as the National Association (NA), was formed in 1871. 

29. Her amateur counterpart disappeared after just a few years. The history of the modern Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves franchises dates back to the National Association of Professional Baseball Players in the 1870s.

30. In 1876, the National League Professional Baseball Clubs (later known as the National League or NL) were formed after the NA went underperforming. 

31. The league has focused on the clubs, not the players. Clubs can now fulfill player contracts, preventing players from moving to higher paying clubs. 

32. Clubs were required to play full game schedules instead of forgoing scheduled games when the club was no longer in contention for the league championship, which was often the case within North America. A concerted effort was made to limit gambling in games, which cast doubt on the validity of the results. The first game in the NL - Saturday, April 22, 1876 (at the Jefferson Street Grounds, Philadelphia) - is often cited as the start of MLB.

33. The early NLs were turbulent, with threats from rival leagues and players revolting against the hated "reserve clause" that restricts the free movement of players between clubs. 

34. Teams have come and gone; 1882 was the first season in which the league line-up was the same as the previous season, with only four franchises surviving until 1900. Competitor leagues formed regularly and also broke up regularly. 

35. The most successful was the American Association (1882–1891), sometimes called the "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of selling alcoholic beverages to spectators. For several years, the National League and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series - the first World Series attempt. The two leagues merged in 1892 into a single 12-team no-limit game, but no-limit football lost four teams after the 1899 season. This led to the formation of the American League in 1901 under AL President Ban Johnson, and the resulting betting war for players led to widespread contract breaches and litigation.

36. The war between the AL and the NL caused shock throughout the baseball world. At a meeting at the Leland Hotel in Chicago in 1901, the other baseball leagues agreed on a plan for their independence. A new National Association was formed to oversee these minor leagues. Although the NA still exists today (known as the Little League), at the time, Ban Johnson saw it as a tool to put an end to smaller rivals' threats that could spread to other territories and threaten his league's dominance.

37. After 1902, the NL, AL, and NA signed a new National Agreement that linked independent contracts to contracts with a reserve clause. The agreement also established a formal classification system for the minor leagues, which was refined by Branch Rickey.

38. Several other formerly non-existent baseball leagues are officially considered major leagues, and their statistics and records are included in those of the current two major leagues. . These included the AA, the Trade Union Association (1884), the Players' League (1890), and the Federal League (1914–1915). Both UA and AA are being researched by baseball researchers as major leagues due to the high level of play and number of star players. 

39. Some researchers, including Nate Silver, have disputed UA's major league status, that franchises have come and gone, and that the St. Louis club was intentionally "linked"; the St. Louis club was owned by the league president and was the only club that came close to major league level.

40. The period from 1900 to 1919 is commonly referred to as the "dead ball era". Games of the era were generally low scoring and were often dominated by pitchers such as Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Mordecai Brown. and Grover Cleveland Alexander. The term is also known as the condition of baseball itself. 

41. Baseball used American wool yarn, not modern Australian wool yarn, and was not wound as tightly, which affected the distance he could walk. More importantly, they stayed in the game until they became crippled, soft and sometimes twisted. At the time, a baseball cost three dollars, equal to $44.24 today (adjusted for US dollar inflation), and the owners were reluctant to buy new balls. Fans were expected to throw away fouls and (rare) home runs. Baseballs have also been stained with tobacco juice, grass, and mud, and sometimes juice, which some players have chewed to discolour the ball.

42. In addition, pitchers could manipulate the ball using a spittoon. (In 1921, the use of this field was restricted to meals with a grandfather clause). In addition, many stadiums were large, such as the Chicago Cubs' West Side Grounds, which was 560 feet (170 m) from the field's center fence, and the Boston Red Sox's Huntington Avenue Grounds, which was 635 feet (194 m) away. m) from the center field fence, thus home runs were rare and "small ball" tactics such as singles, bunts, stolen bases, and run and run dominated the strategies of the time. Techniques such as the Baltimore Chop have been used to increase singles in the infield.

43. Baseball's popularity increased in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1920 season was marked by the death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians. Chapman, who was hit in the head by the field and died hours later, became the only MLB player to die from an injury on the field, a tragedy that led both leagues to require new white baseballs to be brought into play whenever a ball became scratched. or dirty, which helped end the dead-ball era. 

44. The following year, the New York Yankees made their first World Series appearance. By the end of the 1930s, the team had competed in 11 World Series, winning eight of them. Slugger Yankee Babe Ruth set a single-season home run record in 1927 with 60 home runs; A few years earlier, Ruth had set the same record with 29 home runs.

45. Popular hardships of the Great Depression Baseball's popularity began to decline in the early 1930s. By 1932, only two MLB teams had made a profit. Attendance dropped at least in part due to a 10% federal entertainment tax added to baseball ticket prices. Baseball owners have reduced their rosters from 25 to 23, and even the best players have had to take pay cuts.

46. The onset of World War II created a significant shortage of professional baseball players, as over 500 men left MLB teams to serve in the military. Many of them play on service baseball teams that have entertained military personnel in the US or the Pacific. 

47. MLB teams of the time were primarily made up of youths, older players, and those with a military 4F classification, indicating mental, physical, or moral unfitness for service. People like Pete Gray, the one-armed outfielder, were given a shot at promotion to the big leagues. However, there was not a single black player on the MLB roster until the end of the war. Black players, many of whom had served in the war, were still restricted from playing Negro League baseball.

48. Wartime restrictions designed to keep outdoor lighting levels low caused another problem for baseball. These rules restricted travel and night games to the point where the 1942 season almost had to be canceled. 

49. On January 14, 1942, MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote a letter to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt pleading for baseball to continue during the war in hopes of starting a new major league season. President Roosevelt replied, “I sincerely believe that it would be better for the country if baseball continued to develop. There will be fewer unemployed people and everyone will work longer and harder. And that means they should have a chance to relax and take their minds off work even more than before.”

50. With the approval of President Roosevelt, spring training began in 1942 and had little impact. The war interrupted the careers of stars such as Stan Musial, Bob Feller, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio, but the baseball clubs carried on.