ice skating, gliding along an ice surface on keellike runners known as ice skates.

Skating as a Sport

Skating, besides being an important form of winter recreation and the essential skill in the game of ice hockey (see hockey, ice) has developed into three different sports—speed skating, figure skating, and ice dancing. All three are now features of the Winter Olympic games.

Speed Skating

In speed-skating events, racers may reach speeds as high as 30 mi (48 km) per hr. The Olympic races are around oval tracks at distances of 500, 1,000, 1,500, 5,000, and 10,000 meters for men and 500, 1,000, 1,500, 3,000, and 5,000 meters for women. Short-track skating features skaters in massed starts circling a small indoor oval. In the Olympics men compete in 500-, 1,000-, and 1,500-meter events, with a 5,000-meters relay; the women's races are at similar distances except for the relay (3,000 meters).

Figure Skating

Jackson Haines, an American, revolutionized figure skating in the 1860s, skating to music, bringing balletic movements to ice, and creating new ones. One of the most beautiful and graceful events in all sport, international figure skating requires skaters to perform a short program that includes mandatory jumps and skills, and then a longer program of free selection, both set to music. Judging is subjective and often controversial. Skaters also compete in pairs, seeking through the intricate synchronization of moves and the performance of lifts and jumps to impress the scoring judges.

Olympic gold medalist Sonja Henie did much to bring skating to wide public notice in the United States, and after she turned (1936) professional, the ice carnival became a popular American amusement. Since then traveling ice shows have continued to attract former Olympic skaters who have, since the 1970s, also competed in a series of professional competitions. In recent years, Americans have increasingly taken up competitive figure skating in the hope of repeating the successes of Olympic champions such as Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara Lipinski, and Sarah Hughes.

History

The earliest skates (c.9th cent.), made of bone, were found in Sweden. Wooden skates with iron facings appeared in the 14th cent. Skates made entirely of iron were introduced in the 17th cent. Steel skates, with straps and clamps to fasten them to the shoes, were sold in the 1850s, and later came the skate permanently attached to the shoe. Skating has long been a means of travel in countries with long, cold winters, such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and especially Holland. There are references to skating in English books as early as the 12th cent. By the 18th cent. skating was not only a means of travel but also a well-established sport. European colonists introduced it early into America and Canada.

ice plant, low, fleshy plant (Cryophytum crystalinum) of warm, dry, barren regions. It is cultivated chiefly as a curiosity because of its leaves, densely coated with small, glistening, bladder-shaped hairs. The ice plant and many other related herbs (e.g., New Zealand spinach), often with fantastic shapes, are sometimes combined in the genus Mesembryanthemum. They grow in abundance in South Africa, whence many had been introduced to European botanical gardens by 1600. Ice plants are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Caryophyllales, family Aizoaceae.

ice hockey: see hockey, ice.

ice dancing, ice-skating competition in which couples are required to perform dance routines to music. The sport gained popularity in the 1930s and the first world championships were held in 1950. Ice dancing is similar to pairs figure skating, but does not allow lifts or other strength moves. Ice dancing competitions consist of three parts—prescribed pattern dances; an original set pattern dance; and a free dance, which allows the greatest freedom of expression. The first Olympic ice dancing competition was in 1976. At that time, traditional ballroom dances comprised the core of skaters' programs. The leading ice dancers in the 1970s were the Soviets Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov. In the 1980s, the British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean dominated the sport with dramatic and innovative choreography performed to a variety of musical forms (e.g., popular, jazz, classical). They won four consecutive world championships (1981-84) and the gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics. Outstanding in the late 1980s and early 1990s were the Russian ice dancers Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko.

ice cream, sweet frozen dessert, made from milk fat and solids, sugar, flavoring, a stabilizer (usually gelatin), and sometimes eggs, fruits, or nuts. The mix is churned at freezing temperature to attain a light, smooth texture. Water ices existed in the Roman Empire, and Marco Polo brought back from East Asia reports of iced, flavored foods. From Italy the confection spread to France and England, reaching America early in the 18th cent. Ice cream sundaes had become popular by the 1890s, and the ice cream cone was introduced in 1904. The manufacture of ice cream in the United States on a commercial scale began in 1851 in Baltimore and has become an important industry. Commercial ice cream is pasteurized and homogenized. Federal, state, local, and industry regulations as to percentage of milk fats and solids, purity of ingredients, and cleanliness of preparation and dispensing are designed to maintain the dietary value of ice cream and to inhibit bacterial multiplication, for which ice cream is a favorable medium. Similar frozen confections include the fat-rich bisque (with added bakery products), parfait (containing eggs), and mousse; frozen custard, generally low in fat; frozen yogurt, also low in fat; and ices and plain or milk sherbets, based on fruit juices and sugar.

ice: see water.

hockey, ice, team sport in which players use sticks to propel a hard, round disk into a net-backed goal.

Rules and Equipment

Ice hockey is played on a rectangular rink with curved corners whose length may vary from 184 to 200 ft (56-61 m), its width from 85 to 98 ft (26-30 m). Six players—a goalie, a center, two defensemen, and two forwards—all of whom are on ice skates, make up a team. The rink is surrounded on all sides by walls 31/2 to 4 ft (1.06-1.22 m) high. The goal mouths are 4 ft (1.22 m) high and 6 ft (1.83 m) wide and are set 10 ft (3.05 m) out from each end of the rink, which is divided by colored lines in the ice into three zones (attacking, neutral, and defending) that are each 60 ft (18.29 m) long. A puck, once made of rubber but now of composite material, 1 in. (2.54 cm) thick and 3 in. (7.62 cm) in diameter, and frozen to reduce resiliency, is the object used in play. The weight, size, and shape of the sticks used to hit the puck are standardized. After a face-off (the dropping of the puck between two opposing players by an official), the team in possession of the puck seeks to maneuver it past the other team and into its net. Each goal counts one point. The game is divided into three 20-min periods; overtime periods in case of ties are used in certain professional games. In this fast and body-bruising sport, players use heavy protective equipment, and there is unlimited substitution. A player detected by the referee in roughing, tripping, high-sticking, or other violations must spend two minutes (a minor penalty) or more (major penalties) off the ice in the penalty box, and his team must continue play shorthanded. Linesmen, goal judges, a timekeeper, and a scorer also officiate.

The National Hockey League

The modern game originated in Canada in the 1800s, and the first modern indoor hockey game was played in Montreal in 1875. By the 1890s it had become extremely popular and had spread to the United States. Since 1917 the National Hockey League (NHL), with teams in both countries, has been the primary professional association. The rival World Hockey Association (WHA), launched in 1972, ceased operation in 1979; several of its 12 teams gained entry to the NHL. The NHL's current 30 teams play in two conferences, the Eastern and Western, each with three divisions. Though most NHL players have always been Canadian, an increasing number of players from the United States and Europe have appeared since the 1980s. Teams vie for the Stanley Cup—originally donated to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (1893) by Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley—the NHL's championship trophy and the symbol of world professional supremacy. In recent years the NHL has been marked by contentious labor relations, leading to a strike in 1992 and lockouts in 1994-95 and 2004-5, the last so prolonged as to cancel the season.

International and Amateur Play

The NHL long regarded itself as the world's elite, but the overwhelming superiority of the Soviet Union in international amateur play in the 1960s led to a dramatic 1972 summit series between Team Canada (Canadian NHL players) and the Soviet national team. With their reputation on the line, the NHL stars narrowly won the series 4-3-1. Two years later the Soviets crushed a WHA All-Star team. In 1976-91 six of the world's major hockey powers competed in the periodic Canada Cup, a tournament the NHL and its player association organized. The Canadians won four times (1976, 1984, 1987, 1991) and the Soviets once (1981). The first World Cup, an eight-team expansion introduced in 1996, was won by the United States. The International Ice Hockey Federation (founded 1908) is the governing body for Olympic competition (begun in 1920) and world tournaments held annually since 1930 (but no longer contested in Olympic years). From the early 1960s through 1990 the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia dominated both. Although Canada has an elaborate system of amateur hockey leagues, the country has not excelled in international amateur hockey since the early 1950s, mainly because the best Canadian players quickly turn professional. The distinction between amateur and professional, however, is disappearing. In 1998 professionals played in the Olympics for the first time, as did women. Hockey at U.S. colleges has also been gaining in popularity; the National Collegiate Athletic Association championships, held since 1948, are now widely followed.

dry ice: see carbon dioxide.

Košice, Ger. Kaschau, Hung. Kassa, city (1991 pop. 235,160), E Slovakia. It is a major industrial center and transportation hub and a market for the surrounding agricultural area. The city's industries include food processing, brewing and distilling, and the manufacture of machinery, cement, and ceramics. A petroleum refinery and a modern iron and steel center are in nearby Huko.

Originally a fortress town, Košice was chartered in 1241 and became an important trade center during the Middle Ages. It was frequently occupied by Austrian, Hungarian, and Turkish forces. By the Treaty of Trianon (1920) the city passed from Hungary to Czechoslovakia. Košice's most notable historic buildings are the Gothic Cathedral of St. Elizabeth (14th-15th cent.), the 14th-century Franciscan monastery and church, and an 18th-century town hall. The city also has a university and several cultural institutions.

Ice Fjord, Spitsbergen: see Isfjorden.

Ice Age National Scenic Trail: see National Parks and Monuments (table).

Ice Age: see Pleistocene epoch.

Ice formed from frozen seawater in polar regions. Most sea ice occurs as pack ice, which drifts across the ocean surface; other types of sea ice include fast ice, which is attached to coasts and sometimes the seafloor or between grounded icebergs, and marine ice, which forms at the bottom of ice shelves in Antarctica. The sea ice of the Northern Hemisphere covers about 3 million sq mi (8 million sq km) in September and about 6 million sq mi (15 million sq km) in March. Sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere ranges from about 1.5 million sq mi (4 million sq km) in February to about 8 million sq mi (20 million sq km) in September.

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Game played on an ice rink by two teams of six players on skates. The object is to drive a puck (a small, hard rubber disk) into the opponents' goal with a hockey stick, thus scoring one point. A game consists of three 20-minute periods. The first true ice-hockey game was played in 1875 between two student teams at Montreal's McGill University. The National Hockey League, consisting of U.S. and Canadian professional teams, was organized in 1917. Hockey was introduced at the Olympic Games in 1920. It is a very aggressive game, and the puck is often taken from a player by means of a hit to the body, called a check. Some contact, such as checking from behind and slashing with the stick, is illegal and draws a penalty. Seealso Stanley Cup.

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Any mass of ice that occurs on the Earth's continents or surface waters. Such masses form wherever substantial amounts of liquid water freeze and remain in the solid state for some period of time. Examples include glaciers, icebergs, sea ice, and ground ice associated with permafrost.

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Frozen dairy food. Ice cream is made from cream or butterfat, milk, sugar, and flavourings. Fruit ices (nondairy frozen desserts) were introduced into Europe from the East sometime after being first described by Marco Polo in his journals. Creation of the first true cream ice is credited to a Parisian café owner named Tortoni in the late 18th century. The ice-cream cone originated at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Mo., U.S. Commercial ice cream is made by heating and blending its ingredients to form a mix, which is then pasteurized and homogenized. The mix is ripened for several hours and then agitated while being frozen to incorporate air; the highest-quality ice creams incorporate the least air. Ice cream is now available in hundreds, if not thousands, of flavours.

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White semiaquatic bear (Ursus maritimus) found throughout Arctic regions, generally on drifting oceanic ice floes. A swift, wide-ranging traveler and a good swimmer, it stalks and captures its prey. It primarily eats seal but also fish, seaweed, grass, birds, and caribou. The male weighs 900–1,600 lbs (410–720 kg) and is about 5.3 ft (1.6 m) tall at the shoulder and 7–8 ft (2.2–2.5 m) long. It has a short tail. The hairy soles of its broad feet protect it from the cold and help it move across the ice. Though shy, it is dangerous when confronted.

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or glacial age

Any geologic period during which thick ice sheets cover vast areas of land. Such periods of large-scale glaciation may last several million years and drastically reshape surface features of entire continents. A number of major ice ages have occurred throughout the Earth's history; the most recent periods were during the Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million–10,000 years ago).

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Solid form of liquid water and water vapour. Below 32 °F (0 °C), liquid water forms a hard solid and water vapour forms frost on surfaces and snowflakes (see snow) in clouds. Unlike most liquids, water expands on freezing, so ice is less dense than liquid water and therefore floats. It consists of compact aggregates of many crystals (with hexagonal symmetry), although ice formed from the bulk liquid does not normally have crystal faces. Molecules in the crystal are held together by hydrogen bonds (see hydrogen bonding). With a very high dielectric constant, ice conducts electricity much better than most nonmetallic crystals. At very high pressures, at least five other crystal forms of ice occur.

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City (pop., 2003 est.: 235,281), eastern Slovakia. Settled in the 9th century and chartered in 1241, it served as a trading settlement during the late Middle Ages. It developed rapidly after becoming part of Czechoslovakia in 1920. Occupied in 1938 by Hungary, it was liberated in 1945 and became the first seat of the postwar Czechoslovakian government. A part of independent Slovakia since 1993, it is the political, economic, and cultural centre of southeastern Slovakia.

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