The National Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 31 teams: 24 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada; the Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. The National Hockey League was organized on November 26, 1917, at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the National Hockey Association, founded in 1909 in Renfrew, Ontario; the NHL took the NHA's place as one of the leagues that contested for the Stanley Cup in an annual interleague competition before a series of league mergers and foldings left the NHL as the only league left competing for the Stanley Cup in 1926. At its inception, the NHL had four teams—all in Canada, thus the adjective "National" in the league's name.

The league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, has since consisted of American and Canadian teams. From 1942 to 1967, the league had only six teams, collectively nicknamed the "Original Six"; the NHL added six new teams to double its size at the 1967 NHL expansion. The league increased to 18 teams by 1974 and 21 teams in 1979. Between 1991 and 2000, the NHL further expanded to 30 teams, it added its 31st team in 2017 and has approved the addition of a 32nd team in 2021. The league's headquarters have been in New York City since 1989 when the head office moved there from Montreal. After a labour-management dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, the league resumed play in 2005–06 under a new collective agreement that included a salary cap. In 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships and television audiences; the International Ice Hockey Federation considers the Stanley Cup to be one of the "most important championships available to the sport".

The NHL draws many skilled players from all over the world and has players from 20 countries. Canadians have constituted the majority of the players in the league, with an increasing percentage of American and European players in recent seasons; the current NHL champions are the St. Louis Blues, who defeated the Boston Bruins four games to three in the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals; the National Hockey League was established in 1917 as the successor to the National Hockey Association. Founded in 1909, the NHA began play one year with seven teams in Ontario and Quebec, was one of the first major leagues in professional ice hockey, but by the NHA's eighth season, a series of disputes with Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone led team owners of the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs to hold a meeting to discuss the league's future. Realizing the NHA constitution left them unable to force Livingstone out, the four teams voted instead to suspend the NHA, on November 26, 1917, formed the National Hockey League.

Frank Calder was chosen as its first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play, the remaining owners created a new team in Toronto, the Arenas, to compete with the Canadiens and Senators; the first games were played on December 19, 1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, the NHL continued on as a three-team league until the Bulldogs returned in 1919; the NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, an interleague competition back then. Toronto won the first NHL title, defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association for the 1918 Stanley Cup; the Canadiens won the league title in 1919. Montreal in 1924 won their first Stanley Cup as a member of the NHL; the Hamilton Tigers, won the regular season title in 1924–25 but refused to play in the championship series unless they were given a C$200 bonus. The league refused and declared the Canadiens the league champion after they defeated the Toronto St. Patricks in the semi-final.

Montreal was defeated by the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League for the 1925 Stanley Cup. It was the last time a non-NHL team won the trophy, as the Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship in 1926 after the WCHL ceased operation; the National Hockey League embarked on rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons and Boston Bruins in 1924. The Bruins were the first American team in the league; the New York Americans began play in 1925 after purchasing the assets of the Hamilton Tigers, were joined by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The New York Rangers were added in 1926; the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars were added after the league purchased the assets of the defunct WCHL. A group purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 and renamed them the Maple Leafs; the first NHL All-Star Game was held in 1934 to benefit Ace Bailey, whose career ended on a vicious hit by Eddie Shore. The second was held in 1937 in support of Howie Morenz's family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game.

The Great Depression and the onset of World War II took a toll on the league. The Pirates became the Philadelphia Quakers in 1930 folded one year later; the Senators became the St. Louis Eagles in 1934 lasting only one year. T

Massetognathus is an extinct genus of extinct plant-eating cynodonts belonging to the Traversodontid family existing during the Middle Triassic period, 235 million years ago, in the Chañares Formation in Argentina and the Santa Maria Formation in Brazil. Massetognathus species measured to about 46 centimeters in length with an estimated weight between 1 and 1.5 kilograms. Massetognathus was the smaller, plant-eating equivalent of the better-known Cynognathus with incisors, fang-like canines and flat-topped molars covered by low ridges, an adaptation for grinding tough plant stems and other plant materials, it had a low and flattened skull indicating that the specimen had a shorter and broader snout than larger specimens. It was a fox sized animal with claws on a long dog-like tail. Like most cynodonts, there is some evidence that they laid eggs, were warm blooded, as indicated by the detailed structure of the bones, had a body covered by hair. Massetognathus was a medium-sized cynodont, it had the largest size of any cynodont in the Chañares assemblage with an approximate skull length ranging from the smallest being 72 millimetres to the largest 204 millimetres.

The Middle Triassic Probainognathus and Massetognathus are the earliest non-mammalian cynodonts in the fossil record that show the initial steps of several phylogenetic transformations of the quadrate and can be characterized by several features: The rotation of the dorsal plate relative to the trochlea exhibits a progressively greater rotation more related to mammals, squamosal contact and medial expansion of the squamosal were crucial factors in the transforming the quadrate and the articulation of the cranium. The maxillae extend far out dorsally to a point about opposite the lower margins of the orbits curving downward and inward, present a broad ventral surface lateral to the tooth rows; the skull is low and the orbits face more dorsally than laterally with the nasals and frontals laying flat on top of the skull. In contrast to other cynodonts, the squamosal descends ventrally. There are four upper and three lower triangular incisors of modest size with canines that are less developed.

There are two rows of cheek teeth that are diverge posteriorly. A short diastema canines. There is no significant contrast between the molars. There are 12 maxillary teeth, it has been established that Massetognathus with multi-cuspate post canines adapted to herbivory, moved the lower jaw posteriorly and dorsally during the power stroke of the occlusion. Massetognathus is the only cynodont from the Chañares Formation with clear adaptations for herbivory, with basined, labiolingually expanded upper and lower post-canines, ensuring a rudimentary dental occlusion, feeding on ground level vegetation or on the lower branches of taller plants and shrubs. Medium-sized faunivores fed preferably on juvenile Massetognathus and dicynodonts. Additionally, the larger Chanaresuchus and Pseudolagosuchus preyed on individual Massetognathus that were not grown. Luperosuchus and the unnamed paracrocodylomorph represent the top predators in the Chañares Formation, they preyed on all the other members in the fauna, including grown dicynodonts and Massetognathus.

Considering the abundance of the herbivorous cynodont Massetognathus, it is clear that this taxon represents the main food resource in the Chañares assemblage. Only a few forms were capable of preying on grown Massetognathus. At least 4 different species of Massetognathus has been discovered so far; the type species, M. pascuali, is the best-known species of the genus and is arguably considered to be the only valid species for Chañares gomphodonts while the others are considered junior synonyms. Named by Alfred Romer, the specific name is in honor of Dr. Rosendo Pascual, Professor of Paleontology in the Universidad de la Plata, who accompanied his expedition during his stay in Western Argentina. M. Teruggi is known to be the most common species of Chañares reptiles. Named after the scientist and writer Dr. Mario Teruggi by Romer. M. teruggi skulls on average are 45 percent larger than the skulls of M. pascuali and had a more defined sagittal crest. The dentary had 15 maxillaries compared to the 12 M. pascuali had.

M. Ochagaviae is known to be the most common species from the Santa Maria Formation, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Named after Mário Costa Barberena, it had a higher skull and mandible dorsally pointed dentary ventral border under the coronoid process, less post canines compared to the other three species. M. Major is known for having the largest skull out of the 4 species, it had a distinctively narrow snout with the teeth being less curved compared to its sister taxa. There is a complete loss of the parietal foramen. Megagomphodon oligodens may have been derived from this species. In 1967, American paleontologist Alfred Romer named three new species under the genus: Massetognathus pascuali, M. teruggi, M. major during his expedition in western Argentina. In 1981, Brazilian paleontologist Mário Costa Barberena named the fourth species, Massetognathus ochagaviae on the basis of a specimen from the Santa Maria Formation in Brazil. After the discovery of M. pascuali and M. teruggi, Romer first believed that these skulls were representing growth stages due to the larger size of M. ter

Rógvi Poulsen is a Faroese footballer who plays for AB Argir. He has played four matches for the Faroe Islands national football team, he started his playing career at AB Argir and made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old on 18 March 2006 in the cup match against FS Vágar, which AB won 2-1. During the whole season, Poulsen made 20 appearances and scored 4 goals, the first in the 2-3 loss against FS Vágar on 14 May 2006. AB Argir finished second in 1. Deild and were promoted to the Formuladeildin. In the 2007 season he scored 2 goals in total. AB finished ninth and were relegated back into 1.deild. In October 2012 he signed for AB Argir, he will come back to play with AB Argir after playing five years for HB Tórshavn, he signed for HB Tórshavn in 2008 and became a first-team regular. He made his debut on 23 March in the 3-2 defeat to ÍF Fuglafjørður in the Faroe Islands Cup; the 2009 season, he helped HB win the Faroe Islands Super Cup and the league title, playing in 32 matches and scored 10 goals.

In the 2010 season he won the Super Cup and league with HB again. In late 2010 he spent time on trial at English club Crewe Alexandra and featured in a 1-0 reserve-team defeat at Liverpool, he had a second trial at Crewe, who were examining the possibility of signing Poulsen on a short-term contract after impressing during a second trial. But complications with international clearance and other red tape prevented the move. Poulsen returned to HB in April 2011, he has represented his country at Under-17, U-19, U-21 level, as well as capped at full international level for the Faroe Islands. He scored for the under-21 team in September 2009, in a European Under-21 Championship Qualifying match against Latvia with strike from long-range, he debuted for the senior team on 4 June 2010, in a friendly match against Luxembourg