Clarence John "Taffy" Abel was an American professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks between 1926 and 1934. Born in 1900 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, United States, as a Native American Ojibwe, he was forced to hide his Native American ancestry until 1939. He was a silver medalist in ice hockey at the 1924 Winter Olympics and the U.S. flagbearer for those games, being the earliest known Native American to be a US Olympic flagbearer. He was a member of two Stanley Cup championship teams. On November 16, 1926, he became the first United States–born Native American player to become an NHL regular with the New York Rangers. He is a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

The National Hockey League is a men’s professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 33 teams – 26 in the United States and 7 in 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 NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered to be the top ranked professional ice hockey league in the world, with players from 17 countries as of the 2023–24 season. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) also views the Stanley Cup as one of the "most important championships available to the sport". The NHL is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.