'Hat-trick'? A player scores 3 but what's a hat got to do, got to do with it?

Question

What's a hat but a covering for a head?
(Sing-a-long answers appreciated)

Answer 1

The term was originally used in cricket, and was connected with the custom of giving a hat or cap to a bowler who achieved the feat of taking three wickets in a row. It may be connected with the concept of giving someone their "cap", i.e. acknowledging them as a regular member of a representative team. Another school of thought mentions that a bowler was challenged if he could take three in three. Hats were passed around to collect the odds. The bowler succeeded and collected the large amount of cash. Thus the term hat-trick could have been also derived from this event.

In both field hockey and ice hockey a hat-trick is when a player scores three goals in a game. Although people may consider a hat trick as three goals scored in a row, this is commonly confused with a natural hat trick, which is when a player scores three goals CONSECUTIVELY in a single game.

The term was brought to ice hockey in the 1940s when Sammy Taft, a Toronto hatter, gave free hats to Maple Leafs players who scored three goals in a game. It is not certain whether he picked up this practice from cricket.

If a member of the home team in ice hockey scores a hat-trick, fans acknowledge it by throwing their own hats from the stands onto the ice, often causing a delay in play. In the mid-1990s, Florida Panthers fans celebrated goals (not just hat-tricks) by throwing plastic rats onto the ice, which were then cleaned up by men dressed in Orkin exterminator outfits. The history of this goes back to an incident in December of 1995, when Scott Mellanby scored what teammate John Vanbiesbrouck dubbed a "rat trick" after ridding the Panthers' locker room at Miami Arena of an unwanted rat with his stick on the same night he scored a pair of goals. When Mellanby scored a hat trick in a later game some fans threw plastic rats on the ice, mimicking the octopus thrown by Detroit Red Wings fans, and the practice soon became universal for Panthers home goals. The NHL later responded by banning the throwing of objects onto the ice by fans at the cost of a penalty for the home team, but specifically allowed the traditional throwing of hats to continue. This has been loosely enforced, however, as witnessed after the Nashville Predators' Paul Kariya scored a hat trick on April 18, 2006: two catfish were thrown on the ice and no penalty was given.

Answer 2

A hat-maker in Toronto used to give a free hat to any player for the Maple Leafs who scored three goals in a game. Then the fans themselves began to throw hats down to a player after he scored his third goal in a game, and the practice spread throughout the entire National Hockey League and the term "hat-trick" spread into all of hockey.

Answer 3

The term comes from the fact, that the spectators would throw there hats onto the ice surface, in recognition of the achievement of the player scoring his third goal of the game.

There is, currently, a beer commercial, that exemplifies this, in it's advertisement.

The hat or chapeau was designed, not to cover, but rather to insulate the spot with the most heat loss, the fashion statement came later....brim provides an umbrella for rain, shade from sun.

How many missed flies would there be,
with sun in your eye,
don't let sun get in your eye,
Oh what a benefit it is, to see..

the lyrics are here you put it to music...

Answer 4

Like a magician, he probably pulled that out of his hat.

Answer 5

because you pulled a trick, out of your hat (like a magician)

Answer 6

it's just called a hat-trick

Answer 7

or you could go with the " I take my hat off to you" angle..hmmmm..but ya, the magician thing sounds good .

Answer 8

You are PROBABLY spelling it wrong. It would be something like HETTRICK or HETRICK ... !
Pleasure to HELP
Salik