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On two January evenings this year, the New York Rangers took part in the NHL 2014 Stadium Series with their own two-game series of outdoor hockey games held at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. At the matchup Sunday January 26th, the Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 7-3. The Rangers were triumphant again in the second of their two stadium games that Wednesday, beating the New York Islanders 2-1.

These two Rangers games were just two of a total of six outdoor NHL games planned for this year’s Stadium Series, which kicked off with this year’s Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The annual New Year’s Day outdoor matchup took place at Michigan Stadium this year, with Toronto winning 3-2 in a shootout.

The 2014 Winter Olympics are fast approaching! Opening day is February 7th, and athletes and sports fans alike are counting down the days to the Sochi games. For hockey fans, the winter games bring fond memories of the the US victory over the Soviet Union during the 1980 games. A true underdog story: the game that will be forever known as the Miracle on Ice led the US national hockey team to win legendary Olympic gold that year.

The Soviet Union national hockey team had a reputation. They were the biggest and the best team of players in the world, winning nearly every Olympic gold and world championship since 1954. Everyone expected the same at the 1980 games.

The ragtag assemblage of amateur and collegiate players that comprised the United States national team supplemented their lack of experience with an abundance of spirit. But still, by the time they reached Lake Placid in 1980, it had been 20 years since team USA had last won hockey gold.

The great Bobby Hull's reputation precedes him when it comes to his legendary hockey slapshot.The NHL superstar, widely known as the "Golden Jet," raised the bar for the future of hockey during his career half a century ago. In his time on the ice, before face masks and curved sticks, his rifle of a shot was a rare and dangerous weapon. Today, a killer slapshot is a the kingpin of every hockey player's artillery.

In 2012, Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins fired a puck at 108.8 mph, the NHL's fastest recorded slapshot. The world record for the hardest shot in the game is currently held by the KHL's Alexander Ryazantsev, clocked at 113.2 mph. Legend has it that Hull's were even faster than that, his hardest estimated to have been a 119.5 mph rocket. These guys are tough acts to follow, but the newest batch of future hockey stars are training hard to compete with these epic puck speeds.