STICK sports are among the most challenging in the world. Playing games such as hockey, hurling, and lacrosse requires a certain mindset with plenty of courage, as the ball is hit to reach speeds of over 100 mph in some cases.

Collisions involve sticks as well as limbs, arriving at speed around knees and shins with scrapes and bruises inevitable.

When you add ice to the equation, you get one of the fastest and most demanding sports in the world: Ice hockey. Instead of a ball, ice hockey is played with a hard vulcanized rubber disc — the puck — which is fired around the rink at speeds that would be illegal if you reached them on the motorway.

It’s not something you want to be hit by, even when wearing protective padding, but players will willingly throw themselves in front of shots to help their team.

The rink itself is unforgiving, surrounded by boards into which players regularly get “checked” by the opposition, and a surface of ice that offers no cushion at all when landed on.

On top of this, fighting is part of the game. It’s entertainment for fans but also an in-game tactic to unsettle an opposing team at certain points during a match, protect a star player who may be coming in for rough treatment in general play, or simply raise team spirits. The two combatants will be punished with just five minutes in the penalty box in a game which lasts 60 minutes plus any overtime.

One of the highest-profile ice hockey competitions, North America’s National Hockey League (NHL) has reached its final showcase series of the season where two teams compete for the historic Stanley Cup.

In this year’s edition, defending champions Tampa Bay Lightning face the standout side from the Western Conference, Colorado Avalanche.

Their team names are apt for such a quick, sweeping sport during which players transition from a casual glide, surveying their options, to a speed skater bearing down on goal.

Defensive forechecking, similar to pressing in football, can be as overwhelming for the opposition as relentless attacking play, with quickness a valuable asset in defence as well as attack.

And there are few quicker across the ice than Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar. The Canadian combines the agility of a figure skater with the power, speed, and stickhandling of a great hockey player.

This all-round game has led him to be compared to some of the most illustrious defensemen in the history of the sport.

The emergence of the 23-year-old Makar has coincided with that of fellow Canadian, Connor McDavid, 25, who is regarded as having the potential to be one of the best centres the game has seen since the legendary Wayne Gretzky.

Gretzky himself spoke recently about Makar, comparing him to Bobby Orr — a player who changed the way defencemen played the game, becoming an attacking weapon from the blue line as well as someone who tries to stop opposition forwards.

“I would say the closest player we’ve ever seen that offensively and defensively can make an impact on the game that much, probably Bobby Orr, we’ve got to go all the way back to Bobby Orr,” Gretzky said when discussing Makar, whose Avalanche side had just seen off McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final earlier this month. 

During that series, which the Avs won 4-0, we saw two of the game’s potential greats grace the ice at the same time.

Last month McDavid secured his fourth Art Ross Trophy as the player finishing the regular season with the most points, and just last week Makar was awarded the Norris Trophy, confirming his status as the best defenceman throughout the 2021/22 season.

Makar could be the recipient of further awards once this best of seven playoff series against the Lightning comes to an end. He has seven goals and 20 assists in the playoffs so far, giving him 27 points (the hockey term for goals and assists combined) in total. Only Oilers forwards McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have more in this season’s playoffs.

In total, Makar has 57 points, including 14 goals, from 52 career Stanley Cup playoff games. This takes his playoff points per game average to 1.094, second only to Orr’s 1.243 among defencemen in the history of the game.

Players such as Makar and McDavid already have the ability to match the game’s legendary players, and it’s an exciting time for hockey to have two skaters who can be compared to Gretzky and Orr without the need for hyperbole.

Their ability speaks for itself every time they step on the ice to showcase their talents and help their team. 

What they now need to do to reach the heights of greats such as Gretzky and Orr is play important parts in significant moments and achievements.

And they don’t come any bigger than the Stanley Cup finals. By the time you read this Makar could be a Stanley Cup champion, well on the way to cementing a legacy in the game to match his ability, especially as the Avalanche have not won a Stanley Cup since 2001.

His side took a 3-1 series lead into game five against the Lightning which was played in the early hours of Saturday morning, UK time, needing just one more win the lift the Stanley Cup. By the time you read this Makar could already have written his name in the history books.

But if Tampa Bay Lightning managed to take the series to a sixth and potential a seventh game, it means there’s an opportunity to catch Makar in action in the final game(s) of this career-defining series, and witness one of the best emerging players in one of the world’s fastest, most challenging, and most entertaining sports.