A hat-trick[7][8] occurs in association football when a player scores three goals (not necessarily consecutive) in a single game,[9] whereas scoring two goals (in a single match) is called a brace.[10][11] In common with other official record-keeping rules, all goals scored during the regulation 90 minutes, plus extra time if required, are counted but goals in a penalty shootout are excluded from the tally.[12] The fastest recorded time to score a hat-trick is 70 seconds, a record set by Alex Torr in a Sunday league game in 2013.[13] The previous record of 90 seconds was held by Tommy Ross playing for Ross County against Nairn County on 28 November 1964.[14] The record of the youngest player ever to score a hat-trick[15] was set by Ntinos Pontikas in 1996,[16][17] while Pelé in 1958 became the youngest to achieve a hat-trick in the FIFA World Cup.[18][19]
After just 18 months and 17 days, the book on the greatest hat-trick of the 21st century was already closed.
Traditionally, a player who scores a hat-trick is allowed to keep the match ball as a memento.[27]
Perfect hat-trick
Football has also extended the term, with a perfect hat-trick being when a player scores one right-footed goal, one left-footed goal and one headed goal within one match.[28][29][30] In Germany and Austria, the term (German: lupenreiner) Hattrick (flawless hat-trick) refers to when a player scores three goals in a row in one half without the half-time break or a goal scored by another player interrupting the performance.[31]
Baseball
In the past, the term was occasionally used to describe when a player struck out three times in a baseball game, and the term golden sombrero was more commonly used when a player struck out four times in a game.
In recent years, hat trick has been more often used to describe when a player hits three home runs in a game.
For example, on 29 August 2015, Toronto Blue Jays fans celebrated Edwin Encarnación's third home run of the game by throwing hats onto the field, similar to the tradition in ice hockey.[32]
The term hat-trick is only occasionally used in gridiron football, usually for rhetorical flourish in sports writing. Usually an offensive player scoring three touchdowns in a single game is awarded a hat-trick.
Additionally, the term is applied to a defensive player, often an edge rusher, who in a single scrimmage play performs a sack which causes the quarterback to fumble, and then recovers that fumble. [40]
Handball
In handball, if a player scores thrice in a game, a hat-trick is made.
In field hockey and ice hockey, a hat trick occurs when a player scores three goals in a single game. A hat trick in ice hockey, as it is known in its current form, culminates with fans throwing hats onto the ice from the stands. The tradition is said to have begun among fans in the National Hockey League around the 1950s,[41]
with several conflicting legends from the Canadian cities of Toronto, Montreal, and Guelph of various hatmakers offering a free hat to players who scored a hat trick.[42][43][44][45]
In 1946, the Biltmore Hat Company in Guelph sponsored the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters, a junior affiliate team of the NHL's New York Rangers. When a Mad Hatters player recorded a Hat Trick, hats were thrown on the ice and the player received a new Biltmore fedora after the game to honor his accomplishment.[44]
Wayne Gretzky holds the NHL record for the most hat tricks in a career with 50. Harry Hyland scored the league's first hat trick, in the league's first game on 18 December 1917, in which Hyland's Montreal Wanderers defeated the Toronto Arenas 10–9.[46]
Variations
In ice hockey, a natural hat trick occurs when a player scores three consecutive goals, uninterrupted by any other player scoring for either team.[47] The NHL record for the fastest natural hat trick is 21 seconds, set by Bill Mosienko in 1952 for the Chicago Blackhawks.[48]
A Gordie Howe hat trick is a tongue-in-cheek play on the feat. It is achieved by scoring a goal, getting an assist, and getting into a fight, all in the same game. Namesake Gordie Howe himself only recorded two in his NHL career. Rick Tocchet accomplished the feat 18 times in his career, the most in NHL history.[49]
In October 1995, Florida Panthers captain Scott Mellanby scored a rat trick, the term coined by teammate John Vanbiesbrouck. Prior to the game, Mellanby killed a rat in the Panthers' locker room with his hockey stick, and proceeded to score a pair of goals later that night.[50] When Mellanby scored a hat trick in a later game, some Florida fans threw plastic rats onto the ice, a tradition that continued for all Panthers' goals throughout the 1996 playoffs. Due to the resulting game delays caused by the necessary clean-up of the plastic rats, the league eventually banned the activity and modified Rule 63 to impose a minor penalty against the home team for a violation.[51] The more traditional practice of fans throwing hats onto the ice following genuine hat tricks remains exempt from this penalty.[51]
Lacrosse
In lacrosse, like other sports with goal scoring, hat tricks occur when a player scores three goals in one game. Fans rarely throw hats onto the playing surface to acknowledge them due to their frequent occurrences in a game. When a player scores six goals in one game, it is referred to as a sock trick[52].
Motor racing
In motor racing, three successive race wins, winning the same event three times in a row, or securing pole position, fastest lap and race victory in one event may all be referred to as a hat-trick.
In both codes of rugby football (rugby union and rugby league) a hat-trick is when a player scores three or more tries in a game. In rugby union, a related concept is that of a "full house" (scoring a try, conversion, penalty goal, and drop goal) in a single game. When a player scores two tries, this is often referred to as a brace. As with association football, it is common to award the match ball to a player who scores a hat-trick.
^Extended Oxford English Dictionary 1999 Edition : "It came into use after HH Stephenson took three wickets in three balls for the all-England eleven against the twenty-two of Hallam at the Hyde Park ground, Sheffield in 1858. A collection was held for Stephenson (as was customary for outstanding feats by professionals) and he was presented with a cap or hat bought with the proceeds."
^"hat-trick". Oxford Learner's Dictionaries. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
^A report of a match between Grays and Romford in Messner, Reinhold (23 June 1865). The Chelmsford Chronicle. Executive Excellence Pub. ISBN9781890009908. OCLC866859233. OCLC17645885, 702688846, 42349342. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2017. Mr Biddell...with his second ball bowled the Romford leviathan Mr Beauchamp and afterwards effected the hat-trick by getting three wickets in the over.
^Kicks from the penalty mark (aka penalty shootout) do not form part of the match. IFAB (July 2009). "Laws of the Game 2009/2010"(PDF). Zürich: FIFA. p. 130. Archived from the original(PDF) on 10 July 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
^National Lacrosse League. "Box Lacrosse 101". Retrieved 25 February 2024. WHAT IS A SOCK TRICK? … A sock trick is when a player scores six goals in a game. The legend goes that the Colorado Mammoth started the sock trick in 2004 when Gary Gait scored six goals in a game and the fans started throwing their socks on the turf.
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