Hat-trick

In sport, a hat-trick (or hat trick) means to achieve a positive feat in the sport three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes.[1] For instance in association football or ice hockey a player might score three goals, while in cricket a bowler might take three wickets in three consecutive deliveries.

The term was first used in cricket, to describe HH Stephenson's feat in 1858[2] and was used in print for the first time in 1878.[3]

The term rose to popularity in North American sport in the mid 1940s in NHL hockey. In Toronto, Canada, a local businessman named Sammy Taft offered a free hat to the player who could score three goals in a single game. When Alex Kaleta played against the Toronto Maple Leafs one night, Kaleta scored the first 'hat trick', winning a hat as promised by Taft. From then on, three goals in a hockey game became referred to as a hat trick. NHL hockey tradition sees fans throw their hats on the ice after the third goal by any player. The term has expanded from hockey to many other sports including association football, where three goals are a hat trick, baseball, where three strikeouts or three hits are a hat trick, and even rugby.