Why is it called a hat trick when a hockey player scores three goals in a game?
A hat trick originally meant three goals in a row, with no intervening goals by either team. Hockey borrowed the term from Cricket. In 1858, a cricket player in England took three wickets with consecutive balls, an incredible trick. As a reward, his club gave the bowler a new hat, hence the term “hat trick.” Also, a “natural hat trick” is the term now used for scoring three back-to-back goals without anyone else scoring a goal in between.
