Hat-trick

A hat-trick occurs in association football when a player scores three goals (not necessarily consecutive) in a single game, whereas scoring two goals constitutes a brace.[5][6] In common with other official record-keeping rules, penalty-kick goals are counted but goals in a penalty shootout are excluded from the tally.[7] The extra time in a knockout cup match may also be calculated towards a player's potential hat-trick. 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.[8] The previous record of 90 seconds was held by Tommy Ross playing for Ross County against Nairn County on 28 November 1964.[9]

The first hat-trick achieved in an international game was by Scottish player John McDougall, against England on 2 March 1878.[11] American player Bert Patenaude scored the first hat-trick in the FIFA World Cup, against Paraguay in the inaugural event in 1930. Two hat-tricks have been scored in a World Cup final, by Geoff Hurst for England in the 1966 final during extra time against West Germany,[12] and Carli Lloyd for the USA against Japan in the 2015 Women's World Cup final. Lloyd's was the fastest hat-trick scored in a World Cup final at 13 minutes from first to last goal, and at 16 minutes the fastest from kickoff in any World Cup match for either sex. However, the fastest World Cup hat-trick for either men or women, as measured by time between goals, belongs to Fabienne Humm of Switzerland, who scored in the 47th, 49th and 52nd minutes against Ecuador in the 2015 group stage.

Traditionally, a player who scores a hat-trick is allowed to keep the match ball as a memento.[13]

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.[14][15][16] In Germany and Austria, the term (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. In the Netherlands, this is known as a "zuivere hattrick" ("pure hat-trick").

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 by Canadians 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.[17] The phenomenon continued during the 2016 season, and on 17 June 2016, a number of Blue Jays fans at Oriole Park at Camden Yards threw hats on to the field after Toronto Blue Jays player Michael Saunders hit his third home run of the night, and again on 28 August at Rogers Centre, when Blue Jays player Josh Donaldson hitting his third home run of the game in the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins.

A hat-trick occurs in cricket when a bowler takes three wickets with consecutive deliveries.

A hat-trick was also achieved by explorers Fiann Paul[18] and Reinhold Messner. Messner's hat trick was for climbing three 8000-meter mountains in a single season.[19]

In Gaelic football, a hat-trick can refer to goals or to points scored.

Eoin Liston scored a second-half hat-trick in the 1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.[20]

Michael Quinlivan scored a second-half hat-trick against Armagh in the final game of the 2017 National Football League to secure promotion to Division 2 for Tipperary.[21][22]

Jack McCaffrey's total of 1–3 in the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final (drawn game) involved a "classic hat-trick" of points, sent over the bar with fist and both feet.[23]

Cillian O'Connor's four goals (accompanied by nine points) in the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final at Croke Park broke the 5–3 record set by Johnny Joyce of Dublin in 1960 and matched with 3–9 by Rory Gallagher of Fermanagh in 2002 for the highest individual scorer in any championship football match.[24][25]

In handball, if a player scores three times in a game, a hat-trick is made.

Hats on the Verizon Center ice after Alex Ovechkin's hat trick, 7 February 2010

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.[26] There are several conflicting legends of how the "hat trick" was popularised in professional hockey. Most stories involve hats being awarded to any of the local players who scored three goals in a game. According to the NHL, in the 1940s, a Toronto haberdasher used to give free hats to players with the Toronto Maple Leafs when they scored three goals in a game.[27]

Montreal hatter Henri Henri makes a similar claim, that between 1950 and 1970 they would reward any NHL player who scored three or more goals in a game at the Montreal Forum with a free hat.[28]

Finally, in the 1950s, the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters of the Ontario Hockey Association, who were then a farm team of the NHL's New York Rangers, were sponsored by Guelph-based Biltmore Hats, a leading manufacturer of hats with North American dominance. The sponsor would award any Madhatters player who scored three goals in a game with a new fedora.[29]

In a slightly different account, the expression originates not with any member of a team, but with a particular player. According to legend, Chicago Blackhawks forward Alex Kaleta entered the shop of Toronto businessman Sammy Taft to purchase a new hat, but did not have enough money. Taft arranged a deal with Kaleta stipulating that if Kaleta scored three goals as he played the Toronto Maple Leafs that night, Taft would give him a free hat. That night, on 26 January 1946, Kaleta scored four goals against the Maple Leafs and Taft made good on his offer.[30] This is the story accepted as the origin of the phrase in hockey by the Hockey Hall of Fame.[31]

While charming fables, all these explanations of the introduction of the term "hat trick" in hockey are too late to be true. On 8 December 1933, the Winnipeg Free Press describes a hockey game in which "Romeo Rivers, rugged wingman" for the Monarchs scored three goals in the same game, describing how "Romeo completed his ‘hat trick’" when he scored his third goal of the night after taking a pass from a teammate who had drawn the goalie out of position.

The 16 January 1939 Lethbridge Herald (p.10) describes a hockey game in which the Lethbridge Maple Leafs defeated the Calgary Stampeders and Jimmie McIndoe of the Leafs "turned the hat trick, when he converted three straight consecutive passes" from a teammate.

By 1944, the term "hat trick" was so well established in hockey that the Winnipeg Free Press (29 November 1944, p. 14) reports that "hockey's traditional ‘hat-trick’ – the feat of scoring three goals in a single game – will receive official recognition from the Amateur Hockey Association" of the US by awarding a small silver derby hat to players to mark the accomplishment. Thus, by 1944 the term "hat trick" was common enough to be termed "traditional." Given how frequently the words "hat trick" were used in sports reporting on cricket and association football in the early 20th century, the term was probably routinely used in hockey by the early 1930s.

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.[32]

In hockey a natural hat trick occurs when a player scores three consecutive goals, uninterrupted by any other player scoring for either team.[33] The NHL record for the fastest natural hat trick is 21 seconds, set by Bill Mosienko in 1952 for the Chicago Blackhawks.[34]

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.[35]

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.[36] When Mellanby scored a hat trick in a later game, some Florida fans threw plastic rats on 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.[37] The more traditional practice of fans throwing hats on the ice following genuine hat tricks remains exempt from this penalty.

A hat-trick in lacrosse is when a player scores three goals in one game.

In marbles, a hat-trick occurs when a player hits all marbles in a single turn.

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.

Eliminating three players from a table with one hand in live poker play is sometimes referred to as a hat-trick and is incredibly rare. It is a much more frequent occurrence in online poker games, given the faster and greater number of hands played in online tournaments and the continuing presence of multiple "all-in" players during the early stages of tournament play as players look to build large chip stacks quickly and early.

Checking and raising an opponent three times,[38] as well as winning the European Poker Tour (EPT), World Series of Poker (WSOP), and World Poker Tour (WPT) in the same year,[39] are also called hat tricks in poker.

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 scored 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.

Ken Irvine and Frank Burge both scored 16 hat-tricks in Australian first grade rugby league.[40]

Shaun Johnson scored a hat-trick in under 6 minutes against the Canberra Raiders in 2013, and in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, Valentine Holmes scored a double hat-trick (6 tries) against Fiji.

In Scrabble, a hat-trick occurs when a player plays three consecutive bingos.

In water polo, if a player scores thrice in a game, a hat-trick is made.