# Origin Of Hat Trick?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-hat-trick/98583>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 16, 2002, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-hat-trick/98583 "2002-03-16T05:23:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-hat-trick/98583/1 "2002-03-16T05:23:51Z")

</div>

Why are 3 goals called a hat trick? Who coined the term and why?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-hat-trick/98583/2 "2002-03-16T05:50:30Z")

</div>

I say old chap it seems to have started with [**cricket**](http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/6/messages/1038.html), but I also found a hockey cite claiming a haberdasher in Canada started it. I actually tried to see if Cecil had covered it, but most likely I wasn’t doing the search correctly.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![struct](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@struct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/struct)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-hat-trick/98583/3 "2002-03-16T12:07:57Z")

</div>

The term came about as a result of a frequent interchange between Quebec Nordiques defenseman Bill Winkle Mousse and his goalie, a French Canadian by the name of Roquette Jay Skuwirl, whose nickname was “Roquee”. Back in Mousse and Skuwirl’s time, the Nordiques tended to play a very weak first and second period. In the third period, Bill Winkle would frequently take it upon himself to single-handedly lead his team back from large deficits. Whenever the Nordiques would fall behind by three goals, he would skate up to his goal and call out to his goalie: “Hey Roquee, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!” Skuwirl would invariably reply: “Again? But that trick never works!” Bill Winkle would then three times streak up the ice, get into scoring position, draw his stick back for his trademark wicked slap shot and declare, “Nothin’ up my sleeve.” Slamming the puck into the goal, he would cry out triumphantly: “Presto!” This happened so frequently that any scoring of three goals by a single player in a game came to be known as “that trick” which was later shortened to “hat trick”.🆒

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-hat-trick/98583/4 "2002-03-16T21:14:09Z")

</div>

> **[Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com?date=19990126)**
>
> Committed to publishing great books, connecting readers and authors globally, and spreading the love of reading.

indicates that it is, indeed, from cricket, and goes back to at least the 1870’s.  
[channeling Prof. Peabody] Well, Sherman, if we had only been able to make it to the “Way-back Machine” in time we could have answered this first. I’m definitely “Mad as a Hatter” that we didn’t[/Prof. Peabody]😃