Who runs hockey.

The IIHF

The International Ice Hockey Federation is the world body. Its history page says it was founded on 15 May 1908 at 34 rue de Provence in Paris, as the Ligue International de Hockey sur Glace (LIHG). Representatives of Belgium, France, Great Britain and Switzerland signed the founding document, Bohemia joined later in 1908 as the fifth member, and the first president was Louis Magnus of France. The second congress met in Chamonix, France, in 1909. Wikipedia (secondary) gives its headquarters as Zurich, Switzerland.

The IIHF's associations page says it has 84 member national associations. Only Full Members, which have an independent national ice hockey association and take part in IIHF championships each year, vote at IIHF Congresses. Associate Members either lack a fully independent association or take part only to a limited extent. The two sources disagree on the split:

The IIHF Official Rule Book 2026/27 governs IIHF championships, and the IIHF appoints the officials for games under its jurisdiction (Rule 30.1). National federations publish their own playing rules for their own games.

The NHL

The National Hockey League is a professional league with its own rulebook. NHL.com (7 November 2017) says the league officially came into being on 26 November 1917 at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal. The Canadian Encyclopedia, as summarised in a search result, places the owners' founding meeting on 22 November 1917, with 26 November as the date the league came into existence; the two dates refer to different events. Wikipedia (secondary) says the NHL was organised after its predecessor, the National Hockey Association, was suspended, and that it now has 32 teams, 25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. Its current rulebook is the NHL Official Rules 2026-2027, and its 2026-27 season is in progress as of October 2026. The league's history is covered in the founding of the NHL.

Hockey Canada

The Canadian Encyclopedia says the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) was formed at a meeting in Ottawa on 4 December 1914. In 1969 the CAHA handed its national team programme to a body called Hockey Canada, and the present Hockey Canada was formed in 1994 when the two combined. It describes Hockey Canada as the official governing body of hockey in Canada, representing Canada in the IIHF, based in Calgary and administering 13 regional member bodies.

The dates are not settled. Wikipedia (secondary) gives 1968 for the original Hockey Canada and says the current name has been used since 1998, after a period as the Canadian Hockey Association. The Canadian Encyclopedia gives 1969 for the national-team handover and does not mention a 1998 renaming.

Hockey Canada's Playing Rules 2026-2028 are up to date as of June 2026 and took effect at the start of the 2026-27 season. The book's front matter says it was first published in 1993 and that this is the 16th edition. Its Members, the regional bodies, can set their own rules in some areas, such as game length (Rule 6.17), overtime (Rule 6.16) and the number of officials (Rule 5.1(a)).

USA Hockey

USA Hockey's About page says it was founded on 29 October 1937 in Tom Lockhart's New York City apartment as the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS), and took its present name in June 1991. It is the National Governing Body for ice hockey in the United States and the official representative to the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the IIHF. It is based in Colorado Springs and organised into 12 districts with 34 affiliates.

USA Hockey said on 16 September 2025 that its current Playing Rules cover 2025-29 and took effect on 1 August 2025. US high school hockey is played under NFHS rules and college hockey under NCAA rules; both published rule changes or proposals for 2026-27 on 21 May 2026.

Para ice hockey

The International Paralympic Committee's rules page names World Para Ice Hockey as the sport's International Federation. Another IPC page describes the IPC itself as governing the sport, with a World Para Ice Hockey Technical Committee coordinating it. See para hockey.

How many people play

USA Hockey's About page, undated, counts more than one million players, coaches, officials, parents and volunteers across all 50 states. A 2025-26 USA Hockey player total has appeared only on a blog, without a USA Hockey release, so it is not given here.

No current office-holders are named on this page: none of the sources we read gives a dated 2025 or 2026 list of presidents or chief executives for these bodies. Check each body's own website for its current leadership.