LEGO Hockey was a discontinued sub-theme of the LEGO Sports theme that was available from 2003 to 2004. It featured an official partnership with the National Hockey League (NHL) and the NHL Players' Association.
Theme Details
The theme included a mix of figure types, primarily larger, buildable action figures made with Technic and Bionicle pieces, designed to "slap shot" pucks when a button was pressed. Later sets in 2004 introduced traditional minifigures mounted on plates with poles, allowing for a tabletop foosball-style game.
Licensing: Sets featured the official NHL logo and included stickers for all 29 NHL teams at the time, allowing builders to customize their players and rinks to match their favorite team.
Gameplay: The focus was on playable sets that simulated a hockey game, rather than static display models.
Notable Discontinued Sets
NHL Championship Challenge (Set number: 3578): This large set was designed for a tabletop game and included eight minifigures, an arena setup, and poles to move the players and control the game. Slammer Stadium (Set number: 65182): Another arena-style set that featured the larger, buildable "slammer" figures for play.
NHL Street Hockey (Set number: 3579): This set was an exception to the larger figures, as it featured actual LEGO minifigures to play street hockey. Individual Player Packs: Smaller sets like Puck Passer (set 3540), Slap Shot (set 3541), and Slammer Goalie (set 3543) included individual action figures and goals to expand the game.
Modern Options
While the official LEGO Hockey theme is discontinued, the concept has appeared elsewhere:
A Hockey Player minifigure was available as a collectible minifigure in Series 4 (set 8804) released in 2011.
Fans still create custom builds, and some third-party compatible brick manufacturers offer hockey-themed sets.