The Answer:

When it comes to diversity, the National Hockey League has bragging rights among North America's other three major sports organizations.

According to the league, as of 2001, over 19 countries were represented on NHL team rosters.

The league features its diversity at its annual All-Star Game. Since 1998, the league has organized a game featuring a team of World All-Stars battling All-Stars from North America. In 2001, eight countries were represented by players on the World team all-star ballot, including:

Russia	Pavel Bure
Czech Republic	Jaromir Jagr
Germany	Olaf Kolzig
Sweden	Peter Forsberg

In addition, the league said over 15% of the online traffic to NHL.com, the league's official site, was from outside North America.

If you are interested in following the statistics of some of these international players, check out the World Team: Eurostats section of NHL.com. Or, if you would like to learn more about the history of the NHL, go to our Hockey Through the Years section.

—The Editors