All right hockey catters, help me out here please. I was listening to a sports talk show today and one of the hosts said that the term
"hat trick" goes back to the 1940's when a Toronto hat maker would give a new hat to any Maple Leaf who scored three goals or more in one game. His partner disagreed and said the term predates the 1940's by several years; in fact, he said it is not a hockey term at all, but rather a soccer term whose origins he did not know.

What the hell are they talking about? In my life-time the term "hat trick" has only been used in hockey and "borrowed" by other sports, if used at all. I could probably look it up on line but it's much more fun to generate a discussion here, especially since the
RED WINGS play a late game tonight and there's plenty of time to kill. Cheers.