LAS VEGAS — In the leadup to one of the most exciting games of the 2025-26 NHL season, a pressure-packed showdown in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night that included a four-goal comeback and ended in double overtime, both hockey teams found space in the bowels of T-Mobile Arena for a different sport.Near a door leading to a loading dock, a group of players on the host Vegas Golden Knights — including forward Mitch Marner, who went on to score a regulation hat trick in a 5-4 win — stood in a circle and kicked around a soccer ball. The bouncing sound of their passes carried around the curtained-off area, followed by shouts whenever the ball hit the ground. Elsewhere at event level, about an hour and a half before puck drop, members of the Carolina Hurricanes were doing the same thing, some for the second time that day; they’d also broken out a soccer ball at their hotel before a team stretch that morning.As kickoff to the 2026 World Cup approaches this week in North America, soccer fever is spreading across the globe. For many NHL players, the sport is on their minds throughout the entire season. Whether it’s before an exhibition game or one of the biggest of their lives, their version of soccer, often referred to as sewer ball or two-touch, is a staple of warmup routines around the league.“As high-pressure as the NHL is, as highly different of a game (as) soccer to hockey is, you kind of get your mind a little off (that day’s) game,” New Jersey Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon said. “You get the juices flowing, get a good sweat going.”Different teams run slightly different variations of the mini-game, but it usually looks like this: Before on-ice warmups, players in workout clothes gather in a circle and volley the ball with their sneakered feet, trying to keep it in play as long as possible. When the ball hits the ground, the player at fault is eliminated. As one of its names suggests, a maximum of two consecutive touches are allowed by any one player; a third touch also means elimination.