History

The history of ice hockey is one of the most contested in all of sports. The city of Montreal in Canada had been traditionally credited with being the birthplace of hockey, but early paintings contest this claim; a 16th-century Dutch painting shows a number of townsfolk playing a hockey-like game on a frozen canal. Kingston, Ontario and Windsor, Nova Scotia also lay claim to its origins for similar reasons. The origin of the word hockey is officially unknown, but may derive from the Old French word hoquet, shepherd's crook.

When Great Britain conquered Canada from France in 1763, soldiers used their knowledge of field hockey and the physically aggressive aspects of what the Mi'kmaq Aboriginal First Nation in Nova Scotia called dehuntshigwa'es (lacrosse). As Canadian winters are long and harsh, new winter sports were always welcomed. Using cheese cutters strapped to their boots, both English- and French-speaking Canadians played the game on frozen rivers, lakes, and ponds. Early paintings show hockey being played in Nova Scotia, as well as in the state of Virginia in the United States.

On March 3, 1875, the first ever organised indoor game was played in Montreal, as recorded in the Montreal Gazette. In 1877, in order to make some sense of the game, McGill students, James Creighton, Henry Joseph, Richard F. Smith, W. F. Robertson, W. L. Murray, Frank Patrick, and Lester Patrick invented seven ice hockey rules. Having an organised system in place, the game became so popular that it was featured for the first time in Montreal's annual Winter Carnival in 1883.

In 1888, the governor general of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston (whose sons were hockey enthusiasts), attended the Carnival and was so impressed with the hockey spectacle that he thought there should be a championship trophy for the best team. The Stanley Cup was first awarded then to the champion amateur team in Canada, and continues to be awarded today to the National Hockey League's championship team. As an interesting historical footnote, one of Lord Stanley's sons was instrumental in introducing ice hockey to the United Kingdom and from there, to Europe at large.

By 1893, Winnipeg hockey players incorporated cricket pads to better protect the goaltender's legs. They also introduced the "scoop" shot, later known as the wrist shot.

The National Hockey League was formed in November of 1917, when members of the former National Hockey Association were engaged in a dispute with one of their fellow owners over insurance proceeds. The NHA disbanded, and the new league began play in December of that year.

On February 16, 2005, the NHL became the first major professional team sport in North America to cancel an entire season because of a labour dispute. Play resumed again in October 2005.