Origin of “Ice-Hockey”
Ice Hockey as we know now was once known as; Ricket and Break-Shins. The sport started in mid 1800’s; although there is no written proof or claim, the legend asserts that the birth place of the game was Windsor, Nova Scotia.
Records found from 18th century suggest that the first “Hockey” game that took place in Halifax was between British soldiers who had been posted there. The story purports that the sport was actually named “Colonel Hockey” due to the fact the Colonel suggested his troops to play it so they would feel habituated.
In 1844 a writer from Canada named Thomas Chandler Haliburton mentioned in one of his articles about his years at King’s College School how he remembered boys "(playing) hurley on the Long Pond on the ice".
There was still no definite version of the game “hockey” for another 50 years as the game was being embraced by Canadians all over, going from coast to coast. The game was still being experimented with and there were many deviations in the game.
However 1875 was the first time an indoor hockey game was recorded. The game took place at Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal, Canada. A man named James Creighton from Nova Scotia; who was the captain of one of the teams, organized the game. The game was between two teams consisting of 9 players each. Sticks used for outdoor hockey were used, with a wooden puck. The teams followed the “Halifax Rules “which James Creighton wrote. The debut of “Ice-Hockey” proved to be successful and gained popularity across Canada. By 1877, the Montreal Gazette printed the first set of rules as historians exclaims.
In 1888 Canada formed their first “Amateur Hockey Association” AHA. There were total of 6 teams formed, one from Ottawa and Quebec City each and four from Montreal. The first international match took place between Canadian and American teams; Canadians won all the games.
By the late 18th century and early 19th century Amateur women’s hockey teams was created and the most prestigious cup known as the “Stanley Cup” came into existence; however back then it was known as “Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup”. The first teams to win the cup were from Montreal known as Winnipeg Victoria’s. The first artificial rink was built in Baltimore.
United States and Canada had formed five teams and joined league named “National Hockey Association” NHA, Montreal being the first team to join it. By 1911 another association was formed by Canada called “Pacific Coast Hockey Association”. PCHA had introduced many new rules to the game, from dividing rink into three zones with blue lines and goaltenders were allowed to stop the puck by falling onto the ice. The game was shortened with 20 minute breaks with the number of players reduced to 6 from 7 per team. In 1914 a Canadian teamed named Toronto Blueshirts won the first Stanley Cup from the NHA.
The dispute between NHA and the owner of Toronto Blueshirts led to a controversy; leading other teams such as Ottawa Senators and Montreal Wanderers to discuss NHA and its future. The discussion resulted in the suspension of NHA as all the team owners voted against it, therefore National Hockey League (NHL) came into existence on 26th of November 1917, and it was organized in Montreal, Canada.
NHL started with only 4 teams in the beginning and now has up to 30 franchises. The first official match was played in America between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Maroons. Bruins defeated the Maroons by 2-1. In 1926, 3 new teams joined the league, Detroit Cougars who are known as the Red wings, The New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks who currently hold the Stanley Cup. Soon other hockey leagues started selling players to NHL; which made NHL top of all international leagues around North America.
By the 40’s American teams started dominating Canadian teams, the series was broadcasted for the first time internationally; meanwhile Great Britain shockingly took the gold Medal in Olympics. New rules such as offside and icing were introduced by the NHL. In 1945 NHL seasons began for the first time, referees were used to point out fouls also for the first time.
National Hockey League “NHL” today is the biggest hockey association consisting of 30 top franchises of the world. They have held all the biggest and important hockey seasons since past 70 years. This year’s playoffs held by NHL was the most watched season in NHL’s history gaining around 3 millions views.
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