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The origin of hockey in Canada

There are many versions of the origin of hockey in Canada. One of them is that the field hockey appeared in England first. When in 1763Canada became dependent on the United Kingdom the English brought hockey to Halifax, the inhabitants of which got interested in the new game. Since Canadian winters are very harsh and long, winter sports have always been welcomed in this area. Attaching cheese cutters to their boots, The English-and-French-speaking Canadians were playing this game on the frozen rivers, lakes and other water bodies.The first games were held not with hockey pucks, but with heavy balls.  The number of team players reached 50 or more from each side. There are paintings, which portray people playing hockey in Nova Scotia and Virginia.

   The first formal game took place in 1855 in Kingston (Ontario) with teams composed of the Royal Canadian Riflemen and the troops of the Imperial Army. The first official match took place on March 3, 1875 in Montreal at the rink "Victoria", the details of this game were recorded in the Montreal newspaper "Montreal Gazette". Each team consisted of nine people. They played with a wooden puck and the protective equipment borrowed from baseball. The hockey goals were put on the ice for the first time.

 In the 1870s ice hockey in Canada was an obligatory game for all sporting events. In 1877, several students at the Montreal University invented the first seven hockey rules. In 1879 the Canadian U.V.Robertson formulated the rules of hockey, and at the same time a rubber washer was proposed to play the game. Some time later the game became so popular that in 1883 it was presented at the annual Montreal Winter Carnival. In 1885, the Amateur Hockey Association was founded.

Members of the Montreal Hockey Club of 1885, posed with the Birks Trophy. From left to right: W. D. Aird, T. L. Paton, D. McIntyre, F. L. Barlow, W. C. Hodgson, F. L. Larmonth, R. F. Smith.

 

The first official rules of ice hockey were published in 1886; most of them are preserved to the present day. According to them, the number of players decreased from nine to seven including a goal keeper.The whole team played a match in the same composition, and by the end of the game the athletes literally crawled across the ice field extremely exhausted. The Canadian R. Smith became the author of the new code of rules. In 1886 the first international meeting between the Canadian and the English teams took place.                                                                   

 

                                                                                                                 

                                                                              ArtemTrachuk,

                                                                                         Form 8 “B”