Todays History Magazine nr.11 we continue with edition History of Sports nr.3

History of Ice Hockey

Ball-and-stick games are almost as old as civilization itself. Its earliest origins may be from Persia, Egypt or China, while archaeological evidence
shows an early ball-and-stick game played in Greece in the 400s BCE. As civilization spread, so did the games. And eventually, as the civilized world
went north, ball-and-stick moved onto the ice. Paintings in the Netherlands in the 1600s showed the Dutch playing a version of golf on the ice.



Winter landscape, with skaters playing Golf (Hendrick Avercamp, 17th-century Dutch painter)

Scotlands Edinburgh Skating Club, formed in 1642, is considered the oldest in the world, and records from Irelands Dublin Evening Post have a report of men playing hurling on ice. When the Europeans made their way across the Atlantic to North America, they discovered Native Americans had their own games, the forerunners of lacrosse, and some Native Americans in South Dakota essentially played lacrosse on ice. The modern idea of field hockey sprouted out of these traditions, and the modern sport of ice hockey was relegated primarily to small towns, and in no organized setting, until the late 1800s.



Ye Gude Olde Days from Hockey Canadas Royal Winter Game 1899

In 1872, a young man from Halifax, Nova Scotia named James Creighton moved to Montreal, bringing the sport of ice hockey (hereafter referred to just as hockey) with him - more particularly, bringing with him hockey sticks and skates. The skates, which were patented by a Nova Scotia company in 1866, featured rounded blades held onto boots by metal clamps (the first time that had ever been done and not too different from modern skates). After introducing the game to his friends, Creighton, in 1875, organized a group of players to practice the sport indoors at the Victoria Skating Rink. The sport had never taken hold indoors, forced outdoors by the societal belief that ice hockey only belonged on ponds, due in large part to the danger of a ball flying around inside. Creighton solved the problem by creating a flat, circular piece of wood, the first hockey puck. After practicing for about a month, Creighton staged a public exhibition of the sport on March 3, 1875.



The Ottawa Hockey Club Silver Seven ( the original Ottawa Senators) 1905 Stanley Cup champions

Amateur ice hockey leagues began in the 1880s, and professional ice hockey originated around 1900. The Stanley Cup, emblematic of ice hockey club supremacy, was first awarded in 1893 to recognize the Canadian amateur champion and later became the championship trophy of the NHL. In the early 1900s, the Canadian rules were adopted by the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace, the precursor of the IIHF and the sport was played for the first time in the Olympics in the Olympic Games of 1920.



St Nicholas Hockey Club Playing a Little Shinny - Early 1900s

In international competitions, the national teams of six countries (the Big Six) predominate: Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States. Of the 69 medals awarded all-time in mens competition at the Olympics, only six medals were not awarded to one of those countries. In the annual Ice Hockey World Championships, 177 of 201 medals have been awarded to the six nations. Teams outside the Big Six have won only five medals in either competition since 1953.



Olympic hockey tournament 1928 games in St. Moritz Switzerland

The World Cup of Hockey is organized by the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA), unlike the annual World Ice Hockey Championships and quadrennial Olympic tournament, both run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). World Cup games are played under NHL rules and not those of the IIHF, and the tournament occurs prior to the NHL pre-season, allowing for all the NHLs players to be available, unlike the World Championships, which overlaps with the NHLs Stanley Cup playoffs.



Hockey tournament in Croatian amphitheater in Pula