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The development of the modern game centred on Montreal. On March 3, 1875 the first organized indoor game was played there, as recorded in the Montreal Gazette. In 1877, McGill University students, James Creighton, Henry Joseph, Richard F. Smith, W.F. Robertson, and W.L. Murray codified seven ice hockey rules, and the first ice hockey club, McGill University Hockey Club, was founded in 1880. The game became so popular that it was featured for the first time in Montreal's annual Winter Carnival in 1883. In 1885, A.P. Low introduced the game to Ottawa. During the same year, a second club was formed at Oxford University and traditionally the first Varsity Match against Cambridge was thought to have been played in St. Moritz, Switzerland and won by the Dark Blues 6-0, though the first photographs and team lists date from 1895[1]. This continues to be the oldest hockey rivalry in history. In 1888, the new Governor General of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston (whose sons and daughter became 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 in 1893 to the champion amateur team in Canada, Montreal AAA, and continues to be awarded today to the National Hockey League's championship team. By this time there were almost a hundred teams in Montreal alone, and leagues throughout Canada. Also 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. 1893 was also the date of the first ice hockey matches in the U.S. at Yale University and Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. Amateur Hockey League was founded in New York City in 1896, and the first professional team, the Portage Lakers was formed in 1903 in Houghton, Michigan (though there had been individual professionals in Canada before this). The five sons of Lord Stanley were instrumental in bringing ice hockey to Europe, beating a court team (which included both the future Edward VII and George V) at Buckingham Palace in 1895. By 1903 a five-team league had been founded . The Internationale de Hockey sur Glace (now the International Ice Hockey Federation) was founded in 1908 and the first European championships were won by Great Britain in 1910. The Professional Era In North America, two openly professional leagues emerged: the National Hockey Association in 1910 and the Pacific Coast League shortly after. In 1914 these two leagues competed for the Stanley Cup before World War I forced a suspension in league activities. 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 with four Canadian teams. The Pacific Coast League folded and in 1926 the NHL, now with ten teams, took control of the Stanley Cup and formed a Canadian and an American division. With the growth of professionalism in Canada, a new challenge cup, the Allan Cup, was instituted for amateur players to replace the Stanley Cup. This led to the foundation of an amateur governing body, the Canadian Hockey Association, which entered the winning Canadian team for the first Olympic title in Antwerp in 1920. Between the wars, British ice hockey grew rapidly with new ice rinks and an influx of Canadian players. A European competition was instituted, and in the 1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch, Germany, Great Britain won the gold medal, imposing the first ever Olympic defeat on the Canadians. However, because of the disruption of World War II and a lack of suitable venues afterwards the sport faded rapidly. This contrasted with rapid growth elsewhere. The NHL doubled to 12 teams in 1967, and now (2006) has 30 teams and has reorganised itself several times. On 16 February, 2005, the NHL became the first major professional team sport in North America to cancel an entire season because of a labor dispute. Play resumed again in the fall of 2005. During the dispute, a Canadian senior's league asked to play for the cup, but weren't allowed, in violation of the terms of the Stanley Cup's handover to the NHL. Subsequent to the 2004-05 strike the NHL and the Stanley Cup wardens reached an agreement whereby if a future NHL season is cancelled, other teams may be allowed to challenge for the Stanley Cup. The official museum for the NHL is the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada. |
