Hockey has been played for longer than any of us have been alive, but we can't tell you exactly when it was invented, or by whom, because no one really knows for sure.We do have some idea of how it got started, however, and we can describe the ways the game has grown and changed over the years. Once a relativley obscure recreation for people who lived in the north country, hockey is now played all over the world and has become one of the most popular winter sports. Frankly, we don't know what we'd do without it, and millions of other people feel the same way.
THE ORIGINS OF THE GAME
Most historians place the roots of hockey in the chilly climes of northern Europe, specifically Great Britain and France, where field hockey was a popular summer sport more than 500 years ago. When the ponds and lakes froze in winter, it was not unusual for the athletes who fancied that sport to play a version of it on ice.
HOCKEY COMES TO NORTH AMERICA
Not surprising, the earliest North American games were played in Canada. British soldirs stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, were reported to have organized contests on frozen ponds in and around that city in the 1870s, and about that same time in Montreal students from McGil University began facing off against each other in a downtown ice rink. The continent's first hockey league was said to have been launched in Kingston, Ontario, in 1885, and it included four teams.
Hockey became so popular that games were soon being played on a regular basis between clubs from Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. The English Governor General of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston, was so impressed that in 1892 he bought a silver bowl with an interior gold finish and decreed that it be given each year to the best amateur team in Canada. That trophy, of course, has come to be known as the Stanley Cup and is awarded today to the franchise that wins the National Hockey League playoffs.
When hockey was first played in Canada, the teams had nine men per side, but by the time the Stanley Cup was introduced, it was a seven-man game.The change came about accidentally in the late 1880s after a club playing in the Montreal Winter Carnivalshowed up two men short, and it's opponent agreed to drop the same number of players on its team to even the match. In time, players began to prefer the smaller squad, and it wasn't long before that number becamethe standard for the sport. Each team featured one goaltender, three forwards, two defensemen, and a rover, who had the option of moving up the ice on the attck, or falling back to defend his goal.
THE RISE OF PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY
Hockey was a strickly amateur affair until 1904, when the first professional league was created - oddly enough in the United States. Known as the International Pro Hockey League, it was based in the iron-mining region of Michigan's upper Peninsula. That folded in 1907, but then an even bigger league emerged three years later, the National Hockey Association (NHA). And shortly after that came the Pacific Coast League (PCl). In 1914, a transcontinental championship series was arranged between the two, with the winner getting the coveted cup Lord Stanley. World War 1 threw the entire hockey establishment into disarray, and the men running the NHA decided to suspend operations.
But after the war, the hockey powers that be decided to start a whole new organization that would be known as the National Hockey League (NHL). At its inception, the NHL boasted five franchises - the Montreal Canadiens, the Montrea Wanderers, the Ottawa Senators, the Quebec Bulldogs, and the Toronto Arenas. The league's first game was held Dec. 19, 1917. The clubs played a 22-game schedule and, picking up on a rule change instituted only six players a side. Toronto finished that first season on top, and in March 1918 met the Pacific Coast league champion Vancouver Millionaires for the Stanley Cup. Toronto won, three games to two. Eventually the PCL folded, and at the start of the 1926 season, the NHL, which at that point had ten teams, divided into two divisions and took control of the Stanley Cup.
The Stanley cup was originally known as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup.
Modern Stanley Cup today
For more information on the Stanley Cup please click on the icon below.
To view a list of all Stanley Cup champions please click on the icon below.
Canadian Hockey History
Foster Hewitt, Danny Gallivan, Dick Irvin and Bob Cole are the voices of CBC's HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA who have entered the pantheon of the Hockey Hall of Fame for bringing the game home to Canadian viewers for the past half century.
HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA
Bob Cole 1973:
You've seen him on TV, now listen to him on radio.
Danny Gallivan 1974:
Danny Gallivan adds colour to Fred Walker's CBC radio broadcast.
Dan Kelly 1967:
A great voice from HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANAD'S past.
Foster Hewitt 1943:
He coined that famous phrase.
Diagram of an NHL hockey rink
Use the GOOGLE search engine for more hockey related web sites
NHL RULES: GLOSSARY
There are so many words and phrases that nobody hears anywehre else, but at the rink. Below is an, alphabetical list of some of the essentials, from "breakaway to zamboni."
Do you remember when Bob Cole did play - by - play for CBC radio? Maybe you've never heard Foster Hewitt call a Leaf - Canadiens game. Listen to the radio archive to hear voices from the past.
BACKCHECKING: A forward skating deep into his own zone to check an opponent off the puck or prevent him from getting a scoring chance.
BACKHAND:A shot or pass using the back part of the stick blade.
BETWEEN THE PIPES:The goaltenders position in net.
www.cbc.ca
BLOCKED SHOT:A shot prevented from reacing the net by a player other than the goaltender.
BACKLINER/BLUELINER: A defenseman.
BLOCKER:The padded glove in which the goaltender holds his stick.
BODYCHECK: The act of using one's body to impede an opponent..
BREAKAWAY: A play in which a puck carrier moves in alone on the opposing goalie.
BREAKOUT: Movement of the puck by a team out of its own end.
BUTTERFLY:A goaltending style in which the goalie keeps his knees together and feet slightly apart.
CAUGHT UP ICE:A situation in which a player is in his team's offensive zone while play has moved into his defensive zone.
CENTER:One of three forward posistions and the player who usually takes face-offs.
CENTER THE PUCK: The act of passing the puck toward the front of the net.
Goalie Patrick Roy offten plays a "butterfly" style
CHANGE ON THE FLY:Substitution of players while play continues..
CHECK:To move the skater off the puck or away from the play.
CHECKER (NOUN): A forward whose prominent skill is defensive play.
CHECKING LINE: A forward line whose primary role is defensive play.
CLEAR THE PUCK:Moving the puck out of one's defensive zone.
CLUTCH AND GRAB:Defensive style of play often used by slower teams to prevent faster teams from using their speed.
COINCIDENTAL PENALTIES:Penalties assessed simultaneously to players on opposite teams during which neither team plays shorthanded.
CUTTING DOWN THE ANGLE:Goaltending technique in which the goalie skates slightly out of his crease to reduce the amount of net the shooter can see.
CYCLING THE PUCK:The movement of the puck along the boards by at least two players in the offensive zone.
DEFLECTION/TIP IN:An intentional or accidental re-direction of the puck after a shot or pass has been made.
DEKE:A quick fake by a puck carrier intended to trick an opponent out of position.
DELAYED OFFSIDE:A situation in which an attcker is offside, but play continues because the defending team has possession of the puck with a chance to move it out of their zone.
DELAYED PENALTY:A penalty that is not called against a player until his team gain possession of the puck.
DROP PASS:An offensive player who leaves the puck behind him to be picked up by a trailing teammate.
DROP THE GLOVES:Slang for fighting.
DUMP AND CHASE: Strategy by which a team shoots the puck into the attacking zone, then aggressively tries to retrieve it.
ENFORCER:A player who fights frequently to protect other players on his team.
FINISH A CHECK:To follow through on any type of forechecking with a body check.
FIVE HOLE:The area between the goalie's legs.
FORECHECKING:Pursuing the opposing team when they have possession of the puck.
FREEZE THE PUCK:To pin the puck against the boards, forcing the referee to stop play.
GIVE AND GO: A play in which a skater passes to a teamate, moves into open space and receives a return pass.
GRINDER:A hard-working player better known for checking rather than scoring.
HAND PASS: Propelling the puck to a teammate using the glove.
HAT TRICK:Three goals scored by one player in a game.
HEADMANNING THE PUCK:Passing the puck forward during an offensive rush.
HIP CHECK: Using the hip to check an opponent.
INTENTIONAL OFF-SIDES: The act of intentionally creating an off-side for a stoppage in play.
LINE:The group of three forwards made up of the center, right wing and left wing.
NEUTRAL-ZONE TRAP: Checking system sed in the neutral zone designes to prevent an attacking team from entering the offensive zone at top speed.
OFF WING:A left wing skating down the right side of the ice and vice versa.
ONE-TIMER:A shot taken immediately upon receiving a pass without stopping the puck.
PENALTY KILLING: Attempt by a shorthanded team to prevent the opposition from scorng.
POKE CHECK/STICK CHECK:Use of the stick to knock the puck off an opponent's stick.
POWER FORWARD:A big strong forward, who is equally capable of scoring or playing physical.
PULLING THE GOALIE:Removal of the goalie for an extra skater.
SCRATCH:A player on the roster who is not dressed due to injury or a coach's decision.
SCREEN:Blocking the goalie's view of the play..
SHADOW:A player who closely checks a skilled opponent.
SIN BIN: The penalty box.
SIXTH ATTACKER: The extra skater who comes onto the ice after the goalie has been pulled.
SLAP SHOT:The hardest shot a player can generate, requiring full windup with the stick.
SLOT: The area directly in front of the net, frm the crease to the top of the face-off circles.
SNAP SHOT:A variation of the wrist shot, where the release is quick but with a subtle snap, like a compacted slap shot.
STICKHANDLING: Controlling the puck by shifting it from one side of the stick blade to the other.
TAKE THE BODY: To check aggressively with the body rather than with the stick.
TOP SHELF/UPSTAIRS: Top part of the net.
TRAILER: An attacking player who skates into the offensive zone behind the puck carrier.
TWO-ON-ONE:Situation in which two offensive players enter the attacking zone with only one player etween them and the goalie.
TWO-WAY PLAYER: A player who is equally adept at scoring and defensive play.
WING:Skater who plays one of the two outside forward positions on either the right or left side.
WRAPAROUND:A play in which the puck carrier goes behind thnet, then moves the puck quickly in front in an attempt to stuff the puck into the goal.
WRIST SHOT: A shot that propels the puck at the goal using a fluid snapping of the wrists.
ZAMBONI:The ice re-surfacing machine
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SITE INDEX.
LINKS TO OTHER HOCKEY SITES
Quebec Junior Hockey
Canadian Hockey Association
The Women's Hockey Web.
(french)
Montreal Bell Centre
Montreal West Women's Hockey.
An ice game known as kolven was popuar in Holland in the 17th century, later on, the game really took hold in England.In his book, Fischler's Illustrated History of Hockey, veteran hockey journalist and broadcaster Stan Fischler writes about a rudimentary version of the sport becoming popular in the English marshland community of Bury Fen in the 1820's. The game, he explains, was called bandy, and the local players used to scamble around the town's frozen meadowlands, swatting a wooden or corck ball, wooden sticks made from the branches of local willow trees. Articles in London newspapers around that time mention increasing interest in the sport, which many observers believe got its name from the french word hoquet, which means "spepherd's crook" or "bent stick." A number of writers thought this game should be forbidden because it was so disruptive to people out for a leisurely winter skate.
