History of Hockey
Ice hockey’s story stretches back over a century. Organised play began in Montreal, where the first indoor game was recorded on March 3 1875 at the Victoria Skating Rink. Two nine‑player teams, including James Creighton and students from McGill University, competed using a flat piece of wood for a puck and goals set eight feet apart. This match is often regarded as the sport’s first organised indoor game.
The McGill University Hockey Club formed in 1877 and is widely considered the first organised hockey club. Over the following decade, tournaments like the Montreal Winter Carnival popularised the sport and led to the creation of leagues such as the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) in 1886. Positions were standardised – left and right wing, centre, rover, point, cover point and goaltender – and the game spread across Canada.
By the early 20th century, competitions were fiercely contested and the prestigious Stanley Cup emerged from these rivalries. The National Hockey League (NHL) was born in 1917 when owners from the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa Senators suspended the National Hockey Association and formed a new league. Initially intended as a stopgap, the NHL adopted many of the NHA’s rules – playing with six players per side and a split season – and soon became North America’s premier hockey league.
Throughout the 20th century the NHL navigated economic crises and world wars. The Great Depression and World War II reduced the league to six franchises, later known as the “Original Six”: the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs. Those teams carried the sport through 25 years of intense rivalries until the 1967 expansion doubled the league to 12 clubs. Further expansion in the 1970s and 1990s grew the NHL to the 32‑team league we know today.
