History of Hockey: Origins

In the early 1870's, the winter destroyed lacrosse fields in Canada. Looking for an activity to pass the time, the lacrosse players attempted to play lacrosse on the ice with skates. After that activity showed little promise, the players decided, with a suggestion from a man who went by J.G.A. Creighton, to try to play with shinny hockey (a game similar to field hockey today) sticks and balls.

With lacrosse out the window, the players needed a set of rules to govern themselves. Not knowing many other sports, hockey was played very much like rugby. The game then turned in to a game with no forward passing and nine players on the ice at a time.

The first public exhibition of hockey was played in Montreal in 1875, and that's where the idea of a puck was introduced. The exhibition was thought to be dangerous for spectators because the shinny ball could get moving really fast, pop up off of the ice, and strike someone in the crowd. To quell these concerns, the players used a small, cylindrical piece of wood to avoid the puck ever coming off the ice.

To go along with that, new rules were constantly being added. What was nine players a side went down to seven, and eventually six in 1911. At first, there were no substitutions for non-injured players. However, many teams didn't carry any extra players. That meant that if you got injured, you're team would be undermanned and the stereotype of really tough hockey players, who would play through the most painful and gory injuries was born. The forward pass was thought to be a cheap way of gaining territory, so the players never exercised it and if they did, the official would call it an offsides, much like in rugby. After 50 or so years, the game slowed down to a point where it was too boring to watch and the forwards pass was allowed, and a whole new offense could be brought.

It was from those slow times that the basic strategy of hockey evolved, though. The only way to advance the puck was through skating and stickhandling. The defenders, in primitive gear and being used to contact with most of them being out-of-season rugby players, then learned the body check to slow opposing forwards down. During this time is when the basic roots of hockey started to take hold and the game would never look back.