Introduction
We’re all aware of the importance of engaging in physical activities. After all, a sound mind is found in a sound body, and vice-versa. Today, you can see nearly every sport being played in any country. Thanks to the progression of humankind, we have the resources to build any sporting facility and play whatever sport we prefer.
However, this was not always the case; as in the past, people tended to participate in sports connected to their surroundings. Many sports were invented and played only in places where the environment was the most practical. One of these sports is ice hockey. Ice hockey is always associated with colder climates, and there might be a reason behind it. In this article, we will be looking for the answer to the question: “When was ice hockey invented?”
What Is Ice Hockey?
Before answering the question of “When was ice hockey invented?” we must first define what ice hockey is. Ice hockey is a team sport, with six people on each team. The game is played inside an ice rink, where the ground is covered in ice with barricades around the playing field. The main object is the puck, an elastic disc that slides on the ground.
The main goal of the game is to push and slide this puck with a hockey stick into the enemy team’s net to score a point. Ice hockey is a dangerous game with very flexible rules on physical contact. This means that you can easily get tackled by other players. Because of this, every player puts on many layers of protection and gear to safely navigate the rink. The team that scores the most points becomes the winner.
Origins
Before ice hockey became mainstream, other sports acted as the precursor to its invention. Games like bandy, hurling, and shinty, played 2-3 centuries ago in the British Isles, were highly influential to ice hockey’s evolution. Hurling is a stick and ball game played on a grass field that closely resembles the game of football.
And shinty is an extremely similar game with the only difference in its origins in Scottish Highlands. Even though these games were played on grass before, several sources have found information about hurling and shinty being played on ice on occasion during the 1770s.
The change from grass to ice did not begin with the new settlements that took place in the Americas. Engravings found by sports historians depicted people on skates playing with sticks and bungs on the frozen Thames river.
This shows that they were already acclimated to sports on ice before settling in America. The British immigrants and officers likely brought ice sports to the new continent. And as the North American climate was much harsher than what they were used to, they naturally leaned away from grass fields into icy rivers and lakes.
When Was Ice Hockey Invented?
After the British settlers started building cities and having routine lives, entertainment and sports became much more prominent. Those living in Canada and the Northern States were already playing early forms of ice hockey and engaging in curling, skating, and sledding. Over time, these communities have decided to take physical activities to organized levels.
In 1875, the first organized ice hockey game took place inside a skating rink in Montreal, Canada. They used sticks and a flat piece of wood to play, and even though it’s regarded as the first organized game, spectators were taken aback by how brutal the players were. After this, Montreal, Quebec, was turned into the center of modern ice sports and is still regarded as the birthplace of ice hockey to this day.
Players began adopting the “Hockey Association Rules” in 1876, an organization in England. New rules were slowly being added every day, and eventually, the first official ice hockey club was established at McGill University in 1877. Various teams opened up, and soon after, at Montreal’s Winter Carnival in 1883, the first world championship ice hockey tournament was conducted. Not to anyone’s surprise, the McGill team won the championship.
Later Years
It wasn’t long until the number of ice hockey teams reached hundreds, and leagues started to form in Canada. After the game’s huge success up north, American financier Malcolm G. Chace decided to put together a team in the States consisting of students from Yale, Brown, and Harvard. He toured, played matches, and organized tournaments, which is why he’s called the father of ice hockey in the United States. The sport became much more popular after branching out to European countries and started being an Olympic sport in the 1920s.
These days, ice hockey is a beloved sport by children and adults alike all around the globe. It is played in the Winter Olympics every four years and played in championships in the world every day. And with that, we conclude the question, “When was ice hockey invented?” What was once a ruleless sport with a handful of players is now a global sensation governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Especially for the young population of Canadian and North American territories, ice hockey is an essential part of culture and tradition.
