Canada’s most popular game, Ice hockey has now become an Olympic sport. The game played between two teams, usually have six players wearing skates competing on an ice rink. There are probably over a million registered players worldwide competing in different leagues. Even with worldwide acknowledgment, Canadians claim that Ice hockey is a product of their country. However, other evidence says otherwise with the United Kingdom emerging as the earliest roots of hockey.
The first-ever recorded indoor Ice hockey game took place in Montreal, Quebec in 1975. Researcher, Jean-Patrice Martel, one of the three writers for the book The Origin of Hockey noted that there are several cities in Canada that claim the originality of ice hockey. As it is documented, the first indoor organized game of Ice hockey was recorded in Montreal. It took place at Victoria Skating Rink on March 3, 1875, with two teams of nine players each. The game was organized by James Creighton.
However, further research conducted on the originality of hockey points Europe as the origin of hockey. The research that was done by the Society for International Hockey Research(SIHR) reveals the possibility of the first-ever game played gating back as far as the 1790s in Great Britain. The researchers found a letter dated March 1, 1853, from Darwin to his son William. In it, he wrote: “my dear old willy….have you got a pretty good pond to skate on? I used to be fond of playing at Hocky on the ice in skates”.
Reports from SIHR research concludes the game of Ice Hockey to have been modeled from what was known as Hurley in the early 1790s in Britain.
