First Hockey Game - Kingston, Canada - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

There is some discussion here in the Great White North as to the game's early evolution and there is much to be said for both cases that have been presented. There is some written documentation to a game being played in the early 1800's in Nova Scotia Canada and there is much documentation of games being played in Kingston Ontario Canada in the mid 1800's.

The Kingston claim is very strong. It appears the garrison of Fort Henry, a Highland Regiment, started playing a version of a Scottish game called Shinty on the ice of Kingston Harbour. A tradition that Queen's University and the Cadets at Royal Military College in Kingston continue to this day, square pucks, no equipment other than skates and very basic rules. We still play a game here in Canada called Shinny, a puck, skates, a stick and now because of Insurance Rules a helmet.

Other Canadian regiments rotated into the fort and were of course exposed to the game which they then took back to their hometowns. What else could one do in the winter in Canada of those days or even still in certain isolated parts of the country.

As you can imagine the game grew in popularity and people formed teams of friends or neighbours and started travelling to other towns to play games. The Govenor General of Canada, one Lord Stanley, had two sons who played for an Ottawa team. Their friends in Montreal also had a team so they challenged each other to a game. The GG thought he would have a cup made for the challenge game that the winning team would keep and so it goes. The next year another team challenged the winner and so it goes. The first "Modern Game" took place in a rink in Montreal in the late 1890's and shortly after that the NHA was started which evolved into the NHL.The NHL did not become the sole "owner" of the cup until the late Teens and any team could challenge the previous winner for the cup. There have been some very interesting challenges. A team from Dawson City in the Yukon (shares a border with Alaska) challenged Ottawa in 1907 and had to travel all the way to Ottawa to play the game. They got creamed!

Given the connection between the New England States and Quebec/Montreal the game also spread to those areas very quickly. Some towns along the US/Canada Border in this area have the border running right down the middle of streets and through buildings! So the connection to Canada is very strong given the climate and location. The first American NHL team were the Boston Bruins which shows this continued connection. The same applies out West in the Praires. Hard to tell where one country stops and the other starts so hockey spread out there. Please note that this also explains how baseball and fastball came to Canada. Football has a whole different story but McGill and Harvard is where that North American game got its start. A Canadian Ivy vs an American Ivy.......I digress.

The Russians adopted our game and during the Cold War it became a symbol of how good the Soviet System was, just another tool in the Cold War. Canada were the undisputed Champs till the 50's when Russia began to emerge as a world power. Why do you think it was called "The Miracle On Ice"?

So there you have it. Hockey had its start in Canada and it still is the home of many fine players. Hockey is to Canadian culture what Baseball is to American culture. A game that evolved here and reflects what we are about. It is why we call it "The Game" and everyone here knows what you mean when you say that name. Just like baseball there is a whole mythology that has built up around the sport and have become part of our commom backgrounds. The Red Sox finally broke the Curse of the Bambino so when will the Leafs break the curse of Harold Ballard?

FIRST - Classification Variable: Item or Event Date of FIRST: 03/10/1886 More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]

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