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Origin
Ice hockey’s origin has long been debated. While some claim its similarities to sports such as bandy, shinty and hurley suggest it was created by European’s who came to Canada in the 1800s, others believe it was first played much earlier, by Mi’kmaw people, in modern day Nova Scotia in the late 1600s (Bennett, 2019; Native Hockey, n.d.; The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2015). Image: Mi’kmaq making hockey sticks from hornbeam trees in Nova Scotia about 1890 (Bennett, 2019). Source: Wikipedia. -
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Name
Throughout its existence, the sport we now know as hockey has gone by many names. The earliest form of a game resembling hockey was known as Duwarken, a Mi’kmaw game, the meaning of which translates to “a ball played on ice” (Bennett, 2019). The word hockey is believed to have come from “the French hoquet (“shepherd’s crook”), referring to the shape of the stick” (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2015). -
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Equipment
In its earliest form, hockey was played with “a round stone” and a stick, “most likely ‘a spruce root’ which was called ‘Duwarkenaught’” (Bennett, 2019). Later, a “flat, wooden disc (puck)” was used for gameplay, giving players greater control and increasing safety for players and spectators (The Canadian Encyclopedia). In its final form, rubber, initially imported from Europe, was used to create the hockey puck (Native Hockey, n.d.). -
Hockey Canada
“It begins Dec. 4, 1914, when 21 stakeholders in the game from across the country – from New Westminster, B.C., to Montreal – gather at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa. The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association is formed to oversee the amateur game at a national level, and the Allan Cup, donated by Montreal banker and steamship line owner Sir H. Montague Allan, C.V.O. in 1908, is selected as the championship trophy of amateur hockey” (Hockey Canada History, n.d.). Image: Allan Cup. Source: HHOF. -
Ice Hockey at the Olympics
The Winnipeg Falcons win the 1920 Allan Cup, giving them the honor of representing Canada Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, the first time the sport is played at the games. The Falcons would go on to win the gold medal, the first of many for Canada on the international stage. Image: Winnipeg Falcons en route to Belgium. Source: Wikipedia. -
Summit Series (continued)
Though Early predictions generally favoured Canada, the USSR jumped out to an early lead over Canada, who only narrowly escaped the series as victors, winning with a record of four wins, three losses, and one tie. Paul Henderson scored the series clinching goal for Canada in the dying seconds of game 8. Image: Henderson celebrating his series clinching goal. Source: -
Summit Series (continued) (continued)
*Though this series is typically referred to as the first best-on-best competition between Canadian and Soviet/Russian players, many top Canadian players, including Bobby Orr (injured) and Gordie Howe (not eligible due to his contract with the World Hockey Association), did not participate. Image: Bobby Orr. Source: HHOF. -
Summit Series
Around this time, Soviet amateur ice hockey players were beginning to challenge professional Canadians for the title of best in the world. Unfortunately, International Ice Hockey Federation rules barred professional players from competition in international events. In response, an eight game exhibition series between the best Soviet and Canadian players* was organized, prior to the 1972-73 season. Image: Canadian and Russian players exchange gifts before a game. Source: NHL.com. -
Inaugural IIHF World Women’s Championship
Canada’s Women’s hockey program has been the envy of the world since its first international competition in 1990, defeating USA in Ottawa (Hockey Canada Women’s National Team, n.d.). Women’s hockey was first introduced to the Olympics in 1998; in total, the national team has competed in six Olympic games, winning four gold medals and two silver medals. Image: Haley Wickenheiser. Source:https://olympic.ca/ -
Canada’s National Sledge Team joins the Hockey Canada as a full member
The first Canadian national para hockey team was created in 1993. Para hockey is played with athletes seated and “strapped into a metal frame that rests on two regular-sized skate blades" and "two 75-cm-long hockey sticks, with picks on one end and blades on the other" (Hockey Canada Sledge, n.d.). Two years after joining Hockey Canada, the Canadian para hockey team captured the the Olympic gold medal in Turin, Italy. Image: Sledge hockey. Source: Hockey Canada. -
Sources
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ice-hockey
https://nativehockey.com/history
https://acadiensis.wordpress.com/2019/01/18/reimagining-the-creation-the-missing-indigenous-link-in-the-origins-of-canadian-hockey
https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/corporate/histor
https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/hockey-programs/sledge
https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/team-canada/women/national
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stanley_Cup_champions
/wiki/Canada_men's_national_ice_hockey_team -
Present
Canada wins gold as NHL players return to the Olympics for the first time since 2014, the same year a Canadian NHL team wins the Stanley Cup for the first time in almost 30 years, as the Winnipeg Jets defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning in game 7. This marks the first time a Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup and Olympic gold in the same year since 1948, the fifth time overall (1920, 1924, 1932, 1948, and 2022). Image: Mark Scheifele. Source: Yahoo!