The Ancient Beginnings Of Ice-Hockey

An hoquet was a curved stick Breton shepherd utilised to guide their flock. The term hockey is derived from it. Shepherds used the hoquet to play with stones and pebbles in order to pass the time while waiting for their flock. Later the stones turned to balls, and a game that was played on the grass turned to ice. This is the story of how it happened.
The foundation of modern hockey started in North America when immigrants from the Netherlands, UK, and Ireland brought their traditional games to it. Most of these traditional games had the same foundation, and they merged to form ice hockey.
• In the Netherlands, the game was kolf or kolven. It was played in ice fields during the 17th Century and became so popular that it spread to Northern European countries too.
• In the UK, the game played in Scotland was called shinty, and in England, it was lawn hockey.
• In Ireland, it was called hurling.

Modern Hockey As We Know It

All the games from the different countries were adapted into one and then mingled with lacrosse, which was a game played by a native tribe in North America, Iroquois. What we call modern ice hockey was born in Quebec.
• The first game to be documented was played on 3rd March 1875 on the Victoria ice rink in Montreal.
• The first seven rules of the game were established in 1877 by students of the McGill University.
• The first team was created in 1880 and called the McGill University Hockey Club.
• By 1893 there were a hundred teams in Montreal, and the game had migrated to the United States where John Hopkins and Yale University played the first game.
• In 1896, the first professional league called the International Professional Hockey League was formed.