The Evolution of the Game

For almost as long as the game of ice hockey has existed, people have argued as to where and by whom the game was first played. It evolved from any number of games played with sticks and a ball, games that transcend any particular culture. European colonists brought English field hockey and Irish hurley with them to Canada. The native peoples had already invented lacrosse, and the Micmac tribe of Nova Scotia was known to have played a game on ice variously using an animal’s knucklebone, a piece of wood or a "horse apple" as a puck, while the stick was a whittled tree branch. What can be proven is that the sport of ice hockey as we know it today developed in the Dominion of Canada during the course of the 19th century.

The first recorded occurrence of organized indoor ice hockey took place in Montreal on March 3, 1875. It was played in Victoria Skating Rink, with nine-man sides on a surface that measured 80 by 204 feet. The Montreal Gazette reported that "in order to spare the heads and nerves of the spectators, a flat, circular piece of wood" was used instead of the usual rubber ball. In 1877 an exhibition game was played under the first published ice hockey rules. There were only seven of them, and only the use of the word "ice" distinguished these rules from those of English field hockey. "Rule Two" stated that the contest would be on "onside" game, meaning there would be no forward passing: "a player must always be on his own side of the ball". Instead of a face-off, the field hockey style "bully" required that the facing centermen bang their sticks together three times before attempting to control the puck.

The popularity of the game began to spread, and in 1883 the annual Montreal Winter Carnival featured "the novel game of hockey". The rules for the series said the teams would carry seven men per side and play two 30-minute periods with ten minutes between periods. The sticks could be of any length, but no more than three inches wide. The puck would be one inch thick, three inches in diameter, and made of vulcanized rubber — the very description of pucks used today.

In June of 1888, Queen Victoria appointed Lord Stanley of Preston to be Governor General of Canada. During his first winter he and his family attended the Montreal Winter Carnival and instantly became avid hockey fans. By 1892 he wrote: "There does not appear to be any ‘outward or visible sign’ of the championship at present, and considering the interest that hockey matches now elicit and the importance of having the games fairly played under generally recognized rules, I am willing to give a cup that shall be annually held by the winning club." The cup itself was purchased by an aide on a trip to England for slightly less than $50. In 1893 "the Lord Stanley Challenge Trophy" was awarded for the first time to Montreal AAA, league champions of the Ontario Hockey Association.

As the railroads spread west across Canada, so did the game of hockey. In 1893 a team from Winnipeg traveled east for a series of exhibition matches, bringing with them several innovations that were soon adopted by the established eastern clubs. For one thing, they had eliminated the old field hockey "bully". Winnipeggers instead placed the puck on the ice and faced each other with sticks poised; but then, upon a signal from the referee, they would simple go after the puck. Another innovation from Winnipeg was the introduction of goalie pads — their goalie sported cricket pads, and was quickly imitated by eastern netminders. Finally, the Winnipeg forwards introduced an underhand or "scoop" shot, now known as the wrist shot, to the leagues of Ontario and Quebec.

By 1898 the rules had further standardized. Ice hockey by this time was a seven man game: the goalie, three forwards, a rover (who switched from defense to offense, as the play required), and the point and cover point (the defense included the cover point in front of the point, rather than side by side as they are today). The so-called "Quebec" version of onside play (no forward passing) was now universal. All players were now allowed to lift the puck when taking shots. And goaltenders were not allowed to drop to the ice when making saves and could, in fact, be penalized if they did so.

In 1900 the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association adopted the use of goal nets. These were first seen about five years earlier when a US "ice polo" team came north from Illinois for a series of games in Ontario. Prior to this, ice hockey goals had been just two posts embedded in the ice. At about the same time, the wearing of hockey gloves became common.

The 1910-11 season saw the game change from two 30-minute periods to three 20-minute periods — the version we have today. In 1911-12 the position of rover was finally eliminated, making hockey a six-man game per side, and it was decided that players would wear numbers on their sweaters. In 1913-14 the modern face-off was adopted, and the recording of assists commenced.

After many different mergers and failures, at the outbreak of WWI the two main professional leagues in existence were the National Hockey Association and the rival Pacific Coast Hockey Association, which had been founded by Lester and Frank Patrick and which continued the tradition of seven-man hockey. In March of 1917, the battle for the Stanley Cup took place between the defending Montreal Canadiens of the NHA and the PCHA’s Seattle Millionaires. Game One in Seattle was played with Western rules (where they still employed the rover); nevertheless, the powerful Canadiens won the game 8-4. Game Two was played with Eastern rules but, ironically, Seattle beat Montreal 6-1. Seattle took the series in four games to become the first American team to win the Stanley Cup.

The National Hockey League was brought into existence from the old NHA in late November, 1917. The two leagues persisted in playing under somewhat different rules; in fact the position of rover endured in the west until 1922. However, in the 1918-19 season, the NHL adopted the innovation begun the year before in the PCHA of painting two blue lines 20 feet from center ice. This created three playing zones and allowed forward passing in the 40-foot neutral, or center, ice area. Suddenly, with the introduction of these two lines on the ice surface, the sport had switched from the original "onside" game played in Montreal in 1875 (meaning a player had to be lateral to or behind the puck when it was passed) to an "offside" game. The game had been transformed from a sport of stick-handling to a game of passing.

A third major professional league, the Western Canada Hockey League (later the WHL), was formed in 1921. However, over the next few years neither western league fared well. The PCHL folded in 1925 and in 1926 the WHL’s Victoria Cougars were the last non-NHL team to challenge for the Stanley Cup.

Further rule changes brought the game closer to its modern form. In 1926-27 the league expanded the neutral zone by moving the blue lines 60 feet from each goal line. Then, in 1927-28, in order to encourage offense, they voted to allow forward passing in the defensive as well as neutral zones. By 1928-29, they allowed passing into the attacking zone – as long as the receiver was in the neutral zone when the pass was initiated. No forward passing was allowed in the attacking zone. The effect of these changes was exactly the opposite of what had been intended, and that season, goalies reigned supreme. In fact, Montreal’s George Hainsworth set a record that will probably never be surpassed, notching 22 shut-outs in 44 games (with a goals-against average of only 0.98 for the season). The next year, forward passing was permitted in all three zones, but passing from one zone to the other was not allowed. This proved a satisfactory solution, and persisted until the era of World War II. At that time, to increase excitement in a league depleted of its star players, Rangers coach Frank Boucher suggested the addition of the center red line, allowing passes out to center ice and turning pro hockey into an even more offensively oriented game.

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