Origins of the Game
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1140s - People were skating by now - there are reports of Vikings tying bones to the bottom of their boots to make primitive ice skates.
1180s - Reports of people skating on the Fens in England
16th century - There are reports of an ice hockey like game called kalv being played in Holland
1642 - The Edinburgh Skating Club is formed - Britain's oldest skating organisation
1867 - There is a claim that the first ice hockey game was played in this year in Kingston, Ontario when the Royal Canadian Rifles played a game on the ice of Kingston Harbour (followed in 1870 by a game involving the British 60th Rifles).
1876 - The first artificial ice rinks are opened in London.
1879 - A McGill University student organises a game of field hockey on ice in December of this year.
1880 - The first ice hockey club is formed at McGill University
1885 - Cambridge University beat Oxford University 6-0 at St Moritz, the first game played outside Canada, although there is some concern over this was an ice hockey match as hockey, shinty and bandy are all close and interchangeable at this stage.
1888 - The Hon. Arthur Stanley forms the Ottawa Rebels team
1893 - The Hon. Arthur Stanley and his brothers persuade their father, Lord Stanley of Preston (Governor General of Canada) to present the Stanley Cup for competition.
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The British time line
1895 - A game is played on the frozen lake at Buckingham Palace. The Palace team includes the Prince of Wales (later George V).
1897 - Princes Skating Club forms a hockey club who play their first match in February.
1903-04 - First English Ice Hockey League season - Cambridge win.
1908 - England are founder members with France, Belgium, Bohemia and Switzerland of the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace (LIHG) which became the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Princes, playing as England, beat Germany and France to win the first indoor international ice hockey tournament in Berlin and go on to win the international ice hockey championship in Chamonix.
1910 - First European Championship is held in Switzerland. England beat the Swiss and Germans and draw with the Belgians to become the first ever European Champions. For some lightrelaxation they return home and beat Scotland 11-1 in the first home international.
1913 - British Ice Hockey Association is formed
1923 - At this point Manchester is the only rink staging hockey in England.
1924 - GB get bronze (behind Canada and the USA) in the Winter Olympics at Chamonix.
1926 - The Ice Club at Westminster, London opens and several other new rinks follow.
1929 - Scottish Ice Hockey Association formed.
1930s - the English National League at this time is second only to the NHL (which only has seven teams).
1934 - Wembley (capacity 10,000) opens and becomes home to the London Lions and the Wembley Canadians.
1935 - Earls Court (capacity 7,000) opens and is home to Earls Court Rangers and Kensington Corinthians.
1936 - GB become the first team to win the Triple Crown - Winter Olympic Gold, the World Championships and the European Championships.
1930s - In this decade more than 30 players left the English National League to play in the NHL.
1938 - GB win their fourth European title in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
1940 - 'Icy' Smith opens a rink at Durham, actually in a marquee.
1954 - First British League formed. In England their are five senior clubs whilst Scotland has seven so they combine to form a British League. The English teams were Nottingham Panthers, Streatham Redskins, Harringay Racers, Wembley Lions, Brighton Tigers,
1956 - First ever televised game shows Wembley Lions winning at Nottingham Panthers. Alan Weeks is the commentator.
1957 - Brighton Tigers beat USSR 6-3.
1960 - British League ceases - winners had been:-
- 1954/55 - Wembley Lions
- 1955/56 - Nottingham Panthers
- 1956/57 - Wembley Lions
- 1957/58 - Brighton Tigers
- 1958/59 - Paisley Mohawks
- 1959/60 - Streatham Redskins
1960s & 70s - In these decades serious hockey mostly existed in Scotland and the North of England. The 'Icy' Smith cup became emblematic of the British Championship and Murrayfield Racers won it 8 times between 1965 and 1980. Other winners included fife Flyers, Whitley Warriors, Ayr Bruins and Glasgow Dynamos.
1970 - Southern League stars with 5 teams at 3 rinks.
1974 - By now the Southern League had two leagues and eleven teams out of 7 rinks going up to 22 teams out of 12 rinks in the next two years. Since 1970 the Northern League had also grown to fifteen teams from eight rinks.
1978 - Crowtree (Sunderland) opened and Richmond returned to hockey.
1979 - Bradford staged it's first hockey
1980 - Nottingham returned to hockey
1981/82 - both the English and Scottish National Leagues were revived, 21 years after the original British League expired and more than 25 years after the old English and Scottish leagues had been held. the top 4 teams, Streatham Redskins and Blackpool Seagulls from England and Murrayfield Racers and Dundee Rockets from Scotland met at streatham to decide the British Championship with Dundee beating Streatham 3-2 in the final.
1983 - Lee Valley rink opened. By now the BIHA had 30 affiliated clubs with 80 teams and over 2,000 players.
1985 - Women's hockey gets serious with a British League formed.
1986 - Nearly 6,000 fans watch the Norwich Union Cup Final at the NEC, Birmingham. The Championship play-offs (at Wembley) and the British League were now sponsored by Heineken with the finals covered live on BBC TV.
1986/87 saw more teams taking part in the British League than ever before in the history of the sport.
Throughout the 80s and into the 90s new rinks were opening all the time and nearly all started hockey teams - these included Oxford, Cardiff, Swindon, Milton Keynes, Chelmsford, Romford, Slough, Bracknell, Basingstoke, Medway (Gillingham/Invicta), Hull and Blackburn. New arenas opened and became homes to hockey teams as well, including Sheffield, Manchester, London Docklands and Belfast.
There was turmoil on the league front emanating from disputes over the number of foreign (now non-EIHA trained) players to be alllowed in a team, and the increased level of professionalism amongst teams causing disputes with old school administrative bodies. This led to the evolution of the current structure of Superleague, British National League, English Premier League, English National League and Scottish League.
1904 - First professional league formed in the USA - folds after three years.
1910 - National Hockey Association League formed, shortly followed by the Pacific Coast League.
1914 - Championship match held between NHA and PCL winners for Stanley Cup.
1917 - NHL formed (replacing NHA). Initially there are five franchises - Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs and Toronto Arenas. First game was held on 19th December 1917. Toronto win the league and beat PCL winners Vancouver Millionaires to win the Stanley Cup.
1922 - Last 7 on 7 professional game.
1924 - Boston Bruins and Montreal Maroons awarded NHL franchises.
1925 - Victoria are the last non-NHL Stanley Cup winners.
1926 - PCL had folded and the NHL, then with 10 teams, divided into two divisions and took control of the Stanley Cup. New York Rangers are granted a franchise.
1930 - Offside rule introduced.
1934 - Penalty shot introduced. First NHL All-Star game takes place.
1937 - League Governors agree on the icing rule.
1945 - Rocket Richard becomes first player to score 50 goals in a season.
1950 - NHL allows the 'delayed' whistle
1955 - Referees get their vertical striped uniform.
1956 - Cancellation of minor penalty by powerplay goal introduced.
1961 - NHL Hall of Fame opens.
1962 - Toronto Maple Leafs win first of three straight Stanley Cups.
1963 - NHL's first amateur draft takes place.
1966 - Hull records first 50+ goal season. Bobby Orr signs with the Bruins.
1967 - NHL expands from 6 to 12 teams.
1968 - Orr wins first of 8 straight Norris trophies.
1969 - Phil Esposito becomes the first player to score 100 points in a season.
1970 - Buffalo and Vancouver join the NHL.
1971 - Atlanta Flames and New York Islanders join the NHL.
1974 - The expansion Philadelphia Flyers win the Stanley Cup. Kansas City and Washington are awarded NHL franchises.
1978 - Mike Bossy becomes the first rookie to score 50 points in a season.
1979 - Four WHA teams, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques join the NHL as it expands to 21 teams.
1980 - Atlanta Flames franchise moves to Calgary.
1982 - Gretzky scores 92 goals (new single season record) as he becomes the first player to score 200 points in a season (212). Colorado franchise moves to New Jersey.
1984 - Pittsburgh draft Mario Lemieux. Wayne Gretzky becomes the fastest ever to 1000 points.
1991 - Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators join NHL.
1993 - Minnesota North Stars move to Dallas.
1994 - Gretzky scores goal 802 to pass Gordie Howe and set new all-time scoring record.
1995 - Quebec Nordiques move to Colorado.
1996 - Winnipeg Jets move to Phoenix.
1997 - Hartford Whalers become Carolina Hurricanes. The last helmetless player in the NHL, Craig McTavish, retires.
1998 - Gretzky scores his 1000th career goal. Nashville Predators join league.
1999 - Atlanta Thrashers join league. Wayne Gretzky plays his final game.
2000 - Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets added to the league.
More origins
Royalty
A British journalist did suggest, in an article written in 1937, that ice hockey was first played rather earlier than the official histories say.
He claimed that the idea originated at Windsor Castle and said that "in the hard winter of 1853 the house party at the country palace looked for diversion on the frozen lake in the grounds. The idea was born to play a game of field hockey on the ice; sides were chosen, sticks found, and the bung from a barrel acquired to take the place of a ball, which bounced too much for any accurate control."
While Queen Victoria and her attendants stood by giving encouragement, officers of the guards skated over the ice trying to score into the net defended by the Prince Consort. The result was not recorded but history tells that the players were rewarded with a well-spiced rum punch.
He went on to say that it was twenty years later that the game crossed the ocean to Canada when, on a visit to England, a Canadian student came upon the game of field hockey. His brain followed along the same lines as the pioneers at Windsor Castle and on his return to his studies that winter he got together a group of enthusiasts and organised the first team at McGill University.
Other historians claim that some form of ice hockey was played in Nova Scotia, notably on Windsor's Long Pond, in the early 1800s.
I can of course reveal that the first Town v Gown match in Oxford predated all of these and took place on Port Meadow in the fifteenth century. The sticks and violence were there but nobody took along the puck, not entirely dissimilar to some of the more recent meetings (e.g. 1985).
It is believed the face off was invented by an English born referee, Fred Waghorne, in Paris, Ontario. he was handling a difficult game one night in the early 1900s. In those days the normal restart was done by the referee placing the puck on the ice between the sticks of the centremen, shouting 'Play', and jumping quickly out of the way.
During this game the players were so keen to win the draw that Waghorne's hands, arms and legs were taking a beating. Eventually he got fed up and told the centres 'put your sticks on the ice and keep them 18 inches apart, and be ready for what happens next'. He then stood back and threw the puck between the poised sticks. Instinctively the two players went for the puck and the face off was born.
He was so pleased with the results of this invention that he went on to add another innovation to refereeing. He discarded the large handbell he'd been using to signal stoppages in play and introduced a whistle. Soon all hockey officials followed suit, albeit with some regrets. 'They were very effective for keeping obnoxious fans at bay', one referee said. 'If a fan reached out from rinkside and grabbed a player or a referee, you could wallop him over the head with the bell'.
Icings The Boston Bruins and the New York Americans played two of the most boring games ever in the 1931/32 season. On December 8, 1931, in Boston, the Americans shot the puck down the ice at every opportunity to take the pressure off when playing a superior team. as there was no icing rule at the time the Bruins spent most of the evening chasing the puck back into their own zone. That night it happened 61 times, leaving the Boston players frustrated and their fans furious.
The Bruins owner vowed to get even and on January 3, 1932, in a game played on New York ice, Boston 'iced the puck' 87 times. Some of the NHL owners thought that Boston should have been fined up to $10,000 for this retaliation but NHL President Frank Calder said no, as under the existing rules the players had every right to do what they did. However, Calder immediately introduced a rule designed to curb icing of the puck to prevent a recurrence of this farce.
Passing Before the 1929/30 NHL season the league removed the shackles from the forward pass. Prior to then a player was not allowed to pass forward to a team mate in the attacking zone. Also a team was no longer permitted to keep more than three players (including the goalie) in their zone when play was up the ice. Laggards who did not move up the ice could now receive a minor penalty.
In 1928/29, before the rule changes, George Hainsworth the Montreal goalie recorded 22 shutouts in 44 games and only allowed 43 goals to opposing shooters. The top scoring team, Boston, scored only 89 goals all season, and Toronto's Ace Bailey won the scoring championship with 32 points (22+10).
The following season every team in the NHL topped 100 goals, the Bruins leading the way with 179. Cooney Weiland of Boston won the Art Ross Trophy (top scorer) with 73 points (43+30), and only one goalie, Tiny Thompson of Boston, gave up less than 100 goals (98).
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Shaun
Date: 17/10/2007 Views: 21
