The Earliest Years of Hockey

In the begginning hockey was not played on ice. The game of Hockey has been around from the time of early civilization. Some of the reports find the earliest origin of the game 4000 years back. Field hockey was reportedly played even before the birth of Christ. Basically known as the “ball and stick” game, it was played since ancient times in places diverse as Rome, Scotland, Egypt and South America. The game was referred to in different names but the basic idea of playing the game was the same. The most used term was “Hockie” by the Irish. Though the term was lost years ago, the word found its way through to the present generation.
In the 17th and the early 18th century England, the game acquired a fiercely competitive and crazy form. Villages would compete against their neighboring villages and there were nearly 100 players in one team. The game was for pride and manhood. So the game acquired a dangerous form. The game would last for half a month and many players would end up injured and grievously hurt. The Referees were there but they were more of mute spectators, who would make a call only if a team asked them to.

After some years, common sense and a logical and organized approach to the game came into play with the introduction of revision of rules. The game was limited to 30 players for each team. The Eton College of England drafted some rules to bring sanity to the game. The Hockey Association was formed in the year 1875 and some of the rules thrown out. The results were quite positive and more rules like giving the Referee enough authority were soon drawn to improve the quality of the game.

The 1917-1918 NHL season had a rough start. Right off the bat a team called the “Bulldogs” backed out, followed by the Montreal Wanderers in January of 1918. Being only a tiny part of what they once were, the Wanderers ended in one of the most memorable way a franchise could back then.
There was another problem facing the newly formed NHL. The league was formed as a result of a split of the NHA. Owners of the teams in this league were not happy with Eddie Livingstone who owned the Toronto Blue Shirts. They did not invite Livingstone to join the NHL, and this led to years and years of fighting. The NHL leased Livingstone’s team, which played in the Toronto Arena. When they won the Stanley Cup, Livingstone was not given the spoils of the victory. Instead, his team was incorporated into a new club and named the Toronto Arenas. As a result, Livingstone sued the league. In spite of this confusion, the NHL rose out of these beginnings to make their presence known in the world of professional hockey. The history of the NHL had trouble at the beginning, but, like the game of hockey itself, the NHL rose out of the struggle to be successful.