Victoria Skating Rink The Victoria Skating Rink was an indoor skating rink located in Montreal , Quebec , Canada , which opened in 1862 . The building was used during winter seasons for pleasure skating , ice hockey and skating sports on a natural ice rink . In summer months , the building was used for various other events , including musical performances and horticultural shows . It was the first building in Canada to be electrified . The Rink may be most famous for its connection to ice hockey history . It holds the distinction of having hosted the first - ever recorded organized indoor ice hockey match on March 3 , 1875 . The ice surface dimensions set the standard for today ' s North American ice hockey rinks . It was also the location of the first Stanley Cup playoff games in 1894 and the location of the founding of the first championship ice hockey league , the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada in 1886 . Frederick Stanley , 16th Earl of Derby , the donor of the Stanley Cup , witnessed his first ice hockey game there in 1889 . In 1896 , telegraph wires were connected at the Rink to do simultaneous score - by - score description of a Stanley Cup challenge series between Montreal and Winnipeg , Manitoba teams , a first of its kind . It was located in central Montreal between Drummond Street and Stanley Street , just north of René Lévesque Boulevard ( formerly Dorchester Boulevard ) . It was located one block to the west of Dominion Square ( today ' s Dorchester Square ) , where the Montreal Winter Carnivals of the 1800s were held . The rink closed in 1937 and today the site is occupied by a parking garage . Building . Designed by Lawford & Nelson , Architects , the building was a long 252 ft x 113 ft , two - story brick edifice with a 52 ft - high pitched roof supported from within by curving wooden trusses , which arched over the entire width of the structure . Tall , round - arched windows punctuated its length and illuminated its interior , while evening skating was made possible by 500 gas - jet lighting fixtures set in coloured glass globes . At a later date , the lighting was converted to electric , making the building the first in Canada to be electrified . The ice surface measured 204 ft . by 80 ft . , dimensions very similar to today ' s National Hockey League ( NHL ) ice rinks . It was surrounded by a 10 ft . - wide platform , or promenade , which was elevated approximately 1 ft . above the ice surface and upon which spectators could stand or skaters could rest . Later , a gallery was added with a royal box for visiting dignitaries . At the time of its construction , the Rink ' s location at 49 Drummond Street ( now renumbered to 1187 ) , placed it in the centre of the English community in Montreal , in the vicinity of McGill University . The area is known today as the " Square Mile " , the area of central Montreal populated then by rich English industrialists and the budding centre of commerce in Canada . One block east was Dominion Square , where annual outdoor winter sporting events were held and later the Montreal Winter Carnival was held . Across the street to the east , the Windsor Hotel , a long - time centre of social life and meeting place of several sports organizations , was built in 1875 . Nearby is old Windsor Station , which was the eastern terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway , built in 1889 . History . The Victoria Skating Club was incorporated on June 9 , 1862 , with a sizable capitalization of $ 20 , 000 , for the purpose of buying the land and building the rink . The rink was opened in 1862 . Ice hockey . On March 3 , 1875 , the Rink hosted what has been recognized as the first indoor organized ice hockey game , between members of the Club , organized by James Creighton , a member of the Victoria Skating Club and a figure skating judge . The match lays claim to this distinction because of several factors which establish its link to modern ice hockey : it featured two teams ( nine players per side ) , goaltenders , a referee , a puck , a pre - determined set of rules , including a pre - determined length of time ( 60 minutes ) with a recorded score . Games prior to this had mostly been outdoors , with sticks and balls , with informal rules and informal team sizes . In order to limit injuries to spectators and damage to glass windows , the game was played with a wooden puck instead of a lacrosse ball , possibly the first time such an object was used . The two teams , members of the Club , included a number of McGill University students . Sticks and skates for this game were imported from Nova Scotia , including Mic - mac sticks and Starr skates . This first game was pre - announced to the general public in the pages of The ( Montreal ) " Gazette " newspaper : Victoria Rink - A game of Hockey will be played at the Victoria Skating Rink this evening , between two nines chose from among the members . Good fun may be expected , as some of the players are reputed to be exceedingly expert at the game . Some fears have been expressed on the part of intending spectators that accidents were were likely to occur through the ball flying about in too lively a manner , to the imminent danger of lookers on , but we understand that the game will be played with a flat circular piece of wood , thus preventing all danger of its leaving the surface of the ice . Subscribers will be admitted on presentation of their tickets . By moving ice hockey game indoors , the smaller dimensions of the rink initiated a major change from the outdoor version of the game , limiting organized contests to a nine - man limit per team . Until that time , outdoor games had no prescribed number of players , the number being more or less the number that could fit on a frozen pond or river and often ranged in the dozens . The nine - man per side rule would last until the 1880s , when it was reduced during the Montreal Winter Carnival Hockey Tournament to seven per side . The Rink was home to the Montreal Victorias , first organized in 1881 . Play at first was by exhibition only as there were no leagues . The Rink was used for exhibition games or as an indoor facility if the outdoor rink was not available during the annual Winter Carnivals . It was for the 1883 Carnival that hockey team sizes were reduced further , to seven per side , which was the common size for the next thirty years . Eventually the tournament play led to plans for a league . The Rink hosted the founding meeting of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada ( AHAC ) league in December 1886 . The AHAC was the second organized ice hockey league in Canada , and the first championship league . Lord Stanley , later to donate the Stanley Cup trophy , witnessed his first ice hockey game at the Victoria Rink on February 4 , 1889 , seeing the Victorias defeat the Montreal Hockey Club 2 – 1 . According to " The Globe " , " the vice - regal party was immensely delighted with it . " The Rink would later host the first Stanley Cup playoffs in 1894 . By that time , the building had gained an elevated balcony for additional spectators and a projecting loge , precursor of today ' s luxury boxes . In 1896 , the rink was connected by telegraph to distribute the Montreal - Winnipeg Stanley Cup series score immediately . This is considered the first ice hockey broadcast by wire . Today . As ice hockey increased in popularity , the Victoria ' s hockey clubs moved on to ice hockey arenas with larger seating capacities such as the Montreal Arena , and later the Montreal Forum . By the 1920s , the building was no longer used for ice hockey and it was left to neglect and to deteriorate . The gallery became unsafe to use . The Victoria closed for good in 1937 and a parking garage was built in its place . Today , the highest level of ice hockey is played nearby at the Bell Centre , the home arena of the NHL Montreal Canadiens , located two blocks south . Ice skating for pleasure remains a popular pastime and an indoor ice skating rink exists nearby in the concourse of the ' Le 1000 de la Gauchetiere ' office building , open year - round . IIHF recognition . In 2002 , the International Ice Hockey Federation ( IIHF ) announced that it would acknowledge the site of the Rink with " a commemorative plaque or other historical site marker to remind the passers - by of the existence of the Victoria Skating Rink , the birthplace of organized hockey . " The commemoration has been marked in two ways . On May 22 , 2008 , a commemorative plaque was dedicated at the Bell Centre , along with a plaque honouring James Creighton . Further , the IIHF created the Victoria Cup , a trophy named for the arena , for which - - along with 1 million Swiss francs - - one National Hockey League team and the champion of the European Champions Hockey League play off annually .