History of ice hockey Ice hockey is considered to have evolved from stick - and - ball games , played outdoors , and adapted to the icy conditions of Canada in the 1800s . The games of British soldiers and immigrants to Canada , influenced by stick - and - ball games of First Nations , evolved to become a game played on ice skates , often played with a puck , and played with sticks made by the Mi ' kmaq of Nova Scotia . The name of hockey itself has no clear origin , though the first known mention of the word ' hockey ' in English dates to 1799 in England . Stick and ball games have a long history dating to pre - Christian times . In Europe , these games included the Irish sport of hurling , the closely related Scottish sport of shinty , and versions of field hockey , including " Bandie ball , " played in England . European immigrants to Canada brought their games with them and adapted them for icy conditions . Often these games were recreation for British soldiers on postings . In Canada , from oral histories , there is evidence of a tradition of an ancient stick and ball game played among the Mi ' kmaq First Nation in Eastern Canada . In " Legends of the Micmacs " ( 1894 ) , Silas Rand describes a Mi ' kmaq ball game people called " tooadijik " . Rand also describes a game which was played ( likely after Europe an contact ) with hurleys , called " wolchamaadijik " . Early 1800s paintings show " shinney , " an early form of ice hockey with no standard rules , being played in Nova Scotia , Canada . These early games may have also absorbed the physically aggressive aspects of what the Mi ' kmaq in Nova Scotia called " dehuntshigwa ' es " ( lacrosse ) . Games of shinney are also known to have been played on the St . Lawrence River at Montreal and Quebec City and in Kingston and Ottawa in Ontario . The number of players on these games was often large . To this day , shinny ( or shinney ) ( derived from Shinty ) is a popular Canadian term for an informal type of hockey , either on ice or as street hockey . In 1825 , Sir John Franklin wrote that " The game of hockey played on the ice was the morning sport " while on Great Bear Lake during one of his Arctic expeditions . In 1843 a British Army officer in Kingston , Ontario , wrote " Began to skate this year , improved quickly and had great fun at hockey on the ice . " An article in the " Boston Evening Gazette , " in 1859 , makes reference to an early game of hockey on ice occurring in Halifax in that year . Thomas Chandler Haliburton , in " The Attache : Second Series " , published in 1844 , reminisced about boys from King ' s College School in Windsor , Nova Scotia , playing " hurly on the long pond on the ice " when he was a student there , no later than 1810 . Based on Haliburton ' s writings , there have been claims that modern ice hockey originated in Windsor , Nova Scotia , by King ' s College students and was named after an individual , as in “ Colonel Hockey ' s game . ” Others claim that the origins of ice hockey come from games played in the area of Dartmouth and Halifax in Nova Scotia . Naming . In 1799 , William Pierre Le Cocq , in a letter written in Cheshire , Buckinghamshire , England , provides the earliest known reference to the word ' hockey ' : “ I must now describe to you the game of Hockey ; we have each a stick turning up at the end . We get a bung . There are two sides one of them knocks one way and the other side the other way . If any one of the sides makes the bung reach that end of the churchyard it is victorious . ” According to the Austin Hockey Association , the word puck is derived from the Scottish Gaelic word " puc " or the Irish word " poc , " meaning to poke , punch or deliver a blow . This definition is explained in a book published in 1910 entitled " English as we Speak it in Ireland " by P . W . Joyce . It defines the word puck as " . . . The blow given by a hurler to the ball with his caman or hurley is always called a puck . " Foundation of modern ice hockey . While the game ' s origins may lie elsewhere , Montreal is at the centre of the development of the modern sport of ice hockey . On March 3 , 1875 the first organized indoor game was played at Montreal ' s Victoria Skating Rink between two sides of nine - player teams including James Creighton and several McGill University students . Instead of a ball , the game featured the use of a " puck " , the purpose of which was to prevent the puck from exiting the rink , which did not have boards , and hitting spectators . The goals were goal posts 6 ft apart , and the game lasted 60 minutes . In 1877 , several McGill students , including Creighton , Henry Joseph , Richard F . Smith , W . F . Robertson , and W . L . Murray codified seven ice hockey rules , based on the rules of field hockey . The first ice hockey club , McGill University Hockey Club , was founded in 1877 followed by the Montreal Victorias , organized in 1881 . The game became so popular that the first " world championship " of ice hockey was featured in Montreal ' s annual Winter Carnival in 1883 and the McGill team captured the " Carnival Cup " . The number of players per side was reduced to seven , and the games now organized into thirty - minute halves . The positions were now named with left and right wing , centre , rover , point and cover point , and goalkeeper . In 1885 , the Montreal City Hockey League was established . In 1886 , the teams which competed at the Winter Carnival would organize the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada ( AHAC ) league and play a regular season composed of " challenges " to the existing champion . In Europe , it is believed that in 1885 the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club was formed to play the first Ice Hockey Varsity Match against traditional rival Cambridge in St . Moritz , Switzerland , although this is undocumented . This match was won by the Oxford Dark Blues , 6 - 0 . The first photographs and team lists date from 1895 . This rivalry continues , claimed to be the oldest hockey rivalry in history . It was not the only game on ice derived from stick - and - ball games played in Europe . In this time period , the game of Bandie ball was adapted to the ice , evolving into Bandy , which endured in popularity in Europe into the 1900s , and remains popular today in Russia . In 1888 , the new Governor General of Canada , Lord Stanley of Preston , whose sons and daughter became hockey enthusiasts , attended the Montreal Winter Carnival tournament and was impressed with the hockey spectacle . In 1892 , recognizing that there was no recognition for the best team in all of Canada ( various leagues had championship trophies ) , he purchased a decorative bowl for use as a trophy . The Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup , which later became more famously known as the Stanley Cup , was first awarded in 1893 to the Montreal HC , champions of the AHAC . It continues to be awarded today to the National Hockey League ' s championship team . Stanley ' s son Arthur helped organize the Ontario Hockey Association and Stanley ' s daughter Isobel was one of the first women to play ice hockey . By 1893 , there were almost a hundred teams in Montreal alone , and leagues throughout Canada . Winnipeg hockey players had incorporated cricket pads to better protect the goaltender ' s legs . They also introduced the " scoop " shot , later known as the wrist shot . Goal nets became a standard feature of the Canadian Amateur Hockey League ( CAHL ) in 1900 . Left and right defence began to replace the point and cover point positions in 1906 in the OHA . A similar sport had been popular in the United States ( US ) during this time called " ice polo " , but by 1893 the first ice hockey matches were being played at Yale University and Johns Hopkins University . Ice polo , played in the New England area , would die out as Americans adopted ice hockey . In 1896 , the first ice hockey league in the US was formed . The U . S . Amateur Hockey League was founded in New York City shortly after the opening of the St . Nicholas Rink and its artificial ice rink . Lord Stanley ' s five sons were instrumental in bringing ice hockey to Europe , beating a court team ( which included both the future Edward VII and George V ) at Buckingham Palace in 1895 . By 1903 a five - team league had been founded . The Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace was founded in 1908 to govern international competitions , and the first European championships were won by Great Britain in 1910 . In the mid - 20th century , the League became the International Ice Hockey Federation . Professional era . Professional ice hockey has existed from the early 1900s . By 1902 , the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League was the first to openly employ professionals . The league joined with teams in Michigan and Ontario to form the first fully professional International Professional Hockey League ( IPHL ) , in 1904 . The IPHL hired numerous players from Canada and Canadian leagues in response started to openly pay players , who played alongside amateurs . The IPHL , cut off from its biggest source of players , disbanded in 1907 . By then , several professional hockey leagues were operating in Canada , with leagues in the Manitoba , Ontario and Quebec provinces of Canada . In 1910 , the National Hockey Association ( NHA ) was formed in Montreal . The NHA would further refine the rules , dropping the " rover " position , splitting the game into three 20 - minute periods and introducing the system of minor and major penalties . After re - organizing as the National Hockey League ( NHL ) in 1917 , the league expanded into the United States in 1924 . Professional ice hockey leagues developed later in Europe . The game of bandy was still popular and amateur leagues leading to national championships were in place . One of the first was the Swiss National League A , founded in 1916 . Today , professional leagues have been introduced in most countries of Europe . The top leagues in Europe include the Kontinental Hockey League , the Czech Extraliga , the Finnish SM - liiga and the Swedish Elitserien .