Canada Canada is a North American country , bordered by the United - States . Its capital is Ottawa , Ontario and there are a little over 35 million inhabitants . The largest cities are Toronto ( Maple Leafs ) and Montréal ( Le Canadien ) . Organisation . Hockey is hugely popular in Canada , to the point of having been named the official national sport . Currently , the top league in the country is the National Hockey League ( a league established in both Canada and the United States . Despite the immense popularity of the sport in the country and the large number of top - level pro players , paradoxally , professional hockey is not very developped . The NHL only has 7 canadian teams out of its 30 members : Calgary , Edmonton , Montreal , Ottawa , Toronto , Vancouver , and Winnipeg ; there is speculation that Quebec City will be getting a team in the near future do to financial problems in other NHL cities , such as Long Island ' s Islanders , Florida ' s Panthers , and Pheonix ' s Coyotes . The country has other teams in minor North American professional leagues , but there too , they are under - represented comparatively to the U . S . - based teams . The lack of large enough cities and potential investors , along with the high level of taxation in Canada are usually regarded as the main causes of the situation . The country , however , has some very strong semi - professional and amateur leagues . Ice hockey in the country is governed by Hockey Canada . History of hockey in Canada . The early years . Ice hockey appeared in Canada early in the 1800s . The original game was pretty much adaptation to European sports of hurley , shinty or field hockey to the winter conditions of the new home of Irish , Scottish and English settlers , respectively . 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 . " A Boston Evening Gazette article from 1859 makes reference to an early game of hockey on ice occurring in Halifax in that year . Games in Kingston and Halifax are the earliest recorded hockey games . Hockey clubs began to appear . The first was the [ [ McGill University Hockey CluThe bowl , initially known as The Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup and more famously later as the [ [ Stanley Cup ] ] , was first awarded in [ [ 1893 ] ] to the [ [ Montreal HC ] ] . If it was originally intended as a challenge cup for champions of various leagues across the country , it became the " de facto " championship trophy of the [ [ National Hockey League ] ] in [ [ 1926 ] ] , and " de jure " in [ [ 1947 ] ] . Professional hockey . In [ [ 1904 ] ] , [ [ International Professional Hockey League ] ] ( IPHL ) was formed in the [ [ United States ] ] . That league boasted the first professional team from Canada , the [ [ Canadian Soo ] ] . The league hired amateur players from Canada ; that forced canadians to move from amateurism to professionalism as well , in order to keep their top players in the country . The [ [ Manitoba Professional Hockey League ] ] holds the distinction of being the first league to go professional in the country , in [ [ 1905 ] ] ; that league was essentially made out of the teams of the amateur [ [ Manitoba Hockey Association ] ] . The [ [ National Hockey Association ] ] , precursor of the [ [ National Hockey League ] ] , was founded in [ [ 1910 ] ] . International . On the international level , Canada is very competitive , continuously ranked in the elite of the world and part of the [ [ Big Seven ] ] . Some great Canadian players . A very large number of very great talent have come from Canada through the years ; they have , at every moment of the history of the NHL , outnumbered the number of American and European players , even though the country only has seven franchises out of thirty within its boundaries . Among the very best players to date are : Largest Cities . " Population of Metropolitan Areas ( 2006 ) " See also . [ [ Category : Hockey Countries ] ] [ [ Category : Ice hockey in Canada ] ] [ [ Category : Countries ] ]