Hocky was believed to be Canada's national sport but it wasn't, Lacross
was. The name hockey originates from the Frence word hoquet which means the shape of the hockey stick.
In the early 19th century the British Canadian soldiers played it on ice in Halifax and Kingston during their free time.
But the first actual game of hockey like the games we watch on t.v.
now was played in Monterel in 1875. A McGill University student named J.G.A. Creighton made rules and goles for the game and
those rules have stuck ever sence. He also replaced the wodden ball for a flat wooden disk called a puck, he did this to prevent
it from bounceing around so much.The goals where just wooden posts without nets.
In the mid 19th century people started playing 4 money. Most games where
played on rinks which back then where all outdoor patches of ice. The boarders where made from snowbanks pilled on the side
from the snow cleared off the ice. Most of the people that played hockey where university students, military troops, and athletic
clubs.
In 1893 the Governor, General Lord Stanly donated a trophy to the winners
of the championship game. They named it the Stanly Cup after him. The orignial Stanly cup was put up on display in
the Hockey Hall of Fame, it's just a silver bowl which is way smaller then the Stanly Cups they award now. The orignial Stanly
Cup is the oldest trophy in Canada, and it was first awarded to the Montreal AAA in 1893.