First Hockey Game: Where Was It?

And so it was on that night at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal on March 3, 1875, that two squads of nine players who were from the skating club that called the rink home, made history even if it didn't end exactly as they had anticipated. The game, organized by Halifax native James G.A. Creighton came to a premature halt when other members of the skating club, enraged by the length of the game and the fact a bunch of men skating around trying to whack a wooden disc into a goal were impeding their ability to skate freely, tangled with the players. The Montreal Evening Witness newspaper indicated the game ended at 9:30 p.m. and spectators seemed pleased with the display. Regardless of the outcome and, frankly, regardless of the disturbance that brought to a close the historic tilt that night at the two-story brick edifice in downtown Montreal, the game would start a country's love affair with indoor hockey that has continued undeterred for almost a century and a half.

The first recorded game in the UK took place in 1861 at Blackheath in southeast London. The game was played on a grass field and the rules were still evolving at this time.