Ice Hockey: Shinty's Frozen Cousin?
Kathleen Schimmel
2025-05-24 21:06:00
Count answers: 6
Scottish emigrants to Canada played shinty on ice in winter, giving rise to the game of ice hockey.
Shinty is probably the grandfather of Canadian ice hockey.
The Scottish shinty connection has been made in a number of Canadian centres, including the vigorous Scots community of Kingston, Ontario, where a newspaper report from 1899 states: Hockey is a graduate of old man shinny.
This is supported by other reports of sons of Scotland playing shinty on the ice in front of the town as early as January 1839.
Like in shinty, there is a distinctive curve on the bottom of the stick.
It is pretty clear that the Scots went over to North America and took the game of shinty with them.
In winter they played on ice and adapted by adding skates, and I think our claim to have given the world ice hockey is a strong one.
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