ICE HOCKEY

HOCKEY

Women's hockey developed separately from men's hockey. Women do not seem to have played hockey widely before the modern era. Women's hockey was first played at British Universities and schools, and the first club, Molesey Ladies Hockey Club, was founded in 1887.  about everyone acknowledges Canada as the birthplace of hockey, but a new book claims the sport wasn’t invented there or anywhere in North America. Instead, a trio of hockey historians are claiming the game originated in Britain – with an iconic scientist as one of its earliest participants.

In a new book titled On The Origins Of Hockey, Society for International Hockey Research (SIHR) members Carl Giden, Patrick Houda and Jean-Patrice Martel present information pointing to Britain as the place hockey first was played. Conventional wisdom has posited Canada as the sport’s birthplace with the first game occurring in 1875, but Giden, Houda and Martel have discovered evidence the first games took place as far back as the 1790s.

Interestingly it has been found that famous naturalist Charles Darwin enjoyed the game as a player. In a letter to his son, William Erasmus Darwin, dated March 1, 1853, Darwin recalled playing games on a frozen riven in Shrewsbury, England (just east of the Welsh border) in the 1820s.