The history of ice hockey has long been debated.  Who was the first to play the game, and where it was first played.  European colonists brought English field hockey and Irish hurley with them to Canada.  Lacrosse had already been invented and the Micmac tribe of Nova Scotia was known to have played a similar game on ice using various animal knucklebone, a piece of wood or "horse apples" as pucks.  It can be proven that the sport of ice hockey as we know it today was developed in Canada during the 19th Century.

The 19th Century developments�

March 3, 1875 - The first recorded occurrence of organized indoor ice hockey took place in Montreal

1877 - An exhibition game was played under the first published hockey rules

1883 - Montreal Winter Carnival's feature is a game of hockey

1888 - Queen Victoria appointed Lord Stanley of Preston to be Governor General of Canada.  He and his family attended Montreal Winter Carnival and instantly became avid hockey fans

1890's - Railroads allowed teams to travel and the game spread west across Canada

1893 - A team from Winnepeg travel east for exhibition games, they bring with them two new innovations-the goalie pad and the wrist shot

1898 - Rules are further standardized- First off, goalies were not allowed to drop to the ice when making saves. Seven men aside- goalie, three forwards, a rover (forward and defense) and two defense