Ice hockey has been a major winter preoccupation of Canada's male youth for almost a century and is now played seriously in 20 countries, including the U.S.A. The word "hockey" itself was probably derived from the French "hoquet" for "shepherd's crook," referring to the shape of the stick. There is evidence that New York Dutch and New Englanders also played a game similar to hockey during colonial times, but these were more formless affairs. Ice hockey as we know it was first played in Montreal in 1875, with a set of rules formalized by J.G.A. Creighton, a McGill student (Marsh).
The first organized team came into being in 1879 as the McGill University Hockey Club. The first "world championship" was held in 1883 at the Montreal Ice Carnival and was won by McGill. The first national association was known as the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada and was formed in 1886 by representatives from Quebec City, Montreal, and Ottawa. A group of colleges, universities, and military and athletic clubs formed the Ontario Hockey Association in 1890. The first Stanley Cup game was played in 1893, and Montreal AAA was victorious before a crowd of 5000 spectators (Marsh).
The Montreal Maroons entered the National Hockey League in 1924 as the league successfully moved into the lucrative urban market of the United States, adding the Boston Bruins (1924), the New York Americans (1925), the Pittsburgh Pirates (1925), the New York Rangers (1926), the Chicago Black Hawks (1926), and the Detroit Cougars (1926). Even then, nearly all of the players came from Canada. The NHL then dominated hockey, monopolized players, and controlled salaries and player movement. While a few exceptional players were paid up to $10,000 per season, the average salary in the 1920s stood at about $900. After 1945, the NHL teams had exclusive control over the future careers of boys from age 15. The sole purpose of amateur junior hockey became the development o...