On the Origin of Hockey

by Carl Giden, Patrick Houda, Jean-Patrice Martel

From the back cover of On the Origin of Hockey : The debate about the origin of hockey appears to be as old as the debate about the origin of species, though if we compare the number of pages dedicated in every day’s newspapers to hockey and those dedicated to animals and plants, the relative importance of each quickly becomes obvious (well, to hockey fans at least). Hockey historians have been looking for the smallest piece of evidence that would reveal the secrets of the origin of hockey. However a wealth of evidence is available - as soon as one starts looking in the right place. This book does not present a new theory based on slivers of evidence. It is a presentation of known facts about the origins of hockey, based on tens of thousands of words, from hundreds of sources, written about hockey played on the ice, with skates, before Montreal’s first recorded game. Carl Gidén is a medical doctor who has been researching the origins of hockey for more than two decades. He made news in 2008, together with Patrick Houda, when they announced their discovery of a reference to ice hockey played in 1839 on Chippawa Creek (Niagara Falls, Ontario). Sports journalist Patrick Houda has also been researching the origins of hockey for over two decades and teamed up with Gidén on several projects since the mid-1990s. It was the two of them who, from Sweden, wrote biographies for the main Canadian pioneers of hockey, including the eighteen players who participated in the first recorded game played in Montreal, in 1875. As a member (past president) of the Society for International Hockey Research, Montreal-region-based Jean-Patrice Martel was most impressed by the findings of Gidén and Houda, and always pleaded that they should publish them. The trio finally teamed up to produce this book, with the hopes of reinvigorating the debate on hockey’s origins and setting it on sound foundations.

286 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2014

Reviews

[Matt]

The authors examine the origins of hockey, and challenge the narrative that the March 3, 1875 game in Montreal is the first hockey game. Going through British newspapers, journals, and books, they present evidence of similar games stretching back to the 1820s, with references to games that partially match the description of hockey back into the late 18th century. They are careful to qualify that this does not make any definite claims, but instead present a compelling argument with substantial primary sources backing it up. It does make for a strong case, and is certainly worth reading, though one should be aware it is very much an academic book, complete with footnotes.

[Brendan Sheehan]

It started out as a tough read, but I eventually got a handle of the academic approach of the authors. It was a quick, extremely well-sourced read that establishes, unfortunately, that hockey was an English invention that came to Canada.

I would tell hockey fans it is initially slow and the accounts of the various English hockey accounts seem repetitive. However, there is a massive amount of evidence in a short book and the authors have concise well-argued theses for each chapter.