Hockey's Home, Halifax-Dartmouth: The Origin of Canada's Game

Ian A. Andrews is a high-school social sciences teacher and editor of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association’s Focus.

The birthplace of hockey in Canada has not yet been firmly established.
It could have been in Kingston, Ontario, or Montreal. It could also have
been on Howard Dill’s pond near Windsor, Nova Scotia. In this very
convincing book, Dartmouth lawyer Martin Jones, a passionate lover of
hockey, proposes that it was in the Halifax/Dartmouth area of Nova
Scotia.

As early as the 1700s in the Dartmouth area the Mi’kmaq played a game
on ice using a wooden puck. Jones presents a plausible case for hockey
(ricket) being played on ice with sticks (hurlies) as early as 1827.
Certainly, the presence of soldiers and sailors at the Halifax fortress,
the construction of the Shubenacadie Canal, and the preponderance of
outdoor winter activities provided the perfect conditions for the
introduction of the game of hockey in this locale.

Jones’s thesis relies heavily on the works of historians C. Bruce
Fergusson and John P. Martin, and on local newspaper and magazine
accounts. Although much of his evidence is circumstantial, the text is
supported with vintage photographs, posters, artifacts, newspaper
clippings, and biographies.

A useful bibliography and appendixes (which include the 1877 and 1905
Rules of Hockey as well as instructions on how to build your own
backyard hockey rink) add to the book’s eclectic appeal.

Hockey aficionados of all ages will enjoy this book. Highly
recommended.