February 1 Image of the Day

A great depiction of outdoor hockey in 1884 at McGill University

Look at this crowd! This is in the nineteenth-century for heaven's sake. Do you think that sports were not an event back then? Playing hockey on the skating rink at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This action photo of the McGill University men’s hockey team was taken on the McGill campus by Alexander Henderson during the 1884 Winter Carnival Hockey Tournament in Montreal. It is believed to be the earliest known photograph of a hockey game in action. Contributed by Alexander Henderson. It looks like they flooded the football field (notice the goal posts) to make the ice rink. Remember McGill was quite an important contributor to inspiring Americans to new rules of a game that influenced innovators like Walter Camp, when the University's early gridiron players traveled to play Harvard in May of 1874.

There had to be quite a bit of work to clear the outdoor ice of snow (notice the large piles in the forefront and left hand side.) This was most likely done by hand, possibly by the players and fans prior to the contest, and as far as ice prep? There were no Zamboni machines back in that day, LoL.

The Montreal Winter Carnival Ice Hockey Tournaments were very important to establishing organized hockey. The tourneys were a series of annual ice hockey challenges held in the mid-1880s as a part of the Montreal Winter Carnival. This 1884 tournament was the second such held and these events are considered to be the first championship ice hockey tournaments and the predecessor to the first championship ice hockey league, the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada.

The 1884 event was a tough nut as rainy weather, really played havok with ice conditions. The tournament was the first appearance of a group called the Ottawa Hockey Club (which would eventually field a team in the National Hockey League, the Ottawa Senators) in competitive play. The club made it to the final game before losing to the Victorias 1–0.

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