Swedish medical doctor Carl Giden, countryman and sportswriter Patrick Houda and Montreal computer analyst Jean- Patrice Martel, 53, are putting their research on the table, ahead of a new book on the subject.
"So many people have such strong view that hockey's birthplace is Canada," said Martel, who heads up SIHR's Montreal chapter. "But my Swedish colleagues have kept looking the past 20 years and were always finding conflicting information. So they kept going. A couple of people had pointed them to the British origins, a totally different direction. But then they started to find hundreds of references. And a lot of the British ice hockey clubs had old books about where their teams had started. It was fascinating."
Gilden and Houda not only found the sport had flourished as far back as the 17th or 18th centuries, but that it was commonly called hockey. They even turned up some celebrity testimonials: * Lincolnshire Chronicle, Feb. 16, 1838: "On Saturday last, an amusing scene took place on a splendid sheet of ice which covered Croxby Pond. A large party from the neighbouring residence of Geo. Alington, Esq., of Swinhop House, drove up in sledges to the pond. The ladies were drawn upon the ice in traineau, while the gentlemen performed various feats upon their skates: after going through several quadrilles, reels and playing a warmly contested game at hockey, the party partook of a cold collation, and again stepping into their sledges, glided swiftly away.