About America's First Hockey Game
St. Paul’s School and hockey have been synonymous since November 17, 1883
The first recorded hockey game in American history was played on November 17, 1883, at the Lower School Pond of St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. Ever since, St. Paul’s School is credited as the birthplace of hockey in the United States and has earned the nickname “the cradle of American hockey,”
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Black Ice Pond Hockey Association describes the contest as the first organized hockey game ever played in the United States. St. Paul's school recognizes its as the first organized hockey game in the United States. New England Historical Society defines it as the first ice hockey game in America.
In 1883, students from St. Paul's School in Concord began playing a form of ice hockey after being introduced to the game by a student from Canada. The students adapted the game from both field hockey and Canadian ice hockey, creating what became known as "ice polo" or "ice hockey." They formed teams and began playing on the school's Lower Pond.
At the time, ice hockey was still an emerging sport, heavily influenced by its Canadian origins. Informal games had been played in the U.S. throughout the 1800s, but St. Paul’s School is credited with taking the crucial step of organizing the sport on a formal level.
What makes this significant is that they established a formal organization called the Amateur Hockey Association, which is considered the first hockey association in the United States. This predated even the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (formed in 1886), making it a pioneering organization in North American hockey.
The St. Paul's School students developed their own set of rules, which differed somewhat from the Canadian version of the game. They used a rubber ball or a square piece of wood as a puck rather than the flat circular puck used in Canada. The equipment and some of the rules were closer to field hockey adapted to ice, but the fundamental elements of hockey were present.
Eleven players on a side and goal posts to be ten feet apart. The puck was then called the “block.” Sportswriters called St. Paul’s “the cradle of American hockey” under the guidance and coaching of Malcolm K. Gordon of the Form of 1887 and faculty 1889-1917.
The game was between two teams of students, with nine players on each team. It was played using a flat block of wood as a puck, and the rules were based on those of the game of lacrosse. The match ended in a 1-1 tie. From those icy roots the school went on to beat college teams from Princeton and Harvard. Hall of Fame member Hobey Baker who started at St. Paul’s, is now a patron saint of pond hockey.
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Hobey Baker, who enrolled at the school in 1903, became a hockey legend under the guidance of coach Malcolm Gordon, sometimes called “The Father of American Hockey.” Though Baker arrived two decades after the 1883 game, his success—including leading the varsity team at age 14 and later starring at Princeton—helped cement Concord’s place in hockey lore.
So, while this first recorded hockey game in America was played in 1883, it wasn't until the 1890s that the sport really began to take off in the United States. Thanks to the efforts of Canadian immigrants and the construction of artificial ice rinks, ice hockey quickly became a popular winter sport in the United States.
Those first hockey games played in the early 1880s took place on the same pond as today, and that connection is maintained each winter when St. Paul’s School students put skates to the ice on Lower School Pond. Today, Concord honors this heritage through events like the 1883 Black Ice Pond Hockey Championship, a modern tournament that nods to that November day when the sport took root on American ice.
St. Paul’s School and hockey have been synonymous since November 17, 1883 when the school community gathered on the Lower Pond to witness the first organized hockey game ever played in the United States. Ice hockey is now one of the most popular sports in the United States, with millions of players and fans nationwide.
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