Snapshots in History: November 26: Happy Birthday, NHL!
November 26, 2013 | John P. | Comments (0)
On November 26 and beyond, take a moment to acknowledge the founding of the National Hockey League (NHL) on November 26, 1917. The NHL, arguably the premier professional ice hockey sports league on the planet, resulted out of the suspension of the preceding National Hockey Association that had been founded in 1909. The original NHL teams were the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and the Quebec Bulldogs. The Quebec Bulldogs were initially unable to play so the league established another team, the Toronto Arenas, to compete in the new league. If you are a hockey history enthusiast, then consider the following titles available for borrowing from Toronto Public Library collections:
The NHL: a centennial history / D’Arcy Jenish, 2013. Book. Adult Non-Fiction. 796.96264 JEN
Hockey historian Jenish is the first out of the gate with his near-centennial history of the National Hockey League. Jenish re-tells the history of the NHL with unprecedented access to NHL documents and with in-depth interviews with former president John Ziegler and current commissioner Gary Bettman amongst other NHL officials, general managers, coaches, and player representatives. Two ongoing themes permeate the NHL’s history: survival and expansion. Jenish covers the league’s expansion in 1967, its merger with the World Hockey Association in 1979, and the subsequent player-owner conflicts, free agency, salary cap, and lockouts.
The lords of the rinks: the emergence of the National Hockey League, 1875-1936 / John Chi-Kit Wong, 2005. Book. Adult Non-Fiction. 796.96264 WON
Sports management academic Wong followed the establishment of hockey within an amateur framework in the late 19th century. The first recorded game was played in Montreal in 1875 and the first set of rules was published in 1877. Wong told the story of the schism between amateur and professional hockey circles in the early 20th century, and the formation of the NHL after the suspension of the National Hockey Association to sever relations with Edward Livingstone and his team, the Toronto Shamrocks. As the NHL expanded from 4 to 10 teams in the 1920s, the author showed interest in a clearer delineation between capital (the team owners) and labour (the players). Wong undertook detailed research in the NHL archives, analyzing many letters, memos, telegrams, meeting minutes and other documents. The author pondered how hockey might have turned out differently had a team promotion and relegation model been instituted similar to that of professional soccer in European countries.
