Hockey is widely considered to be Sudbury's most popular winter sport.  The first enclosed skating facility in the area, Martin's Rink, was built in 1892 and during that year, a group of men formed teams for the first game of hockey in Sudbury during the winter carnival.

The first inter-town hockey game played in Sudbury was on March 13, 1893 against Chapleau.  Sudbury won the match with a score of 2-1.

The early hockey games were much different than today's style.  The first games were played by teams of seven with no player substitutions.  Instead of three periods, there were two halves and scoring a goal was called "taking a game".  There were no linesmen and only one referee, an amateur who knew the basic rules of the game and volunteered for the task.

The first indoor rink was nothing like what we are accustomed to today.  These were unheated, wooden buildings that were numbingly cold in the winter.  There was no artificial ice, which meant that in the spring, the ice would turn to slush, making it almost impossible to play hockey (although efforts were still made).

• Establishing a Hockey League