The History of the Hockey Net

From rocks to regulation Imagine sitting down to cheer the boys on in the Stanley Cup Finals this year, holding your breath, watching as the bearded and bleeding Staal, Brind Amour, and Smyth battled for wicked shots on - rock? Yep, rock. That's exactly what you would've been watching if hockey nets hadn't evolved from the 1800s. Would've made for interesting and surely controversial outcomes in many a playoff game, no? The good ol' days Before the days of mandatory red-colored cross bars and goal posts composed only of the finest NHL approved materials, before the days of luxurious three-ply twisted twine hockey nets with a tensile strength of a shocking 700 pounds, and long before the concept of a fair and visible goal line was even a thought in the minds of those early hockey players, there were rocks in place of hockey nets. And that's it.

The lucky referee
The first hockey goals were nothing more than two rocks placed on the ice at each end of the rink through which players made shots on goal, just as they do now. The object of the game was essentially the same as it is today, however it's certain that the results of the hockey games were slightly different; and it's probably safe to assume that they were just a touch higher in final scores.

A legend is born
Hockey nets were invented soon after the introduction of two goal posts, which were used after the effectiveness of the rock goal markers seemed to finally prove unfair and slightly inaccurate. Deserving credit for the creation of the hockey net are the Niagara players of the Southern Ontario Hockey Association, with their game-changing idea dating all the way back to 1896. In order to avoid further arguments over fair goals, they simply tied a fishing net between the two goal posts to form the first true hockey net. The idea soon spread across Canada, and thus, the hockey net became an essential staple in the game.