William Fairbrother

Last updated

William Fairbrother was a Canadian ice hockey player who is credited with inventing the ice hockey net in the 1890s. During the 1880s, Fairbrother played for Beamsville, Ontario's Men's Hockey team. [1] At first, two poles or two rocks served as goals, and an official would watch to see if a puck passed through the goal. [1] However, disputes arose over goals and biased officiating. [1] Then, Fairbrother, who played as a goaltender, got a net from a local fisherman and strung it from the poles. [1] Players were immediately more satisfied with the new system. [1]

The Ontario Hockey Association soon thereafter credited Fairbrother with the idea. [1] Hockey Hall of Fame records indicate that Fairbrother's idea happened in 1897 or 1898. [1] The Jordan Historical Museum of the Twenty held an exhibit on Fairbrother. [2] In February 1997, the town Lincoln, Ontario designated Fairbrother's home a historical site. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ice hockey</span> Team sport played on ice using sticks, skates, and a puck

Ice hockey is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hockey sticks to control, advance, and shoot a closed, vulcanized, rubber disc called a "puck" into the other team's goal. Each goal is worth one point. The team which scores the most goals is declared the winner. In a formal game, each team has six skaters on the ice at a time, barring any penalties, one of whom is the goaltender. Ice hockey is a full contact sport, and is considered to be one of the more physically demanding team sports. It is distinct from field hockey, in which players move a ball around a non-frozen pitch using field hockey sticks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Gretzky</span> Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1961)

Wayne Douglas Gretzky is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One", he has been called the greatest ice hockey player ever by many sportswriters, players, The Hockey News, and the NHL itself, based on extensive surveys of hockey writers, ex-players, general managers and coaches. Gretzky is the leading career goal scorer, assist producer and point scorer in NHL history, and has more career assists than any other player has total points. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, Gretzky tallied over 100 points in 15 professional seasons, 13 of them consecutive. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 All-Star records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goal (ice hockey)</span> Point scoring in ice hockey

In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck entirely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to. Typically, a player on the team attempting to score shoots the puck with their stick towards the goal net opening, and a player on the opposing team called a goaltender tries to block the shot to prevent a goal from being scored against their team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goaltender</span> Person who tends the goal in ice hockey

In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near the area in front of the net called the goal crease. Goaltenders tend to stay at or beyond the top of the crease to cut down on the angle of shots. In the modern age of goaltending there are two common styles, butterfly and hybrid. Because of the power of shots, the goaltender wears special equipment to protect the body from direct impact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broomball</span> Winter team sport

Broomball is a both a recreational and organized competitive winter team sport played on ice or snow and is played either indoors or outdoors, depending on climate and location. It is a ball sport and is most popularly played in Canada and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln, Ontario</span> Town in Ontario, Canada

Lincoln is a town on Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. The town's administrative and commercial centre is in the community of Beamsville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syl Apps</span> Canadian ice hockey player and politician

Charles Joseph Sylvanus Apps, was a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1936 to 1948, an Olympic pole vaulter and a Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament in Ontario. In 2017 Apps was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

David Andrew Taylor is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Los Angeles Kings from 1977 to 1994. He featured in the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals with the Kings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babe Dye</span> Canadian ice hockey player (1898–1962

Cecil Henry "Babe" Dye was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Toronto St. Patricks/Maple Leafs, Hamilton Tigers, Chicago Black Hawks, and the New York Americans between 1919 and 1930. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Dye was known as an excellent stick-handler, and goal-scorer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beamsville, Ontario</span> Unincorporated community in Ontario, Canada

Beamsville is a community that is part of the town of Lincoln, Ontario, Canada. It is located along the southern shore of Lake Ontario and lies within the fruit belt of the Niagara Peninsula. It contains century-old brick buildings, an old-fashioned downtown area with barbershops, women's dress shops, a bakery, a print shop, restaurants, banks, and other businesses, and plenty of orchards and vineyards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League</span> Canadian developmental junior ice hockey league

The Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) is a Canadian developmental junior ice hockey league. The league has primarily had teams in the Greater Toronto Area, Central Ontario, Northeastern Ontario, and Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ringette</span> Team sport played on ice

Ringette is a non-contact winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female competitors, it has expanded to now include participants of all gender identities. Although ringette looks ice hockey-like and is played on ice hockey rinks, the sport has its own lines and markings, and its offensive and defensive play bear a closer resemblance to lacrosse or basketball.

Ice hockey is believed to have evolved from simple stick and ball games played in the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere, primarily bandy, hurling, and shinty. The North American sport of lacrosse was also influential. These games were brought to North America and several similar winter games using informal rules developed, such as shinny and ice polo, but were later absorbed into a new organized game with codified rules which today is ice hockey.

The origin of ice hockey was bandy, a game that has its roots in the Middle Ages. Just as for practically all other sports, the game of bandy achieved its modern form during the 19th century in England, more exactly in the Fen district on the East coast. From the Fen district the game was spread to London and from London to the Continent during the second half of the 19th century. British soldiers stationed in eastern Canada brought the game to the North American continent in the 1850s and '60s. You could find similar games there, played by immigrants and by Indians. Thus there were a number of different games played on skates with a stick and ball and with varying rules in America before ice hockey was invented.

The 1967–68 St. Louis Blues season was the inaugural season in the history of the franchise. The Blues were one of the six new teams added to the NHL in the 1967 expansion. The other franchises were the Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and California Seals. The league doubled in size from its Original Six.

The history of Black players in North American ice hockey has roots dating back to the late 19th century. The first Black ice hockey star was Herb Carnegie during the Great Depression. Willie O'Ree broke the NHL's Black color barrier with the Boston Bruins in 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex DeBrincat</span> American ice hockey player

Alexander DeBrincat is an American professional ice hockey right winger for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round, 39th overall, of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. He has previously played for the Blackhawks and the Ottawa Senators.

The 2016–17 GMHL season is the eleventh season of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL). The teams of the GMHL played 42-game schedules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vince Dunn</span> Canadian ice hockey player

Vince Dunn is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akil Thomas</span> Canadian ice hockey player

Akil Thomas is a Canadian-American professional ice hockey centre currently playing for the Ontario Reign in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a prospect to the Los Angeles Kings. Prior to the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Thomas was projected as a top eligible draft pick. He was eventually drafted in the second round, 51st overall, by the Los Angeles Kings.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Buckingham, Shane. "Lincoln touted as birthplace of the hockey net". St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  2. Edwards, Luke. "Lincoln's hockey history on display at museum". niagarathisweek. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  3. "Lincoln Bylaw" (PDF). Town Of Lincoln. Retrieved 18 October 2016.