James Laverance
Registered User
- Feb 12, 2013
- 880
- 658
This is the oldest reference I found to an Indoor "Ice-Hockey" game in the United States from Le Mars, Iowa in 1884.
"On January, 12, 1884, in (You guessed it!) little Le Mars, Iowa, where everyday citizens paid a dime at Adams' rink to cheer on their town's new hockey team against the neighboring village of Seney. (Players paid 15 cents to play, thereby maintaining their amateur status.) Le Mars may have won the honor of hosting the first American ice hockey match, but, alas, it lost the game. Soon after, Adams went all in for hockey by removing the roller skating section, the roof posts and expanding the ice to 80 by 140 feet. Two rematches followed that winter, with one tie and another defeat. Le Mars conceded the championship to the Seney players at a convivial banquet at the local Albion House."
Iowa town stakes claim to 'Birthplace of American Ice Hockey'
Lemars Daily Sentinel January 15, 1884
The British in Iowa
by Van der Zee, Jacob, b. 1884; State Historical Society of Iowa
Also there was a game the following year on January 17th 1885 between the English Boy's and the Le Mars public school boy's.
Lemars Evening Sentinel Thursday, January 15, 1885
"On January, 12, 1884, in (You guessed it!) little Le Mars, Iowa, where everyday citizens paid a dime at Adams' rink to cheer on their town's new hockey team against the neighboring village of Seney. (Players paid 15 cents to play, thereby maintaining their amateur status.) Le Mars may have won the honor of hosting the first American ice hockey match, but, alas, it lost the game. Soon after, Adams went all in for hockey by removing the roller skating section, the roof posts and expanding the ice to 80 by 140 feet. Two rematches followed that winter, with one tie and another defeat. Le Mars conceded the championship to the Seney players at a convivial banquet at the local Albion House."
Iowa town stakes claim to 'Birthplace of American Ice Hockey'
The British in Iowa
by Van der Zee, Jacob, b. 1884; State Historical Society of Iowa
Also there was a game the following year on January 17th 1885 between the English Boy's and the Le Mars public school boy's.
Lemars Evening Sentinel Thursday, January 15, 1885
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