Parks Canada and the 2010 Winter Games

Canadian Sports Heritage - Athletes of National Historic Significance

James George Aylwin Creighton (1850-1930)
The Ultimate Hockey Dad

"Hockey Match, Victoria Rink, Montreal," composite photograph Photographer: William Notman and Son, Montreal, 1893.
© Reproduced with the permission of Library and Archives Canada. Source: Library and Archives Canada

James Creighton was an athlete who loved hockey. Recognized as the “father of organized ice hockey,” he popularized the game, formalized its rules and spurred development of the sport.

Born and raised in Halifax, Creighton graduated from Dalhousie College and briefly worked on surveys for the Intercolonial railway under the renowned Sandford Fleming. He earned a law degree at McGill University and was called to the Québec bar in 1880. At that time, he was a journalist in Montréal, often covering parliamentary matters. This combination of education and experience led to his appointment as Law Clerk of the Senate in 1882, a position he held for 48 years.

Having been exposed to a variety of winter sports as a boy in Halifax Creighton later put together informal hockey games with friends from McGill University in Montreal. In 1875, he captained the first regular hockey club in Canada and organized the first exhibition game, played indoors at Victoria Skating Rink with a small wooden disk, forerunner of the puck. The match was exciting to watch and sparked public interest and the formation of more teams. Creighton was probably as responsible for pioneering the modern rules of hockey and they were published in The Montréal Gazette in 1877.

In Ottawa, he organized another hockey team, two members of which were sons of Lord Stanley, then Governor General of Canada. Stanley became enthralled with the game and, in 1892, donated a trophy for amateur ice hockey champions. Thus, through Creighton’s influence another legendary icon of Canadian and world sport history was born.

That influence continues to be felt to this day. Hockey is officially recognized as Canada’s national winter sport, and is a premier event of the Winter Olympics.