The Connection of Indigenous Culture and Hockey: 10 Fun Facts

By Abby Farrell

November is Native American Heritage Month, and many people may not know that hockey got its start within Indigenous tribes. Here are 10 fun facts about how hockey got its start and its connection to Indigenous culture.

1. Though some trace hockey back to European or Canadian origins, the Lakota Sioux tribe was known to have played shinny as early as the 1690s.

2. Hockey was most notably known by the nickname “shinny,” which is a name reportedly given to the sport by European settlers because of its similarity to a Scottish sport called “shinty.”

3. Shinny was first played on frozen ponds using wooden sticks that were carved from trees and painted with bright colors. Pucks were made from various materials such as frozen apples, wood, carved bone, sewn animal hide or buckskin.

4. The Iroquois carved animal bones to use as skates and would often use them to hunt deer by chasing them across the ice.

5. Though shinny was the most common name for the early versions of what would later become hockey, the sport had many different names across various tribes such as “tikauwich” among the Chumash, “ohonistuts” among the Cheyenne, and “gugahawat” among the Arapaho.

6. The name hockey is believed to come from the Iroquois word “hoghee,” which translates to “it hurt.”

7. Shinny was played with two teams of 10 to 50 players who would compete to pass a ball through the opponent’s goal, much like modern-day hockey. Players were also allowed to kick the ball but could not handle the ball with their hands.

8. Among some tribes, shinny was played by women much more often than men.

9. Clarence “Taffy” Abel became the first Indigenous athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics in 1924, where he won silver with the U.S. men’s hockey team. He was also the first Indigenous athlete to win the Stanley Cup in 1928 as a member of the New York Rangers.

10. Abby Roque, a Wahnapitae First Nation member, was the first Indigenous athlete to play for the U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.