<P> At the time of its construction, the rink's location at 49 Drummond Street (now renumbered to 1187) placed it in the centre of the English community in Montreal, in the vicinity of McGill University . The area is known today as the "Square Mile", the area of central Montreal populated then by rich English industrialists and the budding centre of commerce in Canada . One block east was Dominion Square, where annual outdoor winter sporting events and later the Montreal Winter Carnival were held . Across the street to the east, the Windsor Hotel, a long - time centre of social life and meeting place of several sports organizations, was built in 1875 . Nearby is old Windsor Station, which was the eastern terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, built in 1889 . </P> <P> In 1873, James Creighton, a member of the Victoria Skating Club and a figure skating judge, started organizing sessions of shinny at the rink, played informally between members of the Club and friends . The rules followed were developed from the informal rules of the outdoor game played in Nova Scotia where Creighton was born and raised, and adapted to the indoors setting and the rink's size . </P> <P> On March 3, 1875, the Rink hosted what has been recognized as the first organized ice hockey game, between members of the Victoria Skating Club, organized by Creighton . The match lays claim to this distinction because of factors which establish its link to modern ice hockey: it featured two teams (nine players per side) with a recorded score . Games prior to this had mostly been outdoors . In order to limit injuries to spectators and damage to glass windows, the game was played with a "flat block of wood" instead of a lacrosse ball . The two teams, members of the club, included a number of McGill University students . Sticks for this game were imported from Nova Scotia . This first game was pre-announced to the general public in the pages of The Montreal Gazette: </P> <Dl> <Dt> Announcement </Dt> </Dl>

Who played in the first hockey game ever