Ice Hockey was created as a recreational activity for Football players to exercise and compete with each other in the winter off-season. The sport got is start in Montreal, home of the Montreal Victorias, an elite sporting club that competed in all manner of organized sports.
March 3, 1875 (150 years ago) is the first-ever recorded Ice Hockey Game played at the Montreal Victoria’s indoor rink between a split Victorias club. Below is a listing of the games played between what FanSeeStats considers the the top marquee clubs such as the Montreal Victorias, Montreal Hockey Club, McGill University, and the Quebec Hockey Club.
Records show these top clubs playing against each other in an informal exhibition series of games from 1875 to 1882.
| Year | Date | Team A | Score A | Team B | Score B |
| 1875 | 03-Mar | Montreal Victorias A | 2 | Montreal Victorias B | 1 |
| 16-Mar | Montreal Victorias | 5 | Montreal Football Club | 2 | |
| 1876 | 05-Feb | Montreal Victorias | 1 | Montreal Hockey Club | 1 |
| 29-Mar | Montreal Football Club | 6 | McGill University | 0 | |
| 1877 | 01-Feb | Montreal Victorias | 3 | Montreal Hockey Club | 1 |
| 15-Feb | McGill University | 2 | Montreal Hockey Club | 1 | |
| 19-Feb | Montreal Hockey Club | 1 | McGill University | 0 | |
| 1878 | 05-Feb | McGill University | 2 | Montreal Hockey Club | 0 |
| 1879 | 06-Mar | Montreal Hockey Club | 2 | McGill University | 0 |
| 1880 | — | no games played | — | no games played | — |
| 1881 | 22-Jan | Quebec Hockey Club | 2 | Montreal Hockey Club | 0 |
| 05-Feb | Montreal Hockey Club | 4 | Quebec Hockey Club | 1 | |
| 1882 | 20-Jan | McGill University | 0 | Quebec Hockey Club | 0 |
| 21-Jan | Montreal Victorias | 0 | Quebec Hockey Club | 0 | |
| 16-Feb | Quebec Hockey Club | 2 | Montreal Victorias | 0 |
These exhibition games lead up to the Montreal Winter Carnival Hockey Tournament, the first Proto-League. The teams who formed that Proto-League are the same teams who played each other between 1875 and 1822.
While no official seasonal champion can be declared, the standings of the five teams that played between 1875 and 1882 are as follows:
| Team | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Seasons |
| Montreal Hockey Club | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 1876-79, 81 |
| Montreal Victorias | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 1875-77, 82 |
| Quebec Hockey Club | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1881-82 |
| McGill University | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 1876-79, 82 |
| Montreal Football Club | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 1875-76 |