The Colored Hockey League (CHL) existed 22 years before the NHL and is responsible for creating the framework for the game that is used today. Slap shot, goalie leaving the net and using their bodies to cover the puck, all started with players in the Colored Hockey League. Player Eddie Martin is said to be the first player to use the slap shot.
"The roots of Canadian hockey originated with the North American Indians but early African-Canadian players also helped shape the sport. By the mid-1890s, in an era when many believed blacks could not endure the cold, these African-Canadian athletes defied myths and developed a revolutionary style of hockey that was fast moving, tough, acrobatic, exciting, and entertaining.
During the late 1890s games between black club teams in Nova Scotian towns and cities were arranged by formal invitation. By 1900, however, the Coloured Hockey League of the Maritimes was created and was headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The Colored Hockey League produced players and athletes comparable to any in Canada. These Black Nova Scotians changed this winter game from the primitive “gentleman’s past-time” of the nineteenth century to the modern fast moving game of today.”
- See more at:
http://www.blackpast.org/gah/coloured-hockey-league-maritimes-1890s-1920s#sthash.5gQaqPL6.dpuf
