William Fairbrother was a Canadian ice hockey player who is credited with inventing the ice hockey net in the 1890s. During the 1880s, Fairbrother played for

Beamsville, Ontario Beamsville (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 Urban area estimated population 13,323) is a community that is part of the town of Lincoln, Ontario, Canada. It is located along the southern shore of Lake Ontario and lies within the fruit belt of the Niagar ...

's Men's Hockey team. At first, two poles or two rocks served as goals, and an official would watch to see if a puck passed through the goal. However, disputes arose over goals and biased officiating. Then, Fairbrother, who played as a goaltender, got a net from a local fisherman and strung it from the poles. Players were immediately more satisfied with the new system. The

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey As ...

soon thereafter credited Fairbrother with the idea.

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

records indicate that Fairbrother's idea happened in 1897 or 1898. The Jordan Historical Museum of the Twenty held an exhibit on Fairbrother. In February 1997, the town Lincoln, Ontario designated Fairbrother's home a historical site.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbrother, William History of ice hockey Ice hockey people from Ontario Year of birth missing Year of death missing