The connection between Renfrew, Ont., the NHL and Ted Lindsay

The history of hockey The history of hockey and the National Hockey League can be tracked back to a small town an hour outside of Ottawa.

Those not from Renfrew may not know that the small town an hour west of Ottawa holds great significance in Canada's culture.

Renfrew is known as the birthplace of the NHL.

Recently the local NHA/NHL Birthplace Museum moved from the town's post office into the Ma-Te-Way Centre, where thousands come together over Canada's game.

"Well, it started with the Renfrew Creamery Kings and MJ O'Brien," says Bonnie Hastings, the museum's director.

O'Brien was a wealthy business owner in Renfrew and also owned the Renfrew Creamery Kings, who would go on to become one of the first professional hockey teams in 1909.

In 1909, the Creamery Kings attempted to join the Eastern Canadian Hockey Association, but were turned down along with a handful of other teams. Those teams - which included the Ottawa Senators - would come together to form the National Hockey Association, a league funded by O'Brien.

Although the Creamery Kings fell out of the NHA in 1911, the league continued until 1917, where Hastings says the past met what is now present.

"There was an owner from Toronto that was a bit of a problem on the board," Hastings tells CTV News. "So the only way to get rid of him was to create a new association, which they called the National Hockey League in 1917."

Among the history that can me found at the museum, local hockey historian and museum board member Derek Lowe has lent a number of pieces that connect the town to one of the all-time NHL greats, Ted Lindsay.

One of those items includes one of the oldest professional hockey cards ever, once owned by the Lindsay family.

"(Ted) had found it in a scrapbook that his mother had made in 1910/1911 of items from his dad," says Lowe, who mentions that Ted's father Bert Lindsay played goalie for the Creamery Kings at one time.

"Back then the players didn't have names or numbers and the fans couldn't tell the players apart," explains Lowe. "So they gave out this little card and the creatively put the names in it so when you read it down vertically it spelled victory."

Claiming the title of the birthplace of the NHL, Renfrew can also lay claim to some of the game's traditions that Canadian kids dream about.

"Ted Lindsey was the captain [in Detroit], and he was the first hockey captain to pick up the Stanley Cup and skate around the ice and, of course, now it's a tradition, everybody does that," says Lowe.

The NHA/NHL birthplace museum is currently open Thursday afternoons and Friday and Saturday. It is located at 1 Ma-Te-Way Park Drive in Renfrew.