Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec has purchased the Moffatt Stick, considered to be the oldest known Ice Hockey stick in the World.

The Moffatt Stick will go on display July 1st, 2017 in the Canadian History Hall at the new Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec.

The Moffatt Stick is just over a metre long and weighs precisely 793.8 grams. Its curved blade varies in width from 3.5 centimetres to 8.5 centimetres and bears the carved initials “WM,” believed to represent William “Dilly” Moffatt, who was born in 1829. Research has established that a member of the Moffatt family handcrafted it from a single piece of sugar maple between 1835 and 1838 in Cape Breton.

The stick was a Moffatt family heirloom until the early 1980s, when the late Charlie Moffatt gave it to North Sydney barber George Ferneough, who displayed it for more than 25 years, perched atop a sled, on a wall in his barbershop. 

Charlie Moffatt’s father and grandfather are thought to have played hockey with it on nearby Pottle Lake, Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Conclusions of technical analysis. 

Paint and varnish chemistry indicates that the sequence of layers is consistent with 

common paints that existed through time for an object that would have been made in the 

mid- to late-1830s. The mid-layer position of the lead-based paint fits well for when 

lead-based paints were more commonly used (early 1900s). The top most placement of 

the synthetic paint (after the 1940s) also fits well with a stick that would have had nearly 

175-years of use. The layers of material, in combination with the patina and natural 

cracking of the layers, indicate that the sequence of coatings would be very difficult to 

duplicate.

The wood properties indicate that the wood is sugar maple, and it was hand-carved out of

one piece of lumber. After careful examination, we believe the stick was originally a 

small tree growing along side of a stream bank or cliff edge. It was probably 

on a site that had stability issues with its rooting structures, and so a naturally occurring j-
sweep morphology, allowed the stick to be quickly carved, while the natural strength of 

the wood could be maintained in the stick. This procedure would have created a robust 

stick, capable of being used, while still maintaining its structural integrity for over 175 

years. 

Finally, there are initials carved in the blade of the stick, and by the paint 

wear pattern, the initials seem to be underlain by all five layers of paint. The initials are 

clearly “WM” and in the male linage of the stick owners, this would point directly to 

WM “Dilly” Moffatt. Dilly was born in 1829, and if the stick were his, the 

timeline issued by this analysis would indicate that he was a 6-9 year old boy when he 

first received the stick.