Street hockey has a new fan in Prince William

Britain's Prince William wielded a hockey stick on Tuesday and tried his hand at Canada's national pastime during a visit to the far north and the disputed birthplace of ice hockey.

Dressed in a blue suit and tie, he took three shots on a goaltender and was cheered anyway by adoring crowds in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories even though he failed to score.

His new wife Catherine, in a cream linen three-quarter length dress by Malene Birger, also got in on the action, dropping a ball for a faceoff to start a game of street hockey.

Street hockey or "shiny" is similar to field hockey, and is a popular summer substitute in Canada for ice hockey, though the two names are used inter-changeably.

One of the earliest recorded references to the game occurred in the Northwest Territories. Sir John Franklin noted in his diary that the game was played on Grey Goose Lake in October 1825 -- 20 years before any other mention of hockey.

A handful of cities and towns in eastern Canada, however, also lay claim to the title "cradle of hockey."