Hockey History

Chris Kreider Scores 2nd Playoff Winner & a place in NHL History

New York Rangers Rookie Chris Kreider is rewriting the NHL Records books in Spectacular Fashion. The kid can score at any level, and he thrives with pressure, and winning results follow him at every level of Ice Hockey he has played.

While Playing for the Boston College Eagles, Kreider scored a goal in the 2010 NCAA title game in which Boston College defeated the University of Wisconsin to win the NCAA National Title and was named to the 2010 Hockey East All-Rookie Team.He also scored six goals for the Gold Medal Winning USA IIHF World Championship Team in 2010. Kreider was chosen to represent the United States once again at the 2011 World Junior Ice Hockey, and led the team with four goals in six games as the USA won the bronze medal. Two of his goals were scored in the bronze medal game, and he was named the USA's best player for that game. Kreider's ten goals in WJC play ties him with John Leclair and Mike Modano for third all time among USA players, behind just Jeremy Roenick's 13 and Brian Gionta's 11. Kreider was also selected to the United States National team to compete in the 2011 IIHF World Men's Ice Hockey Championship held in Slovakia.

Kreider was named Most Valuable Player of the 2011 Beanpot Tournament, as Boston College won the tournament for the second straight time. In 2011-12, he won a second NCAA title with Boston College, and led the team in scoring with 23 goals and 45 points in 44 games.Kreider's 23 goals were 2nd overall in Hockey East and tied for 8th in the NCAA and his 45 points were 5th in Hockey East and tied for 19th in the NCAA.He also tied for the Hockey East lead in game winning goals with 5, short handed goals with 3 and short handed points with 5. He also finished in the top 10 in Hockey East with 7 power play goals and 17 power play points.

Now playing for the New York Rangers after debuting on April 16, 2012 in a playoff game vs the Ottawa Senators, it didn't take long for Kreider to get back in the habit of scoring big goals, as he does here with his 1st NHL Goal on April 23, 2012 vs Ottawa Senators - A Game Winner. CHECK IT OUT BELOW

Here Kreider's other Game Winner vs Washington Capitols on April 28, 2012

Video Game Hockey History - Most Games to 2009 - Informative

A Very Good Hockey Video Game History With Music, Commentary, Ads, Games & Consoles

Goalie Mark Visentin Scores Longest Goal in Ice Hockey History

While short-handed, Goalie Mark Visentin corralled the puck behind his own net and lofted the puck down the ice into the vacated Ottawa 67’s goal for the game’s final goal and the History Books. Check out how close to the boards behind the net Mark Visentin when he lofts the puck down the ice and into the net.

LEGENDS ~ ICE ~ Bibi Torriani ~ Switzerland

Riccardo Torriani - Richard "Bibi" Torriani

Born: October 1, 1911 at Sankt Moritz, Graubünden, Switzerland

Died: September 3, 1988 in Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland - age 76

Bibi Torriani holding the Spengler Cup in 1936

Bibi Torriani is considered the best Swiss Ice Hockey player ever. Playing for HC Davos for most of his career, he won 18 Swiss titles between 1930 and 1950. With the two Cattini brothers Pic and Hans, he formed the so-called "Ni-line" at his club and with the national team. In 111 international matches, he scored 105 times, winning a host of medals. In 1928 and 1948, with the Games held in St. Moritz, Torriani won Olympic bronze medals, also winning a silver medal (1935) and three bronze medals at the World Championships. In 1935 and 1939, Switzerland was also the best European country at the World Ice Hockey Championships, earning the European title. After his active playing career, Torriani coached the Swiss National Team, Italian National Team and Club Teams in Italy and Switzerland, winning the Swiss Title again as a coach with EHC Visp (1962). Torriani also participated in the 1957 luge World Championships in Davos, taking second place. In 1997, Torriani was the first Swiss player to be inducted in the International Ice Hockey Federation - IIHF Hall of Fame.

L to R:

Hans "Joe" Cattini, Ferdinand "Pic" Cattini and Bibi Torriani The Famous Ni-Line for HC Davos and the Swiss National Team

Bibi Torriani speaking the Olympic Oath on behalf of all Winter Olympic Athletes at St. Moritz, Switzerland on opening day, January 30, 1948

Youngest Player to play at Senior Ice Hockey World Championships - 16 Years, 4 Months.
International Ice Hockey Federation - Hall of Fame - 1997.
Winter Olympic Games - Ice Hockey - Switzerland - 1928 (Bronze) - 1936 - 1948 (Bronze).
European Ice Hockey Champion - 1935 - 1939.
18 Swiss Championships with HC Davos.
6 Spengler Cup Championships - 1933 - 1936 - 1938 - 1941 - 1942 - 1943.
105 Goals in 111 International Ice Hockey Games.
Flag Bearer at 1948 Winter Olympics.
Only Ice Hockey Player to Speak Olympic Oath at Start of Olympic Games.

Oldest Known Image of Ice Hockey - 1797 - England

River’s Frozen, Hockey Anyone?

Article by http://consultlefebvre.com

The origins of the modern game of ice hockey are obscure, and a perusal of the history of the sport’s development is … well … conflicting. An entry for “ice-hockey” in the 1936 edition of the Encyclopedia of Canada, indicates the murky beginnings of the game:

“Ice-hockey is sometimes regarded as a game of Canadian origin; but this is true only in a limited sense. In its primitive form, the game was long known in England as ‘bandy’, in Ireland as ‘hurley’, and in Scotland as ‘shinty’. In Canada, it was known as ‘shinny’, obviously a corruption of the Scottish name. These early games were played, however, almost without rules, and with a ball or almost any other similar object for a ‘puck’. The present game of ice-hockey, with its fixed number a side, and its standardized rules and equipment, does seem, however, to have originated in Canada.“¹

Nationality can play a role in one’s view of the development of ice hockey. For instance, as with the modern game of golf, which had precedents in Dutch game of kolf, ice hockey has vague similarities to the Dutch game of ijskolf – essentially the game of kolf played on ice with a round ball. Additionally, the Irish field game of hurley possibly was adapted to the winter climates of England and then Nova Scotia in the 18th century; and the stick-and-ball games of Canadian First Nations may have contributed to the development of ice hockey as well. Most agree that the first modern indoor game of ice hockey occurred in 1875, in Montreal, played by students from McGill University.

The latest discoveries into the history of both field hockey and ice hockey can be found at the Society for International Hockey Research (SIHR).

This collaborative effort is establishing that ice hockey was a winter adaptation of the old stick-and-ball games known by the names of hurling, bandy, and shinty, and that the term “hockey” began to be used in London in the mid-18th century. Gathered on the SIHR website are the following historical references.

In 1776, Richard Johnson (1734-1793), under the nom-de-plume “Master Michel Angelo,” published in London the illustrated volume Juvenile Sports and Pastimes in which he devoted a chapter to “New Improvements on the Game of Hockey.” This was the second edition of the volume, as the first had been published in 1773 or 1774.² The game, which Johnson played as a youth, he described as “a noble and manly exercise, but is proper only for the cooler months of the year, as it requires a great share of activity. It was undoubtedly first taken from the Irish game of Hurling, which it resembles in almost every respect.“ The equipment included the goals, hockey-sticks, and the “hockey.”

The goals, made of very long pieces of briar with ends stuck in the ground, formed an “erect arch.” The sticks, which were a bit more difficult to obtain (and which Johnson, as a boy, had traded a mince-pie for a particularly fine one), were a yard long and made of wood, curved at the end, and thicker at bottom. The “hockey” or what is now known by the Canadian term puck, “must be made of the largest cork-bung you can get. Cut the edges round, and then it is prepared for use.”

Johnson’s description of the playing of the game sounds remarkably like contemporary field hockey, but 18th century English field hockey was played with a flat cork bung instead of a ball:

“The goals being fixed, the hockey prepared, and the parties agreed upon, you then proceed to your sport in the following manner. Both parties meet as nearly as possible, in the middle between the two goals, when the hockey is tossed up, and every one tries his best to beat the hockey through the goals of his antagonist; which being accomplished, the game is over. I have known a game to last for two or three hours … There is a wide difference in merely playing this game, and playing it genteely. Some boys are of such an eager, warm disposition, that they care not whom they hurt, or whose skin they break, so that they get at the hockey; but this is the mark of a bad player.”

Aside from Richard Johnson’s writings, the earliest contemporary reference (not a later remembrance) to the playing of a winter game of field hockey is from a personal letter. In December of 1799, writing from Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England to his parents in Guernsey, Channel Islands, fourteen-year-old schoolboy William Pierre Le Cocq penned his description of playing hockey:

“Thursday, December 17, 1799

I must now describe to you the game of Hockey; we have each a stick turning up at the end. We get a bung. There are two sides one of them knocks one way and the other side the other way. If any one of the sides makes the bung reach that end of the churchyard it is victorious.“³

^{* * * * *}

These two pieces of historical evidence add up to the English origins of hockey, but early visual evidence for the playing of the game on ice has been elusive – until now. Last year I came across a 1797 English stipple engraving which supports the precedent for ice hockey in England in the late 18th century, and, as it turns out, is the earliest known representation of a hockey-like game played on ice.

The earliest known depiction of a hockey-like game played on ice with a "bung" or "puck." Hand-colored stipple engraving published by Joseph Le Petit, London, 1 September 1797. Private Collection.

The image, a setting of a frozen body of water with an obelisk on land in the background, depicts what is probably the River Thames (which froze over in the winter of 1794-95, and again in December 1796) in the vicinity of the King’s Observatory at Kew/Richmond. Two fellows with skates are on the ice: the lad at right is adjusting his skates; the one in the center wears Dutch-looking krulschaatsen or curl skates, and holds a curved stick. But, instead of the expected round ball of ijskolf, a flat bung is in the foreground. The print is inscribed in the plate, “London Published by J Le Petit 22 Suffolk Street, Middlesex Hospital 1st Sep 1797“.

Joseph Le Petit Jr. (London c. 1770 – 1858 Dublin) was a member of a French immigrant family in the United Kingdom. Little is known of Le Petit, who worked between 1797 and 1820 in London and then Dublin, publishing a variety of prints.

Although the lower margin of the print has been trimmed and designer and engraver therefore are not identified, a similar 1798 print published by Le Petit titled Winter, in the British Museum’s collection, was drawn by the Anglo-Dutch artist Benedict Anthony van Assen (1767 – c. 1817), and engraved by one Piercy Roberts.

Van Assen’s drawing is similar enough for a loose attribution of the work to him, but Piercy Roberts’ style is not as close as that of another stipple engraver who worked with Le Petit and Van Assen – his name is known only as “I. Burrows.” Two prints by Burrows are located, the first published by Le Petit in 1798 and titled Crowning the Bust of Captain Cook is at Grosvenor Prints in London. The second, titled Belinda, or the Billet Doux from 1794 is at the British Museum.

Very likely the 1797 Le Petit “ice hockey” print was drawn by Van Assen and engraved by Burrows, recording what was a common-enough winter sport to garner the attention of the artists and publisher, who themselves were young men and possibly enjoyed playing the game.

Recently, I was so curious about the Le Petit print that I contacted the folks at the SIHR to take a look at it. Their reply – “What you have here is the first engraving / painting depicting a stick and ball game on skates, which is / or that resembles ice hockey … at least what we are aware of at this moment …. Although the year is still young, this is by far the most exciting find so far (and historically important).”

With this picture on a piece of 215-year-old paper, the origins of ice hockey are a little less obscure.

Many thanks to James Milks, Patrick Houda and Dr. Carl Gidén of the Society for International Hockey Research for their assistance and evaluation.

Notes:

¹Wallace, W. Stewart, Editor, The Encyclopedia of Canada, v. III. Toronto: University Associates of Canada Ltd., 1936, p. 237.

²No copies of the first edition are located, but two copies of the second edition of Johnson’s Juvenile Sports and Pastimes exist – in the Douce Collection of Bodleian Library, Oxford, and in Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library / Society for International Hockey Research.

³Collection of Priaulx Library, Island of Guernsey, Channel Islands, England / Society for International Hockey Research.

William George Barker, First President of The Toronto Maple Leafs is Honoured

Conn Smythe named William George Barker - Will Barker, the first President of The Toronto Maple Leafs in 1927.

On Thursday, September 22, 2011 a memorial statue was unveiled in front of the mausoleum in Mount Pleasant Cemetery where his body lies.

“Will Barker came back from the war, suffering painful wounds that remained with him the rest of his life,” Lt.-Gov. David Onley said at the ceremony. “Yet, he was determined to honour his friends and colleagues by building a great nation.”

During the unveiling of the statue, a CF-18 fighter jet and two Sopwith Camels — Barker’s favourite old-time war planes — flew over the crowd of 500.

“We’ve really fulfilled a duty we’ve owed to our grandfather,” said Ian Mackenzie, 60, one of Barker’s three grandsons. “He should’ve had this public monument from the very beginning. He has a number of different legacies...now, he’s more of an icon.”

Video of Ceremony http://tinyurl.com/4x28tnp

Biography of William George Barker and Wikipedia information below, along with link to a book about him.

BARKER, WILLIAM GEORGE, soldier, air force officer, and businessman; b. 3 Nov. 1894 in Dauphin, Man., son of George William John Barker, a farmer, and Jane Victoria Alguire; m. 1 June 1921 Jean Kilbourn Smith, and they had one daughter; d. 12 March 1930 in Rockcliffe (Ottawa) and was interred in the Mount Pleasant Mausoleum, Toronto.

The eldest of nine surviving children, William Barker was born in a log house on the family farm and was educated at schools in or near Dauphin and Russell, Man. His sister Edna remembered Willie as a boy with innate poise and self-confidence as well as an intense personality. As a teenager he displayed all the qualities that would later make him an exceptional military pilot. He was a kinaesthetic young man, attracted to risk, yet possessed of an analytical and independent mind. Gifted with exceptional eyesight, he was adept at shooting and was a skilled horseback rider. He served in the militia with the 32nd (Manitoba) Horse in 1913. After the outbreak of World War I, Barker, in his final year of high school at Dauphin Collegiate, volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, enlisting as a trooper in the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles Regiment on 1 Dec. 1914. He trained as a machine-gunner and arrived in the United Kingdom in June 1915. About 26 September his regiment entered the Ypres (Ieper) salient in Belgium, where he served until late February 1916.

Weary of trench life, Barker volunteered for the Royal Flying Corps as a gunner; he received four weeks of field training with 9 Squadron. He was commissioned a temporary second lieutenant on 2 April 1916 and then joined 4 Squadron as an observer, undertaking artillery cooperation and photographic and visual reconnaissance for ground troops. In July he was transferred to 15 Squadron. Four months later he and his pilot received the Military Cross for their superior work in support of an assault on Beaumont-Hamel (Beaumont), France. In December he was sent to England for pilot training.

Barker completed all flying and ground school training in the brief period of four weeks, was graded a flying officer on 14 Feb. 1917, and returned to 15 Squadron. By the end of May he had been promoted captain and given command of C Flight, and had received a bar to his Military Cross. Wounded by artillery fire in August, he was sent to England for a rest as an instructor.

With no enthusiasm for teaching novices, Barker frequently disobeyed regulations and on at least one occasion performed a low-level aerobatic display over Piccadilly Circus in London. He was transferred to 28 Squadron on 29 September and flew to France on 10 October. By the end of October he had logged at least 35 hours in combat in his Sopwith Camel, B6313, and was credited with destroying three enemy aircraft.

Barker’s squadron was one of several units transferred to northern Italy in late October. On Christmas Day he and Lieutenant Harold Byrne Hudson completed an impromptu low-level attack against a German aerodrome, probably at San Fior, setting fire to one hangar and damaging four aircraft. In January 1918 he and Hudson were reprimanded by the commanding officer of 14 Wing for their successful but unauthorized attacks against enemy kite balloons. As a result of, or perhaps despite, his unauthorized patrols, Barker was awarded the Distinguished Service Order; the citation noted that “his splendid example of fearlessness and magnificent leadership have been of inestimable value to his squadron.” In March he received a second bar to his Military Cross “for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.”

By the time he joined 66 Squadron on 10 April, Barker had 22 victories. As commander of its C Flight, he would be credited with another 16. In May 1918 Barker received the French Croix de Guerre. He was promoted temporary major in July and given command of 139 Squadron, equipped with two-seat Bristol Fighters. Unhappy with this aircraft, he was allowed to keep B6313 and added 8 more victories, bringing his total to 46, a unique achievement by one pilot with one machine. British historians would call B6313 “the single most successful fighter aircraft” in the history of the Royal Air Force.

On the night of 9–10 August, Barker and Captain William Wedgwood Benn dropped an Italian army agent by parachute behind enemy lines. For this flight Barker received the Silver Medal for Military Valour, one of Italy’s highest military decorations. That same month he was awarded a bar to his DSO. Remarkably, in over 12 months of scout operations, from 9 or 10 Oct. 1917 to 27 Oct. 1918, he had never had a wingman killed in action and no aircraft he escorted had been shot down.

Prior to taking up a new command in late October, Barker was permitted to fly anywhere in France for a ten-day roving commission. He selected a Sopwith Snipe, E8102, and attached himself to 201 Squadron. On 27 October he attacked and shot down a German two-seater at around 22,000 feet and, in turn, was attacked by about 15 Fokker D-VIIs. He was wounded three times, but also shot down three more enemy aircraft. Bleeding profusely and barely conscious, he managed to crash-land and was evacuated to a field hospital. Awarded the Victoria Cross on 30 Nov. 1918, Barker now had 50 victories to his credit. Italy later conferred a second Silver Medal on him. While he struggled for survival in a French hospital, the Canadian Daily Record (London, England) declared that he held “the record among Canadians for fighting decorations won during the war.”

Barker’s wounds would cause him considerable physical and emotional pain for the remainder of his life. His legs were damaged and his left elbow was destroyed, effectively turning him into a one-armed pilot. While recovering in London, he met fellow VC recipient William Avery Bishop*. After the end of the war and Barker’s release from hospital in April 1919, the two men first founded Bishop-Barker Company Limited in Ontario and then, in November 1919, a Toronto-based air charter and aircraft maintenance and sales firm, Bishop-Barker Aeroplanes Limited. Around this period they established an American importing firm, Interallied Aircraft Corporation, in New York City.

Barker tackled civil aviation with the same intensity he had shown in combat. Between 23 Aug. and 6 Sept. 1919 he led an aerial display team at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, the first occasion on which formation flying was performed in Canada for a non-military audience. On 25–27 August he participated in an air race from Toronto to New York and back, becoming the first Canadian pilot to carry international airmail. He flew the first commercial cargo between the United States and Canada, from New York City via Montreal to Toronto in January 1921.

A commercial failure, like many other flying companies of this period, Bishop-Barker Aeroplanes ceased flying operations in 1922. On 3 June Barker was commissioned a wing commander in the Canadian Air Force, which had been created two years earlier [see Sir Willoughby Garnons Gwatkin]. His first permanent posting was as the commanding officer of the air station at Camp Borden, where he served from 1 Nov. 1922 to 15 Jan. 1924. He would be remembered for his highly innovative ideas and experiments in aircraft armament. He was then transferred to Ottawa and in mid February assumed the highest position within the CAF, acting director. He held this post on 1 April 1924, when the CAF was disbanded and the Royal Canadian Air Force was officially born [see Sir James Howden MacBrien*]. The following month he was posted to England as the RCAF’s representative to the British Air Ministry. As a liaison officer, Barker witnessed RAF operations in Iraq in the spring of 1925 and in May he began advanced studies at the Royal Air Force Staff College in Andover; he graduated in March 1926.

Barker returned to Canada knowing that he would have to serve under Group Captain James Stanley Scott, the director of the RCAF and an officer he did not respect. Unwilling to compromise, he submitted his resignation in August 1926. He had struggled with the usual adjustments to civilian life of any wounded veteran and especially with the burden of being a much decorated hero. In these last years of his life he also suffered from alcoholism and possibly from post-traumatic stress disorder.

In 1927 the Toronto Maple Leafs’ manager, Constantine Falkland Cary (Conn) Smythe*, a former RAF pilot, had Barker appointed the first president of the hockey club, a symbolic gesture to help raise the losing team’s profile. Smythe, a teetotaller, had no appreciation of the emotional challenges Barker faced and no sympathy for alcohol abuse; this situation led to public embarrassment for both men. Barker was also appointed general manager of an Ontario tobacco-growing company owned by his wife’s father, Horace Bruce Smith. Oddly, Barker was a non-smoker with an antipathy to farming. As a sinecure offered by an unsympathetic father-in-law, the tobacco job was unrewarding, if not humiliating.

A much better post, suited to Barker’s natural talents and experience, was secured when Fairchild Aircraft Limited of Canada in Montreal hired him in January 1930 as vice-president and general manager. While demonstrating a new biplane trainer, the Fairchild KR-21, at the RCAF air station in Rockcliffe, he lost control of the aircraft at the apex of a steep climb and was instantly killed when the aircraft struck the ice on the Ottawa River. His state funeral, held in Toronto on 15 March, included political and military leaders, six VC recipients, and an honour guard of 2,000 men.

On 6 June 1931 an airport in Toronto was renamed Barker Field in his memory and Bishop lauded his friend both then and later as “the deadliest air fighter that ever lived.” Author Ernest Hemingway had another point of view. In a short story published in 1936, “The snows of Kilimanjaro,” he portrayed Barker as a “bloody murderous bastard.” Barker’s character was in keeping with the tradition of the larger-than-life hero. He was driven above all else to excel – to be a figurehead was anathema to him. Because of his untimely death many of his war and post-war achievements would later be overlooked and he would be overshadowed by Bishop, who lived to 1956. The RCAF picked Barker as one of its role models for the recruitment of a new generation of flyers during World War II, but afterwards his legend, well known in Great Britain and the United States, faded in Canada. Few Canadians are aware that he was, and still is, Canada’s most decorated war hero.

Wayne Ralph

[This biography is based on the author’s book Barker VC: William Barker, Canada's most decorated war hero (London and Toronto, 1997), which contains an exhaustive list of the documentation consulted: military files in the archives of Great Britain, Canada, and the United States, personal papers, logbooks, monographs, newspaper and magazine articles, as well as interviews with relatives and military personnel. w.r.

Wikipedia information on Will Barker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_George_Barker

Book information - Barker VC: William Barker, Canada's most decorated War Hero

Available at http://www.amazon.ca/Barker-VC-William-Canadas-Decorated/dp/0385256825

Frank J. Zamboni - King of the Ice - Smooth & Fast

The Zamboni Story

Frank J. Zamboni Wikipedia info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zamboni
1901-1988

If necessity is the mother of invention, Frank J. Zamboni might be considered its father. This tireless inventor/entrepreneur never came across an obstacle he couldn't tinker his way around.

Frank J. Zamboni was born on January 16, 1901 in Eureka, Utah. Frank's parents moved their family (with one year old Frank in tow) from Eureka to a farm in Idaho, where Frank developed his mechanical skills. For more information about the Zamboni family history, see "The Man Behind the Machine".

In 1920, Frank moved to Southern California with his brother Lawrence to join their older brother George in his auto repair business. After a short time tinkering on cars, the two younger Zambonis decided to open an electrical service business catering to the local dairy industry. The brothers built and installed the large refrigerator units dairies used to keep their milk cool.

When the demand for cooling expanded into the produce industry, the brothers expanded their business vision, as well: they built a plant that made the block ice that wholesalers used to pack their product for transport by rail across the country. But as refrigeration technology improved, demand for block ice began to shrink, and Frank and Lawrence started looking for other ways to capitalize on their expertise with ice.

That opportunity came in the sport of ice skating. Popularity of the sport was growing, but there were few rinks in Southern California, so in 1939 Frank, Lawrence, and a cousin built Iceland Skating Rink in Paramount. (The rink still operates today just blocks from the Zamboni factory. In fact, it's not unusual to see Zamboni ice resurfacers driving down the neighborhood streets on their way to be tested at Iceland.)

Iceland opened in 1940 as one of the largest rinks in the country, with 20,000 sq. ft. of iced surface -- that's enough room for 800 skaters. The original rink was an open-air facility. But the brothers soon learned that, with the intense Southern California sun and dry desert winds, the quality of their ice sheet was less than adequate, so they covered it with a domed roof. The challenge now was to maintain this much-improved indoor surface. More about Paramount Iceland.

At the time, resurfacing the ice meant pulling a scraper behind a tractor, shaving the surface. Three or four workers would scoop away the shavings, spray water over the surface, squeegee it clean and allow the water to freeze -- a process that took more than an hour. For Frank, it was a puzzle to be solved: how could he make a good sheet of ice in a short period of time? It wasn't long before he began engineering a machine that would make the task of ice-resurfacing fast and efficient. And the concept of the Zamboni ice resurfacer was born...

In March of 1942, Frank bought a tractor and started experimenting. His first attempt -- a machine built into a sled towed behind a tractor -- neither smoothed the surface nor picked up the "snow" adequately. Repeated experiments with the design proved fruitless. But Frank had another idea, and in 1947 he began tinkering with a completely different approach: a machine that would shave the ice, remove the shavings, wash and squeegee the ice, and hold snow in an elevated tank large enough to last for an entire resurfacing job.

This prototype was built at the rear of Iceland skating rink in Paramount, California. The machine had water tanks in the front and a snow tank at the rear. Only the front wheels were powered and for this he used a front steering axel from a war surplus truck. The unit was powered by a Jeep engine and transmission that were also purchased from war surplus. On this chassis, he tried different conveyor systems including the paddle and chain that is shown in the above photograph. He abandoned experimental prototype No. 3 in late 1947 as unsuccessful, because the blade chattered, the snow tank did not carry enough snow and he found that it was impractical to run the two-wheel drive machine on the ice unless it had tire chains for traction.

To overcome the inadequacies he encountered on experimental Model No. 3, Frank decided to develop a completely new design. For this machine, he purchased another surplus front steering truck axel so he would have both four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering. In addition, parts from the previous prototype were used in building the new machine. The new machine's adjustable blade could be held firmly in place by the operator, thus keeping it from chattering or digging into the ice.

By the summer of 1949 he was able to get a good sheet of ice consistently, and the "Model A Zamboni Ice Resurfacer" became a working reality. Frank applied for a patent and in 1953, Patent Application No. 93,478 was granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office..

Model A (1949)

The first Zamboni ice-resurfacing machine, built and used at the Paramount Iceland Skating Rink, had four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering on a hand-built chassis using war surplus axles and engine parts. The surplus parts actually include a hydraulic cylinder from either a Douglas A-20 or A-26 bomber. The Model A was built, tested, modified and retested at Paramount Iceland. A cover was added at the front over the conveyor chain to keep snow from falling onto the fresh ice surface. It also had an in-tank snow-melting system along with a wash water system. Early photos of the machine show a different configuration of the large wooden snow tank, prior to its modification. The wooden side was hinged so snow could be shoveled out.

The Model A introduced the "Wash Water" system -- a black tank over the galvanized water tank dropped water into a distributor pulled on the ice at the rear that washed the ice before being pumped back into the bucket. The system duplicated the process of washing the ice that was previously accomplished by several people using a large hose and squeegees over the entire rink surface. The washing operation was necessary to clean the ice prior to applying the final coat of water, greatly enhancing the finished sheet of ice. The concept was incorporated into Frank's basic and broadest patent (2,642,679), which was incorporated into many of the ice resurfacer models manufactured by Zamboni. Eventually, the Model A's snow tank was modified for a more "finished" appearance. One important change made by Frank to the Model A was the elimination of the original four-wheel steering.

When using the Model A equipped with four-wheel steering on his rink, he discovered that when the machine was driven close to the boards and the operator tried to steer away from them, the rear wheels would steer into the wall while the front wheels turned away, thus jamming the machine against the wall until it could be pushed sideways to free it. He disconnected the steering on the rear axel and the problem disappeared. He decided that the best configuration would have four-wheel drive and two-wheel front steering, which made the Jeep an ideal chassis on which to build later models.

During its term of service, the Model A was never used on any ice surface other than Paramount Iceland's. It was taken out of service and replaced by a newer model in 1953. After a number of years, the snow tank was dismantled to accommodate movement around the side of the rink and under the angular concrete pillar supporting its roof. In 1996, the machine began a lengthy restoration process and has been restored to its original condition. The machine normally resides at Paramount Iceland, adjacent to the rink.

Model B (1950)

In 1950, Olympic skating star Sonja Henie's traveling ice show was practicing at Paramount Iceland, and she saw the Model A in action. She had to have one and asked Frank if he could build one in time for an upcoming Chicago performance. The deadline was tough, but Frank worked day and night, then loaded all of the resurfacer parts into a U-Haul® trailer. He towed the trailer to Chicago behind the Jeep he would install the parts on and assembled the Model B there.

A total of four Model B machines were built: The Pasadena, Calif., Winter Garden purchased the first; Sonja ordered two, one of which ended up on tour with her in Europe (and was eventually dismantled there); and Ice Capades purchased the fourth -- a machine that was restored and has spent many years on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minnesota. Read about the Odyssey of Machine No. 4. With orders arriving for the Model B machines, Frank founded the Frank J. Zamboni Company.

In fact, Frank Zamboni wanted to call his company The Paramount Engineering Company, after the city he helped name, but that name had been taken. So he named the company after himself, knowing there could be no disputing a name that belonged to him. Good thing -- can you imagine someone shouting, "Look, here comes the Paramount!"?

Model C

The next generation of Zamboni machines, still built on a complete Jeep®, had significant design changes. Frank elevated the driver's position and dropped the snow tank to allow better driver visibility and greater snow capacity. The first of the series was the Model C.

In a memorable incident, Frank drove one of his Model C machines 450 miles up the coast of California to Berkeley Iceland. Read more about Berkeley Iceland. Along the way, a key came out of the steering wheel shaft, and Frank lost steering control. The machine, with him driving, veered off into the oleander bushes on the highway median and stopped. Frank managed to get the key back into the shaft, however, and proceeded on to deliver the machine.

The second of the series was the Model D -- a machine differing only slightly from the Model C. The Model D's redesigned dump tank had a "stepped" look. The change did not affect or enhance operation, however, and was later shelved. The third machine was the Model E.

Model E (1954)

Introduced in 1954, the Model E was the first Zamboni machine that could be mass produced. Between 1954 and 1955, 20 of these models were manufactured and sold. The first use of a Zamboni machine for an NHL game has been the subject of discussion for many years, so Zamboni contacted Bob Skrak who helped Frank Zamboni in the early days. Bob actually took machines around the country to introduce the arena managers to the "invention", which could significantly improve their ice sheet's surface and enhance the quality of the ice for skating and hockey.

Bob worked for Ice Capades and would use the Zamboni machine (No. 4 primarily) to resurface for the ice shows. On New Years Day in 1954, Bob was on hand in the Boston Garden for the ice show and there was an NHL Bruins hockey game to be played that day in the arena. Bob took the machine out on the ice and resurfaced for the Bruins game and the management was impressed with the results. The only thing that stood in the way of having a machine on hand in the arena: that they would have to take out seats from the arena's configuration to accommodate a machine going out on to the ice, as the arenas were not originally designed with room for the machine to navigate from its storage area to the ice surface.

The Bruins ordered a machine and according to our records, it was delivered in the Fall of 1954 for the team�s use. In 1988, the Boston Bruins had a new Zamboni machine on order and requested that the vintage machine, Model E 21 be fully restored by the Zamboni Company. When the restored machine was delivered and turned over in an on ice ceremony at Boston Garden, it was announced that E 21 would be delivered to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a part of their historic collection in Toronto, Canada.

In the mid-50s, the popularity of ice skating increased dramatically, as did new rink construction. Frank found that rink owners wanted machines with more snow and water capacity, so he redesigned the resurfacer, abandoned a complete Jeep as a platform, and substituted a Jeep chassis that he bought directly from the Willys factory.

Model F (1956)

In 1956, Frank redesigned the machine using a stripped Jeep chassis. By using the chassis as a foundation, Frank was able to increase both water- and snow-carrying capacities. On some versions of the Model F, he extended the panels on the sides of the machine and raised the snow tank by 6 inches -- an adaptation that added 20 cubic feet. This gave his customers the extra capacity they needed.

See the old Model F in action. (1.3mb MPEG movie.)

HD Series (1964)

Frank never stopped experimenting with new innovations and enhancements. In 1964, he introduced the HD Series, with its completely new vertical auger system to convey the snow and a quick-dumping snow tank. The revolutionary aspects of the HD remain the standard of the industry today -- more than 30 years after they were brought to market.The Model HD
was the first production dumping machine
not built on a Jeep chassis

500 Series (1978 to Present)

The 500 Series introduced the liquid-cooled engine vs. earlier air-cooled systems. And with the 552 came another new technology: it's a fully electric machine, using battery technology. The Model 500 and Model 552 are the series of Zamboni machines most commonly used on the ice today. The combination of the Winter Olympics and televised sports has had a tremendous impact on the ice skating industry. From Sonja Henie and her Olympic achievements, to ice show performances around the world, to the continued growth in popularity of ice hockey -- the Zamboni machine comes into the lives and homes of ice sport enthusiasts everywhere.

From the 1949 Model A to the 500 Series resurfacers of today, Frank Zamboni's desire to develop the best possible product for his first customers remains as strong in his successors over 50 years later. As Frank often pointed out to rink owners, a comment indicative of his own lifelong mission: "The principal product you have to sell is the ice itself."

Click Here for More Fun Facts

This article is from http://Zamboni.com

More Unusual Photos:
CJ-3B's on Ice

Zamboni® Ice Re-Surfacing Machines

Frank J. Zamboni built his first ice re-surfacing machine in California in the late 1940's. The machine was designed to scrape a thin layer of snow off the top of an ice rink, and cover it with a thin coating of water. As demand grew, the machines were built in the early 1950's on top of complete Jeeps, then from 1956-64 on a stripped Jeep chassis, increasing water- and snow-carrying capacity.

This photo shows Zamboni® #12 (Model D, 1953), built for Holiday On Ice. Note the use of tires with minimum tread, and the stock driver's seat and steering wheel moved to the upper rear driving position. Photo © Zamboni, 1999. Zamboni® is a registered trademark of Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc.

This rear view photo of a similar model shows other details of the mechanism, including the extended steering linkage. The raised hood of the CJ-3B meant that the bottom of the tank had to be stepped, whereas the earlier Model C (50K JPEG) built on a CJ-3A had a flat bottom. Photo © Zamboni, 1999. Zamboni® is a registered trademark of Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc.

Lelo Grasso, who drove Boston Garden Arena's Model E machine for many years, was famous for waving his hat to the crowd as he departed the ice. Zamboni later restored this machine, and it was donated to the National Hockey League Hall of Fame in Toronto. Photo © Zamboni, 1999. Zamboni® is a registered trademark of Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc.

A 1954 Model E machine in front of the Iceland skating rink in Paramount, California, where new models have always been tested. The first standardized Zamboni® model, and the last to be built on a complete Jeep, the Model E was produced through 1955, and about 20 were manufactured, including some on the Jeep CJ-5. Subsequent models were built on a stripped Jeep chassis, and since 1964 on a custom chassis. Photo © Zamboni, 1999. Zamboni® is a registered trademark of Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc.

By the way, Zamboni® has another thing in common with Jeep® -- they are both registered names for an original, unique vehicle. Their manufacturers are justly proud of the names, and want to make sure that people don't forget that they are the originals and start using those names as generic terms for other similar vehicles.

Thanks to the staff at Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc. for their assistance. For more on the company, and more photos of earlier and later models, see the Zamboni.com website. -- Derek Redmond

The Oldest Ice Hockey Trophy in The World - The Birks Winter Carnival Cup 1883

Oldest Ice Hockey Trophy in The World

McGill University Hockey Club are the winners of this trophy.

McGill University Hockey Club Roster :

J. A. Kinloch - Team Captain
A. P. Low
T. D. Green
R. F. Smith
J. M. Elder
P. L. Fosler
W. L. Murray

Championship Game Referee : N. T. Rielle

McGill University in 1883 also awarded the Wicksteed Medal to James Naismith as McGill Athlete of The Year. James Naismith is the inventor of Basketball http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Naismith

To View The Birks Winter Carnival Cup in Zoom click here http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/viewobject.php?Lang=1&section=196&accessnumber=M976.188.1&imageID=317621&pageMulti=1

Hayley Wickenheiser awarded Order of Canada on June 30, 2011

OTTAWA – Team Canada captain Hayley Wickenheiser has received one of Canada’s highest civilian honours. The three-time Olympic gold medallist and six-time IIHF World Champion has been awarded with the Order of Canada. Wickenheiser has been named an officer of the Order of Canada "for her achievements as an athlete and for her contributions to the growth of women’s hockey," according to a news release issued from the office of the Governor General of Canada. The Order of Canada is described as "the centerpiece of the Canadian Honours System, and recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation." Wickenheiser is among 50 new appointments to the Order of Canada. Wickenheiser is currently in Ghana, West Africa with international humanitarian and development agency Right to Play to get a firsthand glance of how the organization’s programs are impacting communities and "using the power of sport and play to improve the lives of children." Wickenheiser has been an athlete ambassador with Right to Play for eleven years, making her first trip into the field with the organization in 2007, when she visited Rwanda in east Africa. "I’m very honoured to receive the Order of Canada, and thank organizations like Right to Play, that have given me the chance to work with them." Since debuting with Canada’s national women’s team in 1994, when she became the youngest female player to pull on the national team jersey, Wickenheiser has been a leader both on and off the ice. The Shaunavon, Sask., native, has served as captain of Team Canada on several occasions, most recently at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2011 IIHF World Women’s Championship in Winterthur and Zurich, Switzerland. Wickenheiser, 32, is also an outspoken advocate of growing women’s hockey around the world, and has taken on a key role with the new IIHF Ambassador and Mentor Program (AMP), which will create partnerships between some of the top countries, coaches and players, and nations that are striving to join the sport’s global elite. "Hayley continues to make us proud, day in and day out," Hockey Canada president and CEO Bob Nicholson said. "Whether she’s on the ice captaining Canada to Olympic gold, or off the ice giving back to communities both at home and abroad, she truly exemplifies what it means to be a mentor, role model and hero." Wickenheiser’s past recognitions include being named one of the QMI Agency’s Top 10 Greatest Female Athletes in the History of Sports, being named one of Sports Illustrated’s Top 20 Toughest Athletes, receiving the Bobbie Rosenfield Award recognizing Canada’s best female athlete from The Canadian Press, and twice being among the Globe and Mail’s Power 50 influencers in sport. She has also received the Bruce Kidd Award for athletic leadership at the Canadian Sports Awards, is a two-time finalist for the Women’s Sports Foundation Team Athlete of the Year and is also involved with groups such as Clean Air Champions, Dreams Take Flight, KidSport and Spread the Net. - with files from hockeycanada.ca PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR BIOGRAPHY en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayley_Wickenheiser

They Missed Engraving a Name on The Stanley Cup the 1st time Vancouver won it

The Millionaire Forgotten By the Stanley Cup

Honour Ken Mallen, whose name was left off the coveted trophy 96 years ago.

By Tom Hawthorn, 8 Jun 2011, TheTyee.ca

Ken Mallen with the New Westminster Royals in 1912, before he joined the Vancouver Millionaires, who won the Cup in 1915. Credit: City of Vancouver Archives.

The finals seconds ticked off the timekeepers clock, bring an end the the Hockey season, and a championship to a Vancouver club.

The Millionaires, a nickname used in 1915 to praise, not denigrate, a professional athlete, completed a three-game sweep of the Ottawa Senators. The final game ended 12-3, a drubbing that reflected the series.

The skaters retired to their dressing room in the Denman Arena, a hulking brick building overlooking Coal Harbour at the entrance to Stanley Park. Thousands of spectators had clamored to get into the rink for the games, the swells amongst them dropping a stiff $1.25 for a pasteboard to the best seats. Others made do with a 50-cent admission for a rush seat in the steeply-sloped upper deck. Special streetcars delivered fans to the arena. A hardy handful rode the intercity railway from as far afield as Chilliwack, a three-hour milk-run journey that departed at 5 p.m. and brought them home at 2:30 a.m.

In the bowels of the building, the celebrating Vancouver players were joined by their rivals, who crowded in to offer congratulations. "You have a great team here," Ottawa manager Frank Shaughnessy said.

The victory meant the Millionaires had claimed rights to a silver punchbowl purchased for 10 guineas (about $50) in London and on which had been engraved "Dominion hockey challenge cup" and "From Stanley of Preston." It was the first time the Stanley Cup, then 23 years old and already storied, had been won by a team west of Winnipeg.

Alas, the Ottawa side neglected to bring the trophy with them on the transcontinental train trek, "a thoughtless bit of work," as one local reporter noted.

The Cup arrived six weeks later. Later still, an engraver tapped into the silver the names of nine Millionaires, recording for posterity their great achievement.

A tenth player, a veteran forward and a regular during the regular season who skated in two of three games of the finals, was inexplicably overlooked.

Ken Mallen is the man whose name was left off the Stanley Cup.

The Millionaires club

After the finals, the Senators left for Seattle on their way to San Francisco to attend the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition, a showcase for a city devastated nine years earlier by an earthquake and fire.

The Millionaires scattered. Barney Stanley returned home to Edmonton and Jim Seaborn to Winnipeg. The cattle on Lloyd (Farmer) Cook's prairie ranch needed tending. The sure-handed Mickey MacKay, known as the Wee Scot, left for Grand Forks, B.C., where he was to join a survey party for the summer.

Frank (the Pembroke Peach) Nighbor, a gentlemanly player whose brilliant poke-checking drove opponents mad with frustration, departed for the Ontario hometown that gave him his nickname. The goaltender Hugh (Old Eagle Eyes) Lehman returned to Berlin, Ont., an industrial city whose name was soon to be changed from that of an enemy capital to Kitchener, after the British war minister killed in action.

Only four of the Millionaires lived in the Lower Mainland. Frank Patrick played defence and managed the Denman Arena, which he had built four years earlier when he and his brother, Lester, established a professional hockey league on the Pacific Coast.

The great Fred (Cyclone) Taylor served as an immigration inspector. It had been his job the previous year to patrol the Komagata Maru to prevent the passengers, most of them Sikhs, from disembarking. The freighter and its suffering passengers remained moored in Coal Harbour for weeks before being chased off by an armed navy boat, a standoff for which the Canadian prime minister apologized just three years ago.

Si Griffis, the Millionaires' captain who sat out the finals with a broken leg, watching the games from the penalty box, sold advertising for the News-Herald.

Meet Mallen

Mallen spent his work days as a clerk at New Westminster City Hall. He lived at 238 First St., across from Queen's Park, a boarder in a home named Bundahie, built in the style of a classic Edwardian box and owned by a widow who taught piano.

Mallen, a speedy skater, had been lured west by the high contracts on offer by the Patrick brothers in the fledgling Pacific Coast Hockey Association. He was an original member of the New Westminster Royals in 1911, netting 14 goals in 13 games. When the Royals moved to Portland, Ore., he was traded to the Millionaires.

Born in Morrisburg, Ont., he also had two brothers who played professional hockey in the early days. In 1904, the 5'8'', 160-pound skater joined the Calumet (Mich.) Miners of the International Hockey League. Known for his agility and his stickhandling, he netted 38 goals in 24 games to finish second in league scoring.

He quit the Miners soon after the start of his second season to protest the violence of the game. "Realizing that he was one of the best and fastest men in the league, it has been the effort of some players to lay (Mallen) out," reported the Daily Mining Gazette. "Scarcely a game was played but that several times he had to be carried off the ice in an almost unconscious condition."

Ken Mallen's Quebec Bulldogs hockey card. The series of cards was released in 1911-12 and is known as the C55 Imperial Tobacco set.

He eventually wound up wearing the sweaters of the Ottawa Senators and Quebec Bulldogs of the National Hockey Association, the premier pro league in Eastern Canada. His debut in Stanley Cup play came on Jan. 5, 1910, when Ottawa, as holders of the trophy, accepted a challenge from Galt, champions of the Ontario Pro Hockey League. An older brother, Jim, played forward for Galt. The Senators held off their provincial rivals before defeating the Edmonton Eskimos. Ottawa then lost the N.H.A. championship -- and with it the Stanley Cup -- to the Montreal Wanderers.

'Fastest man on ice'

After moving to the coast, Mallen took part in a series of speed races designed to showcase the circuit's high-paid talent. He blew past Griffis and Cyclone Taylor, who had earned his nickname in recognition of his madcap rushes. The triumph cemented Mallen's reputation as the fastest man on ice.

Just as the Stanley Cup champs were about to begin defence of their title, Frank Patrick signed a new star player in Art Duncan of Edmonton. The Millionaires released Mallen, who immediately signed with the Victoria Aristocrats, operated by Lester Patrick. The capital city newspapers were thrilled. "Mallen is the speediest player," noted the Victoria Daily Times. "He possesses a wicked shot, and should add considerable strength in the local attack."

Meanwhile, the N.H.A. and the Patrick league continued raiding players, as skaters regularly jumped contract for more lucrative offers. As well, a battle over rights to the Stanley Cup was fought in boardrooms and on the pages of newspapers. The N.H.A. feared Frank Patrick would not defend challenges for the Stanley Cup. He promised to do so. The Cup's trustees declared the trophy to be emblematic of a world championship, not just a Canadian honour.

It was in that atmosphere that the Cup finally arrived by train in Vancouver on May 12, 1915. (During the six-day journey, the civilian passenger steamer Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat, killing 1,198.) As N.H.A. champs, Ottawa claimed to be Cup winners, engraving their title on the base. (Their claim to the Cup is not recognized.)

Senseless snub

At the time, the custom was for a championship team to engrave their triumph on the base. Added to the Cup were the words: "VANCOUVER, B.C. / 1914-15 / DEFEATED OTTAWA / 3 STRAIGHT GAMES."

In 1907, the Montreal Wanderers had 20 names of players and club executives engraved on the interior base of the bowl. No other team matched that audacious decision until the Millionaires had engraved on the interior fluting of the bowl the names of nine players.

For some reason, Mallen's name was missed.

The reason for the snub remains unknown. Perhaps he had already left the club by the time of the engraving and so was excluded. Perhaps his departure had not gone well. Perhaps it was inadvertent, a clerical mistake. In any case, Mallen, who died of pneumonia in his hometown in 1930, aged 45, is deserving of the recognition afforded Cyclone and the Wee Scot and Old Eagle Eyes.

The engraving of player names on the trophy only became standard practice after 1924. It is the goal which each of the Vancouver Canucks seeks this month, an honour that has eluded the club for 40 seasons. Should they succeed, they can take a moment while chugging champagne from the bowl to read the names of nine men who beat them to the punch 96 years earlier.

Tom Hawthorn is a columnist for the Globe and Mail and a frequent contributor to The Tyee. He is also a member of the Society for International Hockey Research.

Here are the Vancouver Millionaires Stats for the 1914 - 15 season:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1914%E2%80%9315_Vancouver_Millionaires_season

This article originally posted at thetyee.ca

Mr. Tom Hawthorn can be contacted at theglobeandmail.com

The Stanley Cup "Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup"

The Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup "The Stanley Cup" currently sits behind locked glass, in the vault at The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Original Stanley Cup has not seen a Hockey Arena or Championship Games since 1969. This is what the vault looks like with The Original Stanley Cup on display with Original Silver Bands.

This Original Stanley Cup has been won 111 times, and 13 cities have shared in victory celebrations with the home team. The 1st winners in 1893 - The Montreal AAA and the last team to win in 1969 - The Montreal Canadiens. The City of Montreal has won the most Dominion Hockey Challenge Cups "The Stanley Cup" with 44, followed by Ottawa 21, Toronto 15, Detroit 7, Winnipeg 6, Chicago 3, Boston 4, New York 3, Quebec 2, Kenora 1, Vancouver 1, Victoria 1 and the first USA Hockey team to win in 1917, The Seattle Metropolitans with 1 win. 30 different teams have challenged or defended The Original Stanley Cup.

The different leagues to challenge or win The Original Stanley Cup include :

Amateur Hockey Assocoiation of Canada (AHAC)
Ontario Hockey Association (OHA)
Manitoba Hockey Association (MHA)
Central Canada Hockey Association (CCHA)
Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL)
Maritime Hockey League (MHL)
Manitoba & Northwestern Hockey Association (MNWHA)
Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL)
Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA)
Manitoba Professional Hockey League (MPHL)
Ontario Professional Hockey League (OPHL)
Alberta Amateur Hockey Association (AAHA)
National Hockey Association (NHA)
New Onterio Hockey League (NOHL)
Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA)
National Hockey League (NHL)
Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL)
Western Hockey League (WHL)
And my favourite Stanley Cup Challenge, The Dawson City Nuggets from the Yukon in 1905

Most Hockey fans will never get to see The Real Stanley Cup if it continues to stay at The Hockey Hall of Fame 24/7, 365 days a year. There are millions of people that would cherish the moment to see this Historic Trophy, yet they never will. People that cannot afford to travel any distance, families that need to spend their hard earned dollars at home, workers with 1 day off, these are only some of the reasons why Hockey fans cannot get to Toronto. I myself have always wanted to see The Original Stanley Cup, but I have had no reason to go to Toronto other then that. A very expensive trip that most people cannot afford.

I want you to think about this:

NHL Hockey teams pay their players millions, and I mean millions of dollars to play Ice Hockey. Each organization wants to win The Stanley Cup, and they develope their organization to try to achieve this. Their supporters, sponsors and fans generate ticket & merchandise sales to keep the team heading in the right direction, which is trying to win The Stanley Cup. Why can't the NHL, The Hockey Hall of Fame and the Stanley Cup Trustees work together to bring The Original Stanley Cup back to the Championship Games. Can they not afford to build a secure display that could move to each Conference Champions home town. The Stanley Cup generates billions of dollars of revenues, so I find that a tough sell. What I can tell you is - every Stanley Cup Final host city would bend over at the chance to host The Original Stanley Cup in their city. Every city in the NHL has museums, hotel ballrooms, convention centres and of course the Arena that the home team plays from. All of these venues are secure, and could be secured more if needed. The Presentation Cup is already displayed, along with the other NHL Trophies in each Conference Champions home town. Why not include The Original Stanley Cup. Thats the Trophy they will be playing for, so include the Original Stanley Cup back into the game, the arena, the atmosphere, and most importantly the Winners, Owners, the Team Organization, Their Family and close Friends. The Sponsors, the Volunteers and the Fans too.

We are told The Original Stanley Cup is too brittle to be awarded. Nonsense, The Original Stanley Cup is made from English Sterling Silver, almost a tough as nails. The folklore is endless about what the Winners have done to The Original Stanley Cup. It has also servived through Spanish Influenza, 1899 to 1900 Millenium change, World War 1, the Great Depression, World War 2, the 50s & 60s, this is one strong Trophy. Look at it, it looks good to me.

Here's a fact : The tradition of drinking out of the Stanley Cup Bowl started in 1896 by the Winnipeg Victorias and dictates that the Winning Team drink Champagne from the Top Bowl after Victory.

Think about how many Great Men & Women drank from this Trophy between 1896 and 1969 including Prime Ministers and Presidents, its astonishing to say the least. These Great People, their Spirits, their Souls, their Laughter, their Courage & Vigor. All left dry on a rim, behind glass, only to look at. Well, its not right, and the HockeyGods are trying to do something about this misdeed, and promote the Game of Ice Hockey at the same time through knowledge and entertainment.

We have sent 3 registerd letters dated April 13th, 2011, one letter sent to The National Hockey League Commissioner Mr. Gary Bettman at the NHL Head Office in New York City. And one letter each to the Stanley Cup Trustees Mr. Ian Scotty Morrison and Mr.Brian O'Neill at The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. We have Requested that The Original Stanley Cup be included in all Championship Games where the The Stanley Cup could be won. The request is the First Step to including The Original Stanley Cup back into the celebration and festivities that are named after this Historic Trophy.

There is no reason why The Original Stanley Cup should not be at Championship Games. Would Lord Stanley of Preston approve of a Clone Trophy being presented in place of the Trophy he asked his long time friend & aide Charles Colville to find in London, England. I Think Not ! Lord Stanley touched The Original Bowl, approved all engraving regarding his family crest on one side, and Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup on the other side. Lord Stanley also approved the very first winners of The Stanley Cup in 1893 -The Montreal Hockey Club, Montreal AAA.

Please vote in our poll regarding The Original Stanley Cup, and join us as a member of HockeyGods to support all good causes of Hockey Worldwide.

Here is a link to all the Stanley Cup Winners :

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stanley_Cup_champions

Vancouver Millionaires - Ice Hockey Visionaries

The Vancouver Millionaires were a Institution of Ice Hockey Permanance.

The Stanley Cup, first awarded in 1893 would see many changes to the game of Ice Hockey and it's Champions. Some of the most important rules of Ice Hockey started in Vancouver, Canada. These rules are still in effect today in the NHL and leagues across the world. The playoff system that was developed in Vancouver, is now used throughtout the world in many different leagues and ALL SPORTS.

The most exciting aspect of Ice Hockey "The Penalty Shot" was started in Vancouver and the PCHA. The Patrick family would change the game of Ice hockey forever. Frank & Lester Patrick backed by their father Joe, would be the founders of the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association (PCHA), the FIRST league from Western Canada.

Frank Patrick would be league president until 1924, also playing and coaching the Vancouver Millionaires from 1911 to 1918. The Vancouver Millionaires would win The Stanley Cup in 1915 at The Denman Arena in Vancouver.

Lester Patrick was also a player and coach with The Victoria Senators (1911/13), The Victoria Aristocrats 1913/16, The Spokane Canaries 1916/17, The Seattle Metropolitans 1917, The Victoria Aristocrats 1918/22, The Victoria Cougars 1922/26 - all teams in the PCHA. The Victoria Cougars would win The Stanley Cup in 1925 at The Patrick Arena in Oak Bay, Victoria.

The PCHA would start Ice Hockey teams in Vancouver, Victoria, New Westminster, Spokane, Portland & Seattle. The Spokane Canaries would stay only 1 season before moving back to Victoria, Canada. The Portland Rosebuds would become the First American Ice Hockey team to play for The Stanley Cup in 1916. The Seattle Metropolitans would be the First American team to Win The Stanley Cup in 1917.

Here are some of the rules that started in Vancouver and the PCHA.

The Blue Lines
Sub-divided the rink into 3 zones
The Goal Line between posts
Forward Pass
Face Off Circles
Penalty Shots
The Boarding Penalty
The Raising of the Hockey Stick after a goal was scored
Awarding Assists on Goals
Allowing Substitutions at any time
Banning Players from within 5 feet of The Faceoff
Allowing the Kicking of the Puck, except into The Goal Net
Seperate Referee Changing Rooms
Numbers on the Back of Jerseys, along with a Game Program to Identify Players
The First Drafting of Players to Teams
Playoff Format
Allowing Goalies to Drop to the Ice to Make Saves
Developed the Farm System for Players
The First Canadian League to Expand to The United States of America
3 Periods of Play
Goal Judge off The Ice

The Sport of Ice Hockey owes a great debt to the Patrick family, The PCHA and The City of Vancouver, Canada.

Please view this 3:55 video of The Vancouver Millionaires from Canucks.com

video.canucks.nhl.com/videocenter/console

Frank Patrick Bio: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Patrick_%28ice_hockey%29

Lester Patrick Bio: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Patrick

PCHA History: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Coast_Hockey_Association

Seattle Metropolitans - The First USA Ice Hockey Dynasty - ALMOST !

Wayback Machine: How the Mets missed a dynasty

Mother Nature and the military foiled Seattle’s chances for greatness.

The Seattle Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup in 1917 and just missed winning two other times, in 1919 and 1920. Coach Pete Muldoon is standing far left; goalie Hap Holmes is standing, upper right; stars Frank Foyston and Bernie Morris are seated second and third from left, bottom row, respectively, and Jack Walter is on bottom row, far left. / David Eskenazi Collection

By David Eskenazi and Steve Rudman

In the tortured history of major league sports in these parts, mainly a dense catalog of soaring mediocrity, no team ever came closer to achieving dynasty status than the 1917-20 Seattle Metropolitansof the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (1911-24). Boasting three future Hall of Fame players (and, in hindsight, putting all future Seattle franchises to shame), the Metropolitans battled for the Stanley Cupthree times in a four-year span.

Winners once and vexed twice, the Metropolitans and their barber pole uniforms now amount to a quaint curiosity at best, an insignificant relic at worst. But had the Metropolitans not simultaneously collided with the vile side of Mother Nature and a U.S. military SNAFU, history might have a different story to tell.

The Patrick brothers,Frank and Lester, formed the PCHA in 1911 after locating in British Columbia to assist in the family lumber business. After establishing franchises in Vancouver (Millionaires), Victoria (Senators) and New Westminster (Royals), B.C., the Patricks launched an aggressive campaign of expansion. The Metropolitans became a product of that growing commerce, squalling into existence for the 1915-16 season.

When the Mets made their debut, the PCHA had forged a considerable reputation for innovation. It introduced the blue line and goal crease, the forward pass and penalty shot, none yet adopted by the National Hockey Association (forerunner of theNational Hockey League).

Bernie Morris played for the Seattle Metropolitans for seven years, making seven All-Star teams / David Eskenazi Collection

The PCHA also became the first league to implement a farm system, the first to feature numbers on players’ sweaters, and the first to hold playoffs (Frank Patrick is given most of the credit for the innovations). The PCHA eliminated a rule that mandated goalies must stay on their feet, and it played seven men to a side vs. the NHA’s six.

The clear quality of hockey in the PCHA convinced the more established NHA to permit its regular-season champion to challenge the PCHA’s best for possession of Lord Stanley’s Cup. In 1916-17, the Metropolitans became that challenger, and made the most of their chance.

In a five-game series conducted in front of packed throngs at the Seattle Ice Arena, the Metropolitans obliterated the more famous les Canadiens by an aggregate of 19 goals to three, becoming the first American team to hoist Stanley’s Cup, and the first Seattle-based franchise to win a major pro title in any sport.

Two years later, the Metropolitans once again qualified to vie for the Cup, and once more their rival was Montreal. A different outcome here would have defined the Metropolitans in a far more favorable historical context had it not been for two developments – the 1918-19 world-wide Spanish influenza pandemic, and the odd misfortune that befell Bernard Patrick Morris, Seattle’s leading scorer.

Medical researchers ultimately traced the Spanish influenza outbreak in the United States to March 18, 1918, a full year before the Metropolitans and Canadiens met for the second time. An unidentified Army private at Fort Riley, KA., reported to the camp hospital complaining of a fever, sore throat, and headache. Before the day ended, more than 100 Fort Riley soldiers had taken ill.

Lester Patrick, a member of the Metropolitans in 1917-18, co-founded the Pacific Coast Hockey Association with brother Frank. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. / David Eskenazi Collection

From Fort Riley, the flu hop-scotched to Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Baltimore, its spread coinciding with massive movements of military personnel, and high concentrations of populations, during World War I (Seattle’s population swelled to 400,000 during this period, largely due to military and shipbuilding reasons). By the time the influenza reached Seattle on Oct. 3, 1918, some 21 million individuals had died globally, including 700,000 in the United States.

On Oct. 5, 1918, Seattle Health Commissioner Dr. J. S. McBride stated that influenza is “admittedly prevalent in the city” and blamed its presence on a trainload of sick draftees from Philadelphia bound for the University of Washington Naval Training Station. Soon, Seattle health officials had recorded 700 flu cases and one death, despite taking rapid action.

They issued an order on Oct. 29, 1918, making it mandatory that all city residents wear six-ply gauze masks. The state of Washington followed with a similar order the next day, covering everyone living outside the King County limits.

To keep the flu in check, authorities forced an end to mass gatherings until the crisis passed, banning dances and theater going, closing schools, and curtailing streetcar service. While the city busied itself with major road cleanings and garbage removal, its politicians passed an anti-spitting law.

The city insisted that only close relatives of a deceased could attend his/her funeral, and that no religious services would be permitted for at least two weeks following initial manifestation of the flu. When ministers whined, Mayor Ole Hanson (later famous for founding the city of San Clemente, CA.) remarked, “Religion which won’t keep for two weeks is not worth having.”

Goalkeeper Hap Holmes became a Hall of Famer in 1975. / David Eskenazi Collection

Local sport did not go untouched. Because of the manpower drain caused by World War I, plus the added complication of the flu, the University of Washington football team played only two games in the fall of 1918, one against Oregon, the other against Oregon State (helping fight the war in Europe, head coach Claude Hunt missed both games).

The UW managed a 16-game basketball season, but no games were played in the late fall of 1918 after the flu erupted. The season started on Jan. 17, after the flu seemed to have abated, and included limited travel: Of the 16 games, UW played four against Washington State, four against Oregon, and four against Oregon State.

Because the disease appeared in Seattle six weeks after it first struck Eastern U.S. cities, Seattle officials had a chance to plan for its arrival. The Seattle Department of Health and Sanitation, in conjunction with doctors at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, developed a vaccine and ordered that all shipyard workers be vaccinated. Of the 10,000 persons vaccinated, none developed influenza.

But Seattle had more than 10,000 citizens. After Armistice came on Nov. 11, 1918, ending World War I, thousands celebrated in Seattle’s streets, sans gauze masks. The city lifted the mask rule the next day and re-opened theaters and other public places. Sure enough, the flu began another rampage before dropping off again. Schools did not re-open until mid-January, 1919.

By March, about 1,600 individuals in Seattle had succumbed to the flu, but the city had been relatively fortunate. Seattle suffered a death rate half that of San Francisco and a third of that of Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Oddly — or luckily — the flu bug never reached 5th Avenue in downtown Seattle, especially between Seneca and University streets, where the Metropolitans played their entire regular season at the Ice Arena without a reported health-related incident, and with an 11-9 record, good for second place in the PCHA standings, a game behind the 12-8 Vancouver Millionaires.

Defenseman Jack Walker entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1960. / David Eskenazi Collection

According to PCHA rules, its top two regular-season teams would face off in a two-game, total-goals series, the winner earning the right to challenge the NHA champion for the Stanley Cup. Game 1 would be held in Seattle, Game 2 in Vancouver.

Moments before the start of Game 1, on March 13, Metropolitans coachPete Muldoon, an off-season boxer and lacrosse player and later famous for hexing the Chicago Blackhawks with the infamous “Curse of Muldoon”, received a telegram from star goal scorer Bernie Morris.

Muldoon gathered his Mets and read it to them. It said, with no elaboration, “Fight like ———- tonight and win!”

The public clueless, Muldoon and his players knew exactly why Morris had gone MIA. A week earlier, on March 5, following the final game of the regular season, a 3-1 Seattle win over the Victoria Aristocrats (nee Senators), he had been arrested and charged with draft evasion and desertion in a time of war. When Morris did not appear at the Ice Arena for the first game against the Millionaires, many Seattle fans suspected he had come down with the flu.

A Canadian who worked legally in the United States, Morris registered for the draft with both the Canadian and U.S. militaries for World War I. He received exemptions from both countries from service, but when the Americans entered the war (April 2, 1917) Morris’ status changed. Slightly more than a year later, authorities sent Morris a U.S. draft notice to his off-season home in Vancouver, B.C. Morris never received it (his testimony), off playing hockey as he was.

When Morris didn’t respond to his draft notice, U.S. military officials declared him a deserter (Oct. 13, 1918). It took Morris another four months to discover he was in hot water. When he did, he hastily reported to Camp Lewis (now Fort Lewis), figuring there had been a misunderstanding, and that he would be able to sort things out.

Cully Wilson served as the Metropolitans' chief enforcer / David Eskenazi Collection

Draft Board No. 6 grilled Morris for several hours, then released him. But board chairman W.M. Whitney soon thought the better of it and revoked Morris’ release, saying that a “notorious character” such a Morris could not be allowed to roam the streets. Morris again voluntarily turned himself in – and no one would see him again for more than a year.

“Bernie left behind a disconsolate bunch of stick handlers on the very night of their most important game,” the Seattle Times reported.

Inspired by Morris’ telegram, the Metropolitans routed the Millionaires 6-1 in Game 1. Frank Foyston produced a hat trick. The Metropolitans lost Game 2, 4-1, but earned the right to face Montreal for the Stanley Cup on the basis of aggregate goals (7 to 5).

With Morris still under lock and key at Camp Lewis, the Metropolitans would have to play for the Cup without their leading scorer, one reason why newspapers favored the Canadiens. Another: the big names in the Montreal lineup. Five of its players would one day enter the Hockey Hall of Fame: left wing Joe Malone (1950), player/coachNewsy Lalonde (1950), defenseman Bad Joe Hall (1961), right wing Didier Pitre (1962) and Georges Vezina (1975), the man after whom the Vezina Trophy, awarded annually to hockey’s top goalkeeper, is named.

While Montreal had a 5-3 lead on the Metropolitans on the future Hall of Fame list, Seattle didn’t lack for talent. Foyston, perhaps the club’s best overall player, defenseman Jack Walker (credited with introducing the hook check to hockey) and goalie Hap Holmes, would enter the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958, 1960 and 1975, respectively (during the off-season, Foyston and Holmes jointly owned and operated a 2,800-acre wheat and cattle ranch in Canada).

As a counter to Montreal’s Bad Joe Hall, the Metropolitans trotted out the PCHA’s top enforcer, Cully Wilson, an off-season shipyard worker who had established his bona fides in the goonery niche by breaking Mickey MacKay’s (Vancouver Millionaires) jaw in a fight by using his stick to cross-check MacKay in the face.

Coach Pete Muldoon liked to box and play lacrosse / David Eskenazi Collection

But with Morris missing, the Metropolitans had no real answer for Lalonde, Montreal’s captain and top scorer. Two years earlier, Morris tallied a staggering 14 goals against the Canadiens in Seattle’s four-game triumph, including six in the 9-1 Stanley Cup clincher. He had scored 20 goals with 22 assists in the 1918-19 PCHA season, one shy of the league-leading 23 tallied by Cyclone Taylorof the Vancouver Millionaires. He had been Seattle’s leading scorer for four consecutive seasons, and a four-time All-Star.

The Metropolitans had two advantages: the best-of-five series would be played entirely in Seattle (the finals alternated between East to West); PCHA rules would be in force for Games 1, 3 and 5 (the PCHA played seven men to a side while NHA played six to a side).

The 1919 series began in Seattle on March 19, the Metropolitans winning 7-0 in dominating fashion. Foyston contributed a hat trick and Muzz Murray tallied two goals, but the star of the evening’s mixup was Holmes, who repelled shot after shot, clearly outplaying Vezina.

Game 2 went off on March 22. That morning, after W.M. Whitney, chairman of Draft Board No. 6, testified that Morris had deserted his adopted country, or at least the country in which he made his living, judge E.E. Cushman denied Morris his release and set a court martial date for mid-April, after which the attorney for Morris, Albert Moodie of Seattle, threatened to take Morris’ case to the President of the United States (Woodrow Wilson).

That night, in a game played under Eastern rules – six men to a side — Montreal won 4-2 as Lalonde set a Stanley Cup record by peppering four pucks past Holmes. A melee nearly erupted when Cully Wilson deliberately slapped a puck into the nose of Montreal’s Bad Joe Hall, but the thrust of post-game reporting had as much to do with local scribes bemoaning the absence of Morris as it did the game action itself.

The teams reverted to Western rules March 24th for Game 3. Seattle won 7-2, Holmes returning to form and Foyston scoring two unassisted goals with an assist. Had the Metropolitans been able to offset Malone’s four goals with any from the prolific Morris in Game 2, this 7-2 victory would have given Seattle its second Stanley Cup in three years.

Game 4, played on March 26, might have been the greatest ever on the West Coast – at least according to on-the-spot post-match opines. At the end of regulation the score stood 0-0, and it ended that way following 20 minutes of wild overtime, in which both Holmes and Vezina blocked every shot. Louis Berlinguette of Montreal had a chance to win it in OT, but missed by inches.

Mets coach Pete Muldoon (right) is pictured with C.W. Lester, manager of the Seattle Ice Arena / David Eskenazi Collection

Montreal took Game 5, 4-3, to level the series at 2-2-1 and force a decisive, and previously unscheduled, Game 6. Seattle sports writers again made specific mention of Morris’ absence, and what his shotmaking might have provided the Metropolitans.

Five and a half hours before the Game 6 face-off, players on both teams suddenly took ill with the flu, health officials quickly dispatching five Montreal players to local hospitals, and ordering the rest of the Canadiens to remain in their rooms at the Georgian Hotel. Jack McDonald became the first Canadien to go down, followed by Lalonde, Hall, Billy Coutu, Berlinguette, and, finally team manager George Kennedy. All had fevers ranging from 101 to 105 degrees.

From his hospital bed, Kennedy announced he would forfeit the Cup to Seattle, but Muldoon refused to accept, recognizing that catastrophic illness had caused the Canadiens to be short of players.

Kennedy asked if he could borrow players from the Victoria Aristocrats of the PCHA, but league president Frank Patrick scotched the idea. Several Victoria players had been ravaged by the flu, and some suspected the Canadiens picked it up from Victoria players when they stopped there for an exhibition game prior to arriving in Seattle.

With Patrick having no other alternative, and Seattle public health officials fearful of a large flu outbreak if 4,000 fans jammed the Ice Arena for Game 6, the contest was called off.

The 1919 Stanley Cup playoffs ended with no champion decided, marking the only time the trophy was not awarded. That season is recorded on the Stanley Cup today simply as: “1919, Montreal Canadiens, Seattle Metropolitans, Series Not Completed.”

Bernie Morris at wheel during a trip to Los Angeles. The photo was taken outside the Lankersheim Hotel. / David Eskenazi Collection

Five days later, on April 5, Bad Joe Hall died at Seattle City Hospital from the pneumonia that developed while he battled the flu. Many of his teammates attended his funeral in Vancouver on April 8.

The other Montreal players eventually recovered, but a weakened Kennedy never did. He suffered from ill health for two years and died at age 39 on Oct. 19, 1921, most attributing his early demise to the lingering effects of Spanish influenza. Two months later, Kennedy’s widow, unable to meet the team’s financial obligations, sold the Canadiens. She got $11,000.

Two weeks after Seattle health officials nixed Game 6, a Camp Lewis jury convicted Bernard Patrick Morris of desertion from the U.S. Army in a general court martial. A judge sentenced him on April 13 to serve two years of hard labor at Alcatraz.

No one today knows if Morris served his sentence there: Alcatraz did not keep inmate records prior to 1934. Today, the general belief is that Morris remained incarcerated at Camp Lewis, as the case against him grew increasingly weak.

Following a full year of questioning and investigations, the military dropped all charges against Morris, no explanation ever forthcoming. The military permitted Morris to return to hockey, but by then he had missed the 1919 Stanley Cup finals, the entire 1919-20 PCHA regular season, and the PCHA playoffs.

Scorecard for the Victoria- Seattle game on Jan. 8, 1919, two months before Spanish influenza struck the Stanley Cup finals / David Eskenazi Collection

Morris departed Camp Lewis just in time to accompany the Metropolitans to Ottawa for the 1920 Stanley Cup Finals against the Senators. But having spent so much time in detention, Morris couldn’t get his hockey legs under him. Out of shape, he managed just two assists in five games as the Metropolitans lost the series three games to two. Morris had scored 27 points in his previous 17 playoff games. An in-shape Morris might have swung the Cup toward Seattle.

Those who witnessed the 1919 Stanley Cup Finals wrote floridly — and convincingly — that Seattle could – and probably would – have won at least one of the two games the Metropolitans dropped had Morris been available.

Arguing against that: NHA rules were used in Mets’ losses, and Seattle might have lost both even with Morris (both the Canadiens and Mets had their usual style of play disrupted by NHA and PCHA rule differences).

Or maybe not. With Morris, the Metropolitans might have swept the Canadiens in the first three games of the 1919 series (Seattle outscored Montreal 16-6 in those engagements), making Game 6, and the tragedy that engulfed it, unnecessary.

Morris rejoined the Metropolitans for the 1920-21 season and spent three more years with the club before it traded him to Calgary. The Mets never again challenged for the Stanley Cup, nor enjoyed the local popularity they had from 1917-20. By 1924, the Mets (and the PCHA) had become awash in financial problems and their attendance had plummeted to fewer than 1,000 per game.

The PCHA folded the Metropolitans in the summer of 1924, dispersing its players into the newly formed Western Canada Hockey League. The Seattle Ice Arena briefly became a public roller-skating rink, and then was converted into a parking garage.

Bernie Morris played hockey through the 1929-30 season, closing out his career with the Hamilton Tigers, following a six-game stint with the NHL’s Boston Bruins. When he died in May of 1963, cause of death unknown, exact date unknown, no local newspaper published his obituary.

The Seattle Metropolitans pose for a team shot at the downtown Ice Arena. Bernie Morris is third from left./ David Eskenazi Collection

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Many of the historic on Sportspress Northwest are provided by resident Northwest sports aficionado David Eskenazi, who writes “The Wayback Machine” every Tuesday. Check out David’s “Wayback Machine Archive”. David can be reached at (206) 441-1900, or at the following e-mail address: seattlesportshistory@gmail.com

(“Wayback Machine” is published every Tuesday as part of Sportspress Northwest’s package of home-page features collectively titled, “The Rotation.”)

PLEASE VISIT SportsPress NorthWest for all Seattle Sports information :

sportspressnw.com/

14 Goals in One Stanley Cup Playoff Game "One Eyed McGee"

Some Stanley Cup records will never be broken, and One Eyed Frank McGee will forever be a part of Stanley Cup Folklore. One Eyed McGee was born in Ottawa, Canada on November 4,1882. One of 9 children born to John Joseph McGee and Elizabeth Crotty. John Joseph McGee was Clerk of Privy Council and his brother Thomas D'Arcy McGee had been a Father of Confereration in Canada. A prominent Ottawa family, the McGee's were involved in many sports, associations, clubs & governments.

One Eyed McGee also played Lacrosse & Rugby - being a Canadian Champion in 1898 with The Ottawa City Rugby Team. Ice Hockey was One Eyed McGee's love, and he got his nickname from the sport he loved so dearly. Frank McGee was playing amatuer Hockey in Ontario for a Canadian Pacific Railway Team, and during a game on March 21, 1900 was struck in the eye by a lifted shot. Frank McGee had to retire from playing Ice Hockey because of the eye injury, but continued to be a part of the game he loved by becoming a referee. In 1903 Frank McGee came out of retirment and joined the Ottawa Hockey Club. The Ottawa Hockey Club soon became known as The Ottawa Silver Seven and Frank now known as "One Eyed" McGee was their star player. One Eyed McGee was one of the smallest players in league play (5' 6"), but he loved to score, was a fast skater that could stickhandle around most players and punished other players with his physical game. One Eyed McGee scored goals in his very first game for Ottawa, and went on to score a remarkable 135 goals in 45 league games. One Eyed McGee won 4 Stanley Cups between 1903 & 1906.

The Stanley Cup Record of 14 goals in 1 game by a single player happened on January 16, 1905 in Dey's Arena (Dey's Skating Rink), Ottawa, Canada with The Silver Seven playing The Dawson City Nuggets. The Historic Stanley Cup Challege by the Dawson City Nuggets from the Yukon in north-western Canada, set the stage for a number of Stanley Cup records that will never be broken. The Dawson City Nuggets had a long way to go to get to Ottawa for the challenge, and after 25 days of travel that included hundreds of miles of walking, dogsleds, bicycles, steam ship & trains they arrived in Ottawa on January 11, 1905 just 2 days before the start of the Stanley Cup challenge. The first team from the western part of Canada to challenge for the Stanley Cup were not well rested for the first game on January 13, 1905. The first game was won by The Silver Seven 9 to 2 with a little stick work to players heads by both teams, resulting in one player, Art Moore being knocked out with a stick to the head. After the game, Norman Watt of the Dawson City Nuggets was heard saying that One Eyed Frank McGee wasn't that good - he only scored 1 goal during the game.

The second game of the challenge would be a different story, both teams rested and ready to play. The Silver Seven made one line up change putting Harvey Pulford on the roster in place of Arthur Allen. The Dawson City Nuggets also made one line up change, taking out Randy McLennan who scored a goal in the first game, and putting Dave Fairburn on the roster. One Eyed McGee also wanted to show The Dawson City Nuggets he was a star Ice Hockey player. The game ended in a 23 to 2 win for The Silver Seven, and One Eyed McGee scored 14 goals in the game.

Francis Clarence McGee (One Eyed Frank McGee) retired again after the 1906 Ice Hockey season. McGee worked for the Canadian Government Department of Indian Affairs for many years, and enlisted himself into the military for World War 1. McGee would fight on the front line with the 43rd Regiment as a Lieutenant in the 21st Infantry Battalion. During The Battle of Somme, near Courcelette, France - McGee was killed in action on September 16, 1916. Frank McGee's body was never recovered.

Frank McGee was one of the original Hockey Hall of Fame inductee's in 1945.

Please vist www.HHOF.com for more info.

Please visit their website at mcgeesinn.com Maybe you can stay in One Eyed McGee's room.

The 1st International Ice Hockey Game 1886

The First International Ice Hockey Game 1886

He was not a hockey player nor did he have any connection whatsoever with the sport, but when George Longley boarded the Montreal-bound train in Chicago in late February, 1885 he triggered a chain of events that would result in hockey history being made in Burlington, Vermont one year later.

Longley was a Pullman car conductor on the regular Grand Trunk Railway run between the two cities. He was looking forward to finally reaching home, a boarding house in downtown Montreal, especially since he was not feeling at all well. He was suffering feverishness, depression, chills and a cough. By the time the train arrived at Bonaventure Station on February 28, Longley was in no condition to proceed to his lodgings. Doctors succeeded in having him admitted to the crowded Hotel Dieu hospital, although at first they were not certain of the nature of his illness. It turned out to be smallpox, a highly contagious and often fatal disease transmitted through contamination of the air surrounding the victim and by way of infected objects and surfaces such as clothing, furniture and paper.

The failure of the hospital to promptly diagnose the complaint and to isolate the patient resulted in a rapid spread of the disease. Longley himself recovered and returned to his railway duties, but thousands of others were not so fortunate. The first death occurred on April 1. In the following months smallpox reached epidemic proportions and, by the end of its reign of terror, had claimed the lives of more than 3,000 Montrealers — some 2,500 being children under the age of 10 and mostly from working-class French-Canadian homes. Authorities estimated that 12,000 inhabitants of the city’s population of 167,500 contracted the illness.

The commercial and social life of the city was disrupted. Business interests at first wanted newspapers to downplay the seriousness of the epidemic, but later joined forces to combat it by pressing officials to bring in compulsory vaccination and to quarantine those infected. Popular events where large numbers of people gathered were canceled, not the least of which was the Montreal Carnival slated for the winter of 1886.

The annual carnival, inaugurated in 1883, was a huge celebration of the joys of winter sport. Thousands of visitors from all parts of Canada, the United States and even Europe flowed into the city. They filled every hotel room and boarding house. Eagerly, they flocked to the dense program of skating competitions, curling matches, and tobogganing and sleighing demonstrations. In the evenings, there were fancy dress balls and dinners under the patronage of such luminaries as the Governor-General of Canada. Newspaper reporters from Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Boston, New York, Buffalo, Chicago, St. Louis and points between sent dispatches back home. Among the attractions was a curious new sport called hockey. Most spectators did not know what to make of it. They were dazzled by the game’s speed and the dexterity of the players, but they were also a little taken aback by its rough edge.

By 1885, hockey, in an organized fashion, had been played for 10 years in Montreal, the birthplace of the formalized version as we know it. Even so, most of the city’s inhabitants, not to mention visitors, were unfamiliar with the sport and newspapers struggled to find the right words to describe it. They likened it to rugby, lacrosse and the Irish game of hurley. The carnival, however, gave the game broad domestic and international exposure, a fact not lost on hockey leaders. Most of the participating clubs, such as McGill University, Victorias and Crystals, were locally based. The Quebec Hockey Club entered the first competition in 1883 and the Ottawa Hockey Club played in 1884 and 1885. The newly-formed Montreal Hockey Club joined the scene in 1885. There had never been an American entrant.

The Montreal Club, under the umbrella of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, were the 1885 victors. The rapid advancement of the team from inception to championship status was astonishing. Only in November of 1884 had the MAAA board of directors granted permission to one of their members to call a meeting for the purpose of starting a hockey club. Four days later the club was formed and the executive chosen. Two months hence the delighted team presented the carnival trophy to an appreciative board. The secretary-treasurer was immediately instructed to procure a trophy case, and the players anxiously looked forward to defending their title the following season.

But with the smallpox epidemic now causing the cancelation of the 1886 carnival, no one within hockey circles at first knew what to do about maintaining the momentum the carnival tournament afforded the game. As winter approached, there was talk in Ottawa of that city mounting a similar extravaganza since, as the Ottawa Free Press observed, “the smitten metropolis will be compelled this winter to forego its grand annual event.” Soon though, the Ottawa mayor called off those plans, indicating it would be a “dangerous experiment” in light of Montreal’s misfortune.

In Montreal, the carnival committee floated the idea of a “week of sports” as a substitute, presumably to keep it a primarily local affair since the stricken city would hardly be an attractive destination for outsiders.

Meanwhile, in the small city of Burlington, Vermont, nestled on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, local sportsmen were making plans of their own. Members of the Burlington Coasting Club, according to that city’s Free Press, had decided to organize a “week of winter sports, to which all the world should be welcome.” Coasting, later known as bobsledding, was to be a central attraction but other sporting events would be arranged.

Officials were at pains to point out that when they conceived the idea, they were unaware of the cancelation of Montreal’s carnival and, in any event, had in no way intended their own week to compete with that of the “City of the North.” It was only after the Montreal decision, organizers said, that it occurred to them it would be a good idea to borrow the project for a season and have a full-fledged Burlington Winter Carnival. Officials went north to seek advice on the running of such an event, and the Burlington Free Press was able to report that Montreal was being most cooperative “and has not only consented to our borrowing the name and spirit of her carnival, but has generously offered to assist us in every possible way.”

There would be coasting, ice trotting, ice boating, skating races, snowshoe races, tobogganing, concerts, and a grand procession through the main streets. There would be hockey matches at the ice rink. Members of the Montreal Snowshoe Club would be coming down in force, and with them would be two crack Montreal hockey teams, the MAAA and the Crystals. The two teams were already great rivals that year, since they were competing in the Montreal city championship series that had finally been arranged. Everything was set for the week of February 15 to 19. The Ottawa Hockey Club, which had planned to compete, was practicing hard and for the occasion had ordered new sticks from the Caughnawaga reserve. The Ottawas had scheduled a warm-up match en route in Ogdensburg, New York. Mother Nature’s intervention, bringing a blast of unseasonably mild weather, did not ruin plans but necessitated some adjustments. The organizing committee rescheduled the carnival for the following week and the Ottawa team bowed out of the hockey tournament.

The carnival week of February 22 to 26 was indeed all that Burlington could have envisioned. The air was crisp and cold. Retailers advertised suitable attire, including Canadian overshoes and moccasins available at Fisher & Boynton’s Boot and Shoe House, and Canadian tuques and sashes at A.N. Percy & Co. The Free Press put out a special souvenir carnival issue which was distributed to such out-of-state cities as Boston, New York, Troy and Chicago. Somewhat wistfully, the Montreal Gazette told its readers that Burlington was “reaping a rare harvest of pleasure and profit through the success attending the gay gathering there.”

The hockey tournament was the wrap-up sporting event scheduled for the late morning and afternoon of the 26th. Said the Free Press: “Hockey on the ice is one of the prettiest of carnival sports, with the colored costumes of the players, their rapid movements and the feats of skill accomplished.” The paper did its best to picture the object of the players’ attention. “The ball instead of being round is round one way and flat the other,” wrote the reporter before finally nailing down the puck’s description with the deft phrasing “like a boy’s cartwheel sawed out of a board.”

Competing with the MAAA and the Crystals in the three-team round robin was the local Van Ness House club. The Van Ness House was a prominent Burlington hotel and one of the centers of carnival socializing. Its members had never played a hockey game before and had only a few practice sessions. Nevertheless, in the spirit of athletic competition for which America is renowned, they ventured forth. At stake were gold medals for the members of the winning team and silver for the runners-up.

The rink was Lake Champlain, specifically the Central Vermont railroad slip. It was protected on three sides by docks which gave spectators an excellent vantage point. By 1886, organized hockey in Montreal had long been an indoor game, being played at the magnificent Victoria Skating Rink and the Crystal Rink. In a sense, the Canadian teams were returning to their outdoor roots. And the lake suited their American counterparts just fine. A terrific gale off the lake greeted the MAAA and the Crystals as they ventured onto the ice for what would be the first game of hockey ever played in the vicinity. Curiously, the referee and umpires were local residents, but since the rules of the game at that time were few and simple, no previous experience in interpreting and enforcing them seemed necessary.

Just one week earlier the same two teams, with almost exactly the same lineups, had met in the Montreal championship series. On that occasion the Crystals prevailed 3-1, thus setting the stage for a grudge match which, though it would have no bearing on the Montreal series, would give the MAAA a chance to restore their pride. And this they did when, after two scoreless 20-minute games, R. Smith “sent the ball through” to give the MAAA the sudden-death win. Friends of the victors greeted the result with deafening cheers.

At this point, true hockey history was about to be made, for the MAAA seven were now to face the Van Ness club in the first hockey tournament contest involving teams from two countries. The wind blew harder than ever through the frigid slip and gusting snow made visibility poor from the spectators’ docks. Though the local team battled valiantly, again the MAAA came through, this time with a 3-0 victory in two games of 15 minutes duration. They took the gold medal honors. All that was left to be decided was the silver.

Probably because of the merciless weather and a general desire to conclude matters, the Crystals and Van Ness agreed to two 10-minute games to decide second spot. Forward J. McGoldrick of the Crystals scored in the first and that was sufficient, giving his team the victory. Observed the Free Press: “Hockey at once leaped into popularity on the part of those Burlingtonians who witnessed the game.”

The MAAA and Crystals returned to Montreal where unfinished business awaited them the following week. In the match to decide the championship of Montreal, the Crystals defeated their arch rivals by a score of 4-2. They went on to win the championship of Canada in a less-than-conclusive manner when their Quebec City opponents refused to conclude the match due to disputes about player eligibility and rough play.

Meanwhile, the site of the first international tournament, the Vermont Central slip on Lake Champlain, was taken over by hordes of boys practicing their newly-discovered game.

Burlington Hockey Tournament Lineups
Van Ness House	MAAA	Crystals
L.C. Johnson	T.L. Paton	A. Cameron
C.H. Whitcomb	G. Lowe	J. Findlay
M.A. Kilvert	D. McIntyre	E. McCaffrey
W.H. Waters	F. Barlow	J. McGoldrick
E.S. Griffing	F.Crispo	W. Hutchison
H. Crane	W. Hodgson	J. Virtue
W. Laduke, Capt.	R. Smith	R. Laing, Capt.
	F. Larmonth, Capt.

This article was originally published at hockeycentral.co.uk/ For more interesting Hockey history please visit their website.