16 “Jack at Play,” Toronto Globe, February 20, 1909.
17 “Burlesque in the Pro. League,” Toronto Star, February 19, 1909.
18 “Torontos Lose Slow Game,” Toronto News, February 24, 1909.
19 “Brants Beat Toronto,” Toronto Telegram, February 24, 1909.
20 The standings between the other three teams were very tight. In particular, the January 5 tied game between Brantford and Galt, which would be played off after all other scheduled regular-season games, was thought to be key to the championship.
21 See “Brantford Gets Tyner,” Toronto Globe, February 13, 1909. This is one of the first reports (in the anti-professional papers) claiming that Toronto would directly aid Brantford’s bid to win the championship. Although the article indicated that Miln had said as much, it did not actually quote him. Were it true, such action would have been decidedly unethical and clearly contrary to league policy.
22 In fairness, the final game between Brantford and Galt on February 25 was ultimately irrelevant. By beating Berlin on February 23 (the night Toronto lost to Brantford), the Indians wrapped up the championship even before beating the Braves. There was, however, some contradictory information in the press about the standings, as some reports failed to understand that a January 28 victory of Brantford over Galt was an exhibition match, not a regular-season game.
23 “No Pros. For Toronto,” Toronto Globe, November 20, 1909.
24 “Snap Shots on Sport,” Toronto Telegram, November 23, 1909.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE OLD ORDER RESTORED
1 This quotation has been attributed to the diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, it being his rueful observation after the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France.
2 “Two More Senior O.H.A. Teams, Eurekas and St. Paul’s Up,” Toronto Telegram, November 30, 1909.
3 “Athletic Peace Treaty Sept. 6,” Toronto Star, September 3, 1909.
4 Jack Batten. The Man Who Ran Faster than Everyone: The Story of Tom Longboat (Toronto: Tundra Books, 2002), p. 6.
5 With the passing of the Senators Hockey Club of the Federal league at the end of 1908–09, this moniker would henceforth be used solely by the Ottawa Hockey Club. I have thus adopted it from this point forward in the text.
6 Eric Zweig notes that this was Cyclone Taylor’s recollection of his salary many years later. News reports at the time suggested somewhat lower amounts although, considering the “position” that came with the hockey contract, the total is not implausible. See Eric Zweig, “Setting Cyclone’s Story Straight,” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 11 (2007), pp. 47–50.
7 “Jack at Play,” Toronto Globe, December 29, 1909.
8 Just to be clear on this twenty-four-year timeline, the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada was formed in 1886. In 1898, its existing clubs reorganized as the Canadian Amateur Hockey League after a dispute over new members. In 1906, most of the CAHL’s clubs joined with the Federal league’s Montreal Wanderers and (returning) Ottawa Silver Seven to form the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association. In 1908, the ECAHA dropped the word “Amateur” and its Montreal AAA and Victoria clubs. Of course, in 1909, it attempted to reorganize without the Wanderers as the Canadian Hockey Association, leading to its final demise in 1910.
9 “Reflections on Sporting Topics,” Toronto Star, November 25, 1909.
10 This was the clear and repeated position of the Tely. For example, see “Snap Shots on Sport,” Toronto Telegram, January 4, 1908, and “Snap Shots on Sport,” Toronto Telegram, February 1, 1909.
11 “Bruce Ridpath’s Foolish Talk,” Toronto News, January 19, 1911.
12 Poulton, pp.134–135.
13 “Snap Shots on Sport,” Toronto Telegram, November 4, 1909.
14 The disposition of the O’Brien franchises, including the original Les Canadiens entity, is laid out in Frank Cosentino, “From Millionaires to Maple Leafs: Exploring Toronto’s Roots in Renfrew,” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 6 (2002), pp. 19–20. In my reading of the press reports of the time, I have seen nothing to contradict Cosentino’s summary of these events.
15 “With the Puck Chasers,” Toronto News, December 10, 1910.
16 Contrary to many conventional histories, the OPHL was not referred to as the “Trolley League” in its first two seasons, during which the Toronto Professionals were members. See “Toronto Out of the Pro. League,” Toronto Star, November 20, 1909, for the first appearance of this nickname. The article notes that the OPHL “is now a Trolley League” because of the withdrawal of Toronto. For this reason, references to Alexander Miln’s club as the “Toronto Trolley Leaguers” (as appear, for example, in the history section of NHL.com) are obviously incorrect.
17 Glen R. Goodhand, A History of the Ontario Professional Hockey League 1908–1911, Unpublished, p. 2.
18 Poulton, p. 134.
19 “Political Notes: Ontario is Awake,” Montreal Gazette, September 20, 1911.
CHAPTER TWELVE: THE REVENGE OF HISTORY
1 “Snap Shots on Sport,” Toronto Telegram, November 24, 1909.
2 Eric Whitehead, The Patricks: Hockey’s Royal Family (Toronto: Doubleday, 1980), p. 13.
3 Travis Paterson, “100 Years of Hockey in Victoria,” Victoria News, December 30, 2011.
4 Ibid.
5 The “Blue Shirts”—or sometimes “Blue-Shirts”—are referred to as the “Blueshirts” in most modern-day publications. However, I have not seen the one-word version of the name in reports of the era.
6 For example, see the photograph “Six of the Toronto Professionals,” Toronto News, January 4, 1913.
7 “Rideau Tandem Swamped,” Ottawa Citizen, August 6, 1910.
8 “Bruce Ridpath Badly Injured,” Montreal Gazette, November 3, 1911.
9 Ibid.
10 “Motorist Must Remain in Jail,” Toronto News, October 6, 1911.
11 See “Streets Illuminated for First Time by Civic HydroElectric Service,” Toronto News, November 2, 1911. Ironically, this took place the night before Ridpath’s automobile accident. It indicates that, even with this historic improvement, lighting was still quite dim by today’s standards.
12 “Pedestrian’s Right of Way,” Toronto World, November 4, 1911.
13 “Not Driver’s Fault Said Ridpath,” Toronto World, January 12, 1912.
14 “The Passing of Mutual St. Rink,” Toronto Star, August 12, 1911.
15 “Was a Farce,” Toronto News, January 26, 1912.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE NEW ORDER IN HOCKEY’S SECOND CITY
1 “Three Straight for Torontos, Should Beat Victoria Again,” Toronto Telegram, March 19, 1914.
2 This is taken from Frank Cosentino, The Renfrew Millionaires (Burnstown, ON: General Store Publishing, 1990), p. 13.
3 National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2013, p. 242. (There is some ambiguity in the early years concerning what constituted a Stanley Cup win.)
4 For example, see “ ‘Bushers’ for Toronto Pro Hockey Team,” Toronto News, October 30, 1912, and “New Ontario Stars Laughed at Low Offers of Toronto Clubs,” Toronto News, November 12, 1912.
5 “Torontos Play Real Hockey and Smother the Indians,” Toronto Star, January 16, 1913.
6 “Ridpath’s Roustabouts Were No Match For Champions,” Toronto News, February 13, 1913.
7 Baker actually played his final game for Princeton in Canada. It was at Ottawa’s Dey Rink on February 28, 1914. Princeton lost to Ottawa College 3–2.
8 “Torontos Sure of Championship,” Toronto Star, February 26, 1914.
9 “The N.H.A. Race Tied Up By Last Night’s Results,” Toronto Star, March 5, 1914.
10 “Ontarios and Torontos Beat Montreal N.H.A. Teams,” Toronto Star, February 2, 1914.
11 “Torontos Played Superb Hockey and Outclassed Canadiens in Final Game,” Toronto News, March 12, 1914.
12 “Wig Wag System Used For Denoting Penalties in N.H.A.,” Toronto News, December 20, 1912.
13 It should be noted that the
re was some uncertainty during the Toronto–Victoria matches as to their bearing on possession of the Stanley Cup. During the series, reports appeared saying that the trustees would not recognize the games because the leagues’ “hockey commission” had not asked their formal approval for the challenge. However, the matter appears to have been ironed out by the time it was all concluded. The Blue Shirts are thus now recognized as having successfully defended their Cup title after first gaining it with the NHA championship.
14 “Flanagan on Current Sport,” Toronto Telegram, March 17, 1914.
15 “Three Straight For Torontos, Should Beat Victoria Again.”
16 For example, see “InterLeague Hockey Pros Second Game at the Arena,” Toronto Telegram, March 17, 1914.
17 Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, The Guns of August (New York: Macmillan, 1962), p. 1.
18 Augustus Bridle, Sons of Canada: Short Studies of Characteristic Canadians (Toronto: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1916), p. 26.
19 Poulton, The Paper Tyrant, p. 138.
OVERTIME: AN ERA FADES AWAY
1 This is attributed to Tommy Gorman of the old Ottawa Senators. See Morey Holzman and Joseph Nieforth, Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL Conquered Hockey (Toronto: Dundurn, 2002), p. 24.
2 I admit that my take on the Calder–Livingstone rivalry is close to the traditional NHL-authorized view of history. For an interpretation more sympathetic to Livingstone, see Holzman and Nieforth.
3 This whole episode was actually quite complex. The Arenas initially contracted with Livingstone for the temporary use of his players. However, they never did pay the required sums and eventually turned the men over to the St. Patricks rather than returning them.
4 This is discussed in detail in Walter C. Neale, “The Peculiar Economics of Professional Sports,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 78 (February 1964), pp. 1–14.
5 “Maple Leafs Gardens Contract Goes to Local Firm,” Toronto Globe, May 30, 1931.
6 Poulton, The Paper Tyrant, p. 173.
7 “Great Toronto Newspaperman Has Passed Away,” Morning Leader, June 1, 1918.
8 Poulton, p. 172.
9 This is the title of the chapter about Hewitt in Scott Young’s OHA history. See Scott Young, 100 Years of Dropping the Puck: A History of the OHA (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1989), pp. 62–74.
10 Hewitt, Down the Stretch, pp. 238–39.
11 Technically, only W. A. Hewitt and Foster Hewitt are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bill Hewitt is, however, a recipient of the Hall’s Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for broadcasting.
12 My observation here originates in the comments of Bruce Kidd, The Struggle for Canadian Sport (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996), pp. 35–36, although my perspective is somewhat different.
13 As above, my observation here grew out of that of Kidd, The Struggle for Canadian Sport.
14 The U.S.-based Portland Rosebuds attempted to claim the Stanley Cup one year earlier, in 1916. They had won the PCHA championship against, among others, the reigning Cup holders, the Vancouver Millionaires. However, after 1914, the trustees did not recognize a Cup champion until all interleague playoffs were completed at the end of the season. Nevertheless, Portland engraved its name on the Cup, to this day the only non-winner to appear on the chalice.
15 “Marshall Was Last of Famed Ice Squad,” Montreal Star, August 9, 1965.
16 An obvious question is why Charles Coleman ascribed the “Maple Leafs” moniker to the 1908 Toronto Stanley Cup contender. As noted, just before the Montreal Wanderers met Alex Miln’s Professionals, they defeated a challenge from the Winnipeg Maple Leafs. As these two series reported on the same page, the nickname may have originated simply as a transposition error. See Charles L. Coleman, The Trail of the Stanley Cup: Volume 1, 1893–1926 (1964), p. 162.
17 “Another Hockeyist Killed in Action,” Toronto Star, November 24, 1916.
18 “Attestation Paper No. 443780,” MERCER, WALTER, Regimental Number: 443780, Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992–93/166, Box 6122–28.
19 Obituaries of Walter Hayes Mercer in the Toronto Globe and Mail, Star and Telegram, May 30, 1961.
20 “Rev. Tyner, of Lincoln, in Front Line Trenches, Describes Conditions on Fields Where Americans are Fighting,” Lincoln Star, April 21, 1918.
21 “Rev. Charles R. Tyner,” Kansas City Times, March 13, 1967.
22 This is a fact I am at pains to explain, but it is a fact nonetheless. It appears that Bruce Ridpath, Con Corbeau, Bert Morrison, Alexander Miln and Teddy Marriott never married. Chuck Tyner and Rolly Young wed late and had no children. Only Newsy Lalonde, Hugh Lambe and Walter Mercer produced offspring. Looking at the team’s lesser lights whom I have been able to obtain information on, the same pattern appears. A notable exception is Ezra Dumart. His son, Woody Dumart, starred with the Boston Bruins from the late 1930s to the early 1950s and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
23 Some discussion of Hugh Lambe’s married life can be found in “Dunsford Family,” Ancestry.ca.
24 “Hugh Lambe Killed by Fall on Stairs,” Toronto Star, May 7, 1941.
25 “For the Would-Be Paddler,” Toronto World, July 9, 1919.
26 Poulton, The Paper Tyrant, p. 173.
27 Various elements of this argument can be found in Kidd, The Struggle for Canadian Sport, pp. 42 and 265–70; Alan Metcalfe, Canada Learns to Play (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1987), pp. 223–224, and Don Morrow, “A Case Study in Conflict,” in British Journal of Sports History (September 1986), pp. 185–86.
28 John Ross Robertson, Talks with Craftsmen and Pencillings by the Wayside: Thoughts for Those Who Are Earnest in a Work that Serves a Noble End and Binds the Hearts of a Great Brotherhood in the Golden Chain of Faith, Fellowship, and Fraternity (Toronto: Hunter, Rose, 1890), p. 6.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aiken, Mike et al. Kenora Thistles: Our Hockey Heritage. Kenora: Bowes Publishers, 2006.
Batten, Jack. The Man Who Ran Faster than Everyone: The Story of Tom Longboat. Toronto: Tundra Books, 2002.
Beekman, Scott. Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America. Wesport: Praeger Publishing, 2006.
Blight, Jim, pub. Kenora Thistles: Our Hockey Heritage. Kenora: Bowes Publishers, 2006.
Boileau, Ron and Philip Wolf. “The Pacific Coast Hockey Association: Innovative Pioneer League Took Top Hockey West” in Dan Diamond, ed., Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League, Second Edition. New York: Total Sports, 2000, pp. 51–54.
Brown, Robert Craig and Ramsay Cook. Canada 1896–1921: A Nation Transformed. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1974.
Cauz, Louis. Baseball’s Back in Town: From the Don to the Blue Jays, A history of baseball in Toronto. Toronto: Controlled Media Corp., 1977.
Clark, Donald M. “Early Artificial Ice: The Development of Refrigeration Allowed the Game to Spread” in Dan Diamond, ed., Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League, New York: Total Sports, 1998, pp. 564–65.
Coleman, Charles L. The Trail of the Stanley Cup: Volume 1, 1893–1926. National Hockey League, 1964.
Cooper, John Irwin. Montreal: A Brief History. Montreal: McGill–Queen’s University Press, 1969.
Cosentino, Frank. “A History of the Concept of Professionalism in Canadian Sport,” Ph.D. Thesis, University of Alberta, 1973.
———. The Renfrew Millionaires: The Valley Boys of Winter 1910. Burnstown: General Store Publishing House, 1990.
———. “From Millionaires to Maple Leafs: Exploring Toronto’s Roots in Renfrew,” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 6, 2002, pp. 19–20.
———. “Les Glorieux: Canadiens, Canadians, Habs or Habs Not” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 6, 2002, pp. 21–22.
Currie, Gordon. 100 Years of Canadian Football. Don Mills: Pagurian Press, 1968.
Diamond, Dan, ed. The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1992.
Dryden, Ken. The Game: A T
houghtful and Provocative Look at Life in Hockey. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1983.
Duplacey, James. “Legends and Facts: The First Presentation of the Stanley Cup,” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 2, 1994, pp. 13–15.
Farrell, Arthur. Hockey: Canada’s Royal Winter Game. Montreal: C.R. Corneil, 1899.
Field, Russell. “Profits, Playoffs, and the Building of Maple Leaf Gardens, 1931,” in Colin D. Howell, ed., Putting It on Ice, Volume I: Hockey and Cultural Identities, 2002, pp. 47–58.
Filichia, Peter. Professional Baseball Franchises: From the Abbeville Athletics to the Zanesville Indians. New York: Facts on File Incorporated, 1993.
Fitsell, J. W. (Bill). Hockey’s Captains, Colonels and Kings. Erin, ON: Boston Mills Press, 1987.
———. “How Hockey Got Its Kick Start” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 1, 1993, pp. 36–39.
———. “Is Windsor the Birthplace of Hockey?” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 2, 1994, pp. 3–4.
———. “The Rise and Fall of Ice Polo: The Roots of Hockey” in Dan Diamond, ed., Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League, New York: Total Sports, 2000, pp. 5–7.
———. “The Halifax Rules: Fact or Fiction?” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 5, 2001, pp. 9–11.
———. “Marks on Hockey’s Face,” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 5, 2001, pp. 32–37.
———. “Doc Gibson: The Eye in the IHL,” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 8, 2004, pp. 5–7.
———. “When Mascots Were Barefaced,” in Hockey Research Journal, Volume 11, 2007, pp. 71–73.
Fitzsimmons, Ernie. “Early Pro Leagues: The First Days of Play-for-Pay Hockey” in Dan Diamond, ed., Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League, New York: Total Sports, 2000, pp. 32–36.
A Great Game Page 31