2016-2017 History of BC Hockey History of BC Hockey Organized hockey in British Columbia dates back to the turn of the twentieth century, though the first amateur hockey league was actually organized under the jurisdiction of the BC Amateur Athletic Union in 1912. Seven years later, the British Columbia Hockey Association was formed at a meeting held at the Daily Province Newspaper offices in Vancouver on February 9, 1919. The Secretary-Treasurer of the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association was in attendance and assisted in the organizing of the Association, and John Oliver, Premier of British Columbia, was named Honorary President. A constitution modeled after the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association was adopted, and the first annual meeting of the Association was held on November 15, 1919 with 16 delegates in attendance. Notable from that first AGM was the defeat of a resolution to adopt the CAHA playing rules, due to the fact that the rules called for teams to play with six players. As there were only three artificial ice arenas at the time in British Columbia, it was felt that seven players a side would give the players more ice time. From these humble beginnings, the Organization enjoyed steady growth and soon began to serve a leadership role for hockey at the provincial and national levels, a role that continues to the present day. Initially, senior hockey was the only division under the jurisdiction of the BCAHA, and for over forty years the assessment of senior hockey gates would serve as the prime source of revenue for the Association. During the 1922-1923 season the first Intermediate Playdowns were held, and it was not until the 1926-1927 season that the Organization crowned their first Junior Champions. Since travel in the province in the early years was slow, expensive and primarily by train, playdowns in minor hockey were discouraged. It was at the 1933 Annual Meeting that it was unanimously agreed that the Organization should register midget and juvenile age divisions as 175 History of BC Hockey 2016-2017 per the CAHA Constitution. Midget Playdowns were held for the first time in the 1937-1938 season, Juvenile in the 1939-1940 season, Bantam in 1960-61 and Peewee did not appear until the 1969-1970 campaign. But while interest in the game seemed to be increasing annually, the Organization had fallen upon hard times by the early 1930s. In fact, there was no annual meeting of the Association in 1933, with the reason provided in the Secretary-Treasurer’s report that “the Association was broke.” However, the popularity of minor hockey soon began to show signs of the future, and that this segment of the membership would evolve such that it would eventually serve as the foundation of the Association. In 1934 four Juvenile teams registered with the Association, becoming the first ever minor hockey registrations. As a result of these registrations a grant of $500 was received from the CAHA to assist in the development of minor hockey. By 1942 minor hockey was the prime concern of the annual meeting, and it was agreed that playdowns would again be held, opening the door for the CAHA to provide another $1,000 to help develop minor hockey. It was also agreed that the Association would take all necessary steps to encourage registration at the minor level. By 1944 the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association had begun operations and minor hockey in other parts of the province had begun its rise to prominence, resulting in playdowns between the Lower Mainland, Okanagan Mainline and the East and West Kootenays. In 1945, as a result of a new agreement between the CAHA and the NHL, the Association received their first payment of funds for a registered BCAHA player turning professional. Alfred “Red” Carr, a Winnipeg native who had played his senior hockey in Nelson and Nanaimo was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs and played one wartime season with the club. By the late forties the Association had begun to focus resources in the area of development and the first referee schools were held as a result. 176 2016-2017 History of BC Hockey The Association was now doing well financially, so much so that the Secretary- Treasurer convinced the Executive that reserves should be set aside for the lean years. As a result, the first reserve fund was set up from general funds (primarily senior assessments). By 1951 registration had blossomed to 2,368 (this did not include players in the house leagues). The 1951 season was notable for the introduction of the player affiliation regulations by the CAHA, and closer to home the first Association awards were implemented to honour contributions to hockey. Membership expanded into the USA, after a resolution was passed to have Spokane pay a 3% assessment to the Association as they were not members of the Amateur Hockey Association of the USA. In the mid-fifties the Association implemented the Mutual Aid Fund to assist minor hockey players injured during play, peewee hockey was recognized for the first time in the province and Minor Hockey Week came to be when, at the May 1956 CAHA annual meeting in Montreal, British Columbia presented a resolution to hold a Canada-wide Minor Hockey Week. The BCAHA spoke on the resolution at the CAHA Minor Hockey Council, as did the BCAHA President Ed Benson at the General Session. The resolution passed and Minor Hockey Week became a reality that continues today. Before the close of the decade the Association would continue their leadership role by holding a Minor Hockey Forum at the Annual Meeting, by banning body checking in minor hockey (it was still allowed under CAHA rules) and by registering under the Societies Act of British Columbia. Registration grew to over 7,000 registered players, with 5,748 registered with the Mutual Aid Fund, helping to grow the fund reserves to $10,800 and even causing some concern that either coverage under the fund would have to increase or premiums would have to be reduced. 177 History of BC Hockey 2016-2017 The decade of the sixties would open with the realization that the popularity of senior hockey was, in fact, decreasing. The Association showed an operating loss for the first time in 26 years, as the 2% assessment of senior gate fees dropped to $1,634 from a high of $5,867 in 1956-1957 and $8,909 in 1953- 1954 when the assessment was 3%. But the 108 minor hockey teams now registered with the Association signified that the shift in focus from senior to minor hockey was gaining momentum. Building on this fact, the Association was successful in having Imperial Oil give Minor Hockey Week considerable coverage on its Hockey Night in Canada. Leadership by BC at the CAHA level continued, and in 1960 the CAHA adopted BC’s resolution to honor individuals who had served amateur hockey faithfully and made a major contribution to the sport. The first such awards were presented at the CAHA Annual Meeting in Ottawa in 1962. With the large growth of minor hockey in British Columbia, it was decided in 1963 that there should be a BC Minor Hockey Committee set up and chaired by the Second Vice-President with a delegate from each district. The Committee was charged with the responsibility of bringing forward recommendations to the annual meeting. By the mid-sixties the evolution of the game was in full swing, reflected by BC rule changes implemented to ban the golf shot (known today as the slap shot) and to mandate the wearing of helmets by minor hockey players. Player registration continued to grow, surpassing the 15,000 mark. The Mutual Aid Fund registration topped 13,000 and would soon grow to include all referees, with BC remaining as the only branch of the CAHA with their own accident insurance. A referee organization was formed within the Association with the goal of providing efficient well- qualified officials for the game of hockey, and coach instructional clinics were staged for the first time in 1965 with financial assistance from the Federal Government. 178 2016-2017 History of BC Hockey The late sixties and early seventies saw the rise of Junior B hockey in BC with the formation of the Kootenay Junior B Hockey League. The league grew quickly and even included a Spokane entry, the first team from the USA to operate in BC. The Association’s growth and level of administrative sophistication grew rapidly in the seventies as the game of hockey continued its grasp on the people of BC and the rest of Canada, and the Organization began to be viewed as a leader by other sport organizations in the province. A Development Coordinator was hired on July 1, 1972 with Wayne Hunter filling the position created to oversee the development of players, coaches and referees. In 1974 the Secretary Manager of the Association, Ivan Temple, turned over the reigns after twenty years of service (11 as Secretary-Treasurer, 7 of those full time and 3 years as President). Among his many accomplishments, Ivan gained notoriety for the design of a faceoff circle adopted by the Joint Rules Committee of the CAHA and NHL. The staffing change was a major step for the Organization, as the business office moved from the basement of the Temple home to an office space on Fort Street in Victoria. On August 1, 1974 Don Freer became the new full time Secretary-Manager, eventually serving twenty-seven years in the position until his retirement in 2000. Minor hockey growth led to the need for a regulation declaring that member Associations with more than 250 players in any age division in minor hockey would be required to register two teams in such division.