Ice Hockey

in Nova Scotia

The Early Years The Windsor Avonians – 1900 by Dr. Garth Vaughan The Avonians named after the Avon River at Windsor, were champions of the town in 1900. They won the Citizens Trophy, donated by Windsor hockey fans for competition of four senior teams in the Town League, the Avonians, Elgraves, Kings College and Resolutes.

The population of Windsor then was a mere 2,000, but then again, that was the same population of Windsor Juniors - 1889 Edmonton at the time!

This is one of the oldest hockey team photos in Canada. In 1889 taking year-end photos of Equipment Chronology hockey teams was a new idea. The Windsor ‘Juniors’ was a champion team that competed with teams from King’s College, Hantsport, Wolfville, Kentville, Acadia University as well as 1800 – 1890 No protective the Halifax Athletes. They used hand-made hockey sticks and no protective equipment. The equipment used in Ice Hockey team consisted of eight players. Seven played the entire game, with on spare in case of 1860 Wooden pucks used in injury. Medallions on their jerseys showed that they were champions for three years, as Nova Scotia trophies were used for another decade. 1880 Ice Hockey first played

Windsor Ladies Hockey Team indoors at Halifax, Nova Scotia

- 1924 The Windsor Ladies began 1890 Quilted knee-length pants and shin pads playing hockey in the 1890’s. This 1924 team competed with teams from the 1904 Sausage-finger padded Valley and Halifax. Excellent skaters, gloves

they were real contenders and 1914 Short pants and long frequently won with lop-sided scores. stockings They always entertained the other 1920 Knee pads teams following a match. Their skirts were navy serge and sweaters heavy 1940 Elbow pads and shoulder wool which sopped up much water pads

when they hit the thawing ice at winter’s Leather helmets 1945 end. 1950 Body pads The Windsor Hockey Heritage Society motto: 1960 Goalie face mask Supporting hockey for youth – the creators of Canada’s great national game

The Windsor Hockey HANTS COUNTY – Birthplace of Hockey‡ and so much more…

Heritage Society Bay of Fundy & site of highest recorded tides in the World Sea captains and sailing vessels • Lighthouses • 300 million year old fossils and soaring

PO Box 430 Windsor, cliffs • Acadian and Mi’kmaq heritage Acadia University A.A.A. Hockey Team – 1902 st Nova Scotia, Canada Maitland, 1 Heritage Conservation District in Nova Scotia Front row center is Owen B. Keddy of Windsor, team captain and center of the seven B0N 2T0 Golf, river raft hike the ocean floor, ski or board member team. He became a surgeon and practiced his entire life in Windsor where he 902-798-1800 See what we do with 1,000 pound pumpkins! … Row, Row, Row Your Gourd… was also Mayor of the town and Governor of Acadia University for many years. Note that www.birthplaceofhockey.com his name is burned into the handle of his hockey stick with a red hot stove poker, as was For more info: Email [email protected] The Society solicits donations of antique the custom. His 100 year old ‘Starr Hockey Skates’ are on display in the Windsor Hockey hockey equipment, photos, memorabilia and For great hockey gift ideas, visit – the Wooden Puck Gift Shop, Windsor Hockey Heritage Center. information as well as financial assistance. Heritage Museum, or online at BirthplaceofHockey.com Produced by the Windsor Hockey Heritage Society, Updated and Edited July 2014, ‡Birthplace of Hockey® is a registered trade name of the Windsor Hockey Heritage Society.

 Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq craftsmen Nova Scotia. ♦ Referees chosen by team 1910 Professional hockey began in NS. Ice Hockey Hockey in Montreal - 1875 The Elusive Puck supplied Canada's professional captains. James George ‘Aylin’ Creighton was born Hurley, like other stick-ball games, uses a hockey players with hand-made 1912 Programs were first given out at a In Nova Scotia in Halifax in 1850 when Hurley and Hockey leather covered ball. Being unwieldy on ice, sticks well into the 1930's when 1888 Nova Scotia's first hockey league. Dartmouth - New Glasgow game were interchangeable names for the same it was replaced with a wooden disc. There factory-made sticks captured the 1889 Philip Hamilton, of Windsor 1913 Referees first paid ♦ Sydney The Early Years game. A graduate of Dalhousie University, is documented evidence of wooden pucks market. training to be a wheelwright, told in a Millionaires challenged for the Stanley he was also a football player and figure being used in Nova Scotia since the mid- For the first 75 years that ice hockey diary of making hand-carved hockey Cup and lost to the Quebec Bulldogs. skater. When he moved to Montreal in 1800s. As the game was taken up in  By Dr. Garth Vaughan was played, the number of players sticks for all of his "Windsor Juniors" 1872 to work as an engineer, he joined the Montreal, the description of the first game 1917 NHL replaced NHA. Stanley Cup, was not limited. The number of team mates. ♦ The Windsor Junior photo Montreal Football team and taught new indicated that a wooden disc was used Amateur Trophy now used for players was fixed at nine in 1875 and The Birthplace of Hockey – 1800 athletic friends to play Nova Scotia’s game there as well. depicts the players wearing three Windsor is the Birthplace and Nova Scotia soon reduced to seven. professional Ice Hockey of Ice Hockey. championship medallions. is the growth place of Ice Hockey. Nova Vulcanized rubber was not used for pucks 1920 King’s College burned. Windsor Scotia newspapers chronicle the  The 7th player was known as the 1890s - 1912 Teams consisted of His influence as a judge of figure skating until the Royal Military College and was a college town for 135 years. ♦ development of Ice Hockey from Ice ROVER - another Nova Scotia seven players who played the entire gave him access to the Victoria Skating Queen’s University of Kingston, Ontario “Skates” first cited in Ice Hockey rules - Hurley in the early 1800s. Ice Hockey is as addition to the game. The Rover was game Rink for hockey team practice and on took up the game in 1886. the fastest skater and best scoring skates are assumed to be a given in Ice Canadian as the Maple Leaf and as Nova rd March 3 , 1875, Creighton and friends 1890s Before silver trophies, Hockey ♦ Skates first mentioned in Scotian as the Bluenose. player on the team. He was allowed provided Montreal with the first game of Ice Block Skates and Starr Skates medallions were pinned to jerseys. ♦ dictionary meaning of Ice Hockey ♦ At to play where and as he wished and Hockey played inside a covered rink. There The World’s Best The Evidence was catered to by team mates. The Screws and rivets first used to Halifax Market, hockey sticks made by were nine players a side and Creighton When Ice Hockey was in its infancy, skates permanently fix skates to boots. Mi’kmaq and Afro-Nova Scotia craftsmen Windsor, settled in 1684, is one of Rover was discontinued in Nova captained the winning team. The game was were all hand-made and held to boots with Canada’s oldest towns. King’s College Scotia in favour of coordinated ‘team sold for 25 cents each. Children picked played by the Halifax Hockey Club Rules, ropes or leather straps. In 1863, John 1893 Very elegant 36” high Starr was established in Windsor as the play’ in 1913. The Rover position was up leftovers on Saturday for 10-15 cents written by Creighton, who arranged for Forbes, the foreman at Starr Mfg. Co. Ltd. trophy donated for Halifax Hockey country’s first college in 1788. Having adhered to until 1923 on the west each. friends back home to ship two dozen sticks In Dartmouth, NS invented self-fastening League adopted the Irish field game of hurley to coast. for the game. Without realizing it, this Nova ‘spring’ skates which applied to the soles of 1923 King’s College rebuilt in Halifax the ice of the ‘long pond’ at the back of the 1899 Previously, goal posts were Scotian had become the Father of boots with the flick of a lever. They sold for  Nova Scotia Starr Hockey Skates on Dalhousie Campus. King’s College college property, King’s boys are credited called “flags” and were without net. ♦ Organized Hockey. In Nova Scotia, 75 cents a pair, became world-famous and were the favourite of Canadian School remains in Windsor. with the origin of Ice Hockey. ‘Nova Scotia Box Net’ invented in because of the rough nature of the game, it revolutionized skating and Ice Hockey. Hockey players into the 1930's.

was still not allowed to be played in skating Halifax. 1927 Manager Art Ross indorsed Starr Haliburton and Ice Hockey  Admission to games in Nova Scotia rinks and remained an outdoor game until Box Nets Hockey skates on behalf of all Boston The Father of American Humour, Thomas changed with the times. 1900 Halifax Crescents challenged for 1880. Nova Scotia Scores Again Bruin payers. Chandler Haliburton, was born in Windsor the Stanley Cup and lost to the Montreal Rocks were first used to mark the goals, 1886: 10 cents 1902: 25 cents in 1796 and was educated at King’s. He Shamrocks ♦ Lightweight ‘Silver King’ 1920s - 30s Arthur Sawler, Windsor Hockey in Ottawa – 1884 then posts were stuck into the ice. In 1899 1899: 20 cents 1940: 25 cents became a lawyer, judge and politician. He tube skates were invented by Starr Mfg. made steam-bent ash hockey sticks Creighton acquired a law degree in 1880 at the “Nova Scotia Box Net” was invented in wrote the first History of Nova Scotia and 1788 Windsor, Nova Scotia - home of Co. ♦ Mi’kmaq craftsmen at Millbrook, called ‘Swipers’ that sold for 50 cents McGill University and soon moved to Halifax. Tried in Montreal the following gained international recognition as an Canada’s First College - King’s College near Truro, sent sticks by freight trains to each. Ottawa as a Law Clerk for the Senate and season, they were then accepted all across author. He explained to his readers that Halifax. ♦ ‘Nova Scotia Box Net’ adopted became involved in establishing hockey Canada. Amazing! 1930s - 40s “Pirate Hockey Stick his works drew on his own experience 1800 (c.) King’s College School boys across Canada. ♦ Coloured Hockey there. In 1884 he organized the Rideau Company”, Wolfville employed Mi’kmaq with people and scenes in Nova Scotia. played Hurley on ice which became Ice Hall Rebels with senators and aides de Championship of the Maritimes operated He attended King’s College School circa Hockey. craftsmen to hand-carve sticks from camp along with two sons of the new from 1900 to 1920. Blacks were not 1800. Through his character Sam Slick, hornbeam, a native hardwood akin to Governor, General Lord Stanley. Enthused 1859 Boston Evening Gazette Editor allowed to play with whites – formed own he speaks about schoolboy games: birch. Used in Annapolis Valley League. by the game and his sons involvement, he sends to Nova Scotia for a set of sticks team. Seven teams in loosely organized “…you boys let out racin’, yelpin’, hollerin’, donated a Canadian Amateur Challenge to introduce Ice Hockey to New England league – Africville Seasides, Halifax 1930s Nova Scotia’s Starr Skates and whoopin’ like mad with pleasure Trophy. In 1893 it later became the famous Eurekas, Dartmouth Jubilees, were the favourites of Canadian (playin’) hurley on the long pond on the Stanley Cup, used for professional ice 1863 Clamping device invented by Hammond’s Plains Mossbacks, Truro professional hockey players. ♦ Nova ice…” This is the earliest reference in Hockey to this day. Starr Mfg. Co. of Dartmouth. Skates Victorias, Amherst Royals and Scotia’s MicMac Hockey Sticks were the English literature to a stick ball game fastened to boots quickly with a small Summerside West End Rangers. Games choice of Canada’s hockey players. ♦ being played on the ice in Canada. Nova Canada’s Great National Game - lever. Patented in Nova Scotia, Starr lively and well attended but no trophy Laminated sticks made in Ontario first Scotia archivist C. Bruce Fergusson 1890 skates revolutionized skating and ice was awarded. brought attention to this in 1965 in the NS appeared. They often came apart where In 1886, the Royal Military College and Nova Scotia hockey. ♦ Halifax Skating Rink was Nova Journal of Education. glued. Queen’s University took up the game in Scotia's first covered skating rink. 1904 Starr Trophy used for Maritime Ice Hockey Trivia Kingston, Ontario. Then, as the western Senior Hockey League. 1957 Canada’s first hockey school was From Hurley to Hockey 1800 - 1850 1866 Starr hockey skates with rounded province began playing in 1890, Ice held at Kentville in July. Hurley is played year round in Ireland. ends and rocker-shaped blades patented 1905 First NS University League Hockey became Canada’s national winter  Nova Scotia's major hockey games Snow and ice make Nova Scotia fields too formed 1964 Starr Trophy used for Maritime obsession. were played outdoors on natural ice in Nova Scotia. rough for stick-ball games in winter, but the Senior Hockey since 1904. ♦ Windsor surfaces for nearly a century before 1906 New Glasgow challenged for the smooth surface of their favorite skating 1870 Windsor's first skating rink built Maple Leafs won the Starr Trophy that covered rinks were built, allowing the Stanley Cup and lost to the Montreal pond seemed ideal for Ice Hurley. Windsor on Fort Edward. now rests in the Windsor Hockey Evolution of games to come on out of the weather. Wanderers. was very important to the provincial capital Heritage Museum.  For the first 63 years that ice hockey 1875 Two dozen sticks sent from and known as ‘The Playground of Halifax’. Hockey Equipment 1908 Canadian Professional Hockey was played in Nova Scotia, players Halifax to Montreal for a game on March Some of King’s students were from nearby “Made in Nova Scotia” 3, 1875. ♦ Nine players constituted a began with the formation of the National Halifax and Dartmouth, so naturally the attached skates to their boots with team. ♦ The first indoor ice hockey game Hockey Association replaced by the NHL game spread there, supported by a healthy Local Nova Scotia MicMac carvers and ropes or leather straps. They were played in Canada. in 1917. Irish population and British military other craftsmen created hand-made sticks hand-made by local blacksmiths. personnel. Over a fifty year period the from young hardwood trees, using the root  For at least the first 100 years that 1880 Hockey played indoors in Nova 1909 Harry McCulloch could not use game was known as hurley, ricket, wicket as blade and trunk as handle. They hockey was played, sticks were hand- Scotia at Sarre's Rink, Halifax. It was skates because of a congenital foot and finally Ice Hockey. In 1859, The Boston supplied Canada’s “hockeyists” with their made and no two were the same. previously banned. deformity, tended goal – he wore boots Evening Gazette reported that hockey was favorite Micmac Hockey Sticks into the Players picked the one that suited as Port Hawkesbury captured the Cape Ice hockey introduced to Kingston being played in Nova Scotia and sent for a 1930’s. best. 1886 Breton Junior Championships on harbour set of sticks. Ontario, hockey sticks were sent from ice.

Produced by the Windsor Hockey Heritage Society, Updated and Edited July 2014, ‡Birthplace of Hockey® is a registered trade name of the Windsor Hockey Heritage Society.