DIVERSIONS * DIVERSIONS Dr. Garth Vaughan and his pond of dreams Jill Rafuse A fter a 30-year career as a to follow the game's evolution. He mouth were famous across Canada, general surgeon in a small said his research turned up fascinat- that a "Colonel Hockey" spent a Nova Scotia town, Dr. Garth ing facts about ice hockey, many of winter in Windsor in the early Vpughan retired in 1991 to a some- which had never been pieced to- 1800s, and that the first goal nets, what unexpected pursuit. He has gether, and "I convinced myself that used in 1899 in Halifax to facilitate taken up hockey, in a manner of [the claim] was true." the job of the goal judge, were fish speaking. As early as 1851, Boston news- nets. Vaughan is rewriting the history papers carried reports about the His research is convincing oth- of the sport, and if he has his way game being played in Nova Scotia. ers that Windsor has a legitimate his hometown of Windsor - popu- Another significant finding con- claim to hockey fame, and he is lation 4000 - and specifically a cerned a young man named James gaining support from historians, the pond behind King's Collegiate Creighton, who was born in Windsor National Hockey League and broad- School, will be known round the in 1850. He became a figure skater casters. The claim has also received world as the birthplace of hockey. and, while attending McGill Univer- some media attention. Until now three cities - Hali- sity in 1873, met boys trying to play While hockey was "vitally im- fax, Montreal and Kingston, Ont. lacrosse on ice. portant" to him as a child, Vaughan have claimed to be the site of the "He'd grown up playing has limited himself to a spectator's first hockey game. The earliest claim hockey and introduced the game to role since he was a young man. He dates to 1855, when a garrison from them," Vaughan claims. Creighton left school in Grade 11 to join the Halifax travelled to Kingston to play wrote the rules, booked time for the merchant marine, but contracted tu- a garrison team using "Halifax boys to practise, and ordered two berculosis while at sea. He recov- rules" - evidence that the game dozen sticks from Halifax. On Mar. ered at the local sanatorium, "where was already well established in Nova 3, 1875, the first game of organized I could only dream about hockey," Scotia. ice hockey was played inside, ac- and after taking premed courses at But Vaughan says evidence cording to rules that limited the Acadia University in Wolfville, NS, about Windsor's place in hockey his- number of players for each team. he attended Dalhousie University tory is found in an article by Judge Creighton later became law medical school, graduating in 1955. Thomas Chandler Haliburton, pub- clerk of the Senate. In 1888, he and After a year of cancer research at lished in a British journal in 1844. others formed Ottawa's first compet- Guy's and St. Mark's hospitals in Haliburton, who graduated from itive hockey team, the Rideau Hall London, England, he returned to King's Collegiate School in 1815, Rebels. Two of the players were Windsor and practised general reminisced about playing games of Arthur and William Stanley, sons of surgery until April 1991. hurley, similar to field hockey, on Lord Stanley, who was so taken with Today he devotes his time to the frozen surface of Windsor's the game that he donated a trophy painting, and to the newly formed Long Pond. Vaughan says that many worth $48.50 to the sport. Windsor Hockey Heritage Society. It Halifax boys attended the private Vaughan has nominated James plans to open a museum in Windsor school, and the game would natur- Creighton to the Nova Scotia that features a collection of hockey ally have spread to Halifax. Hockey Hall of Fame, and plans to memorabilia. And along with Vaughan believed that the best nominate him for entry to the Can- Howard Dill, another local hockey way to substantiate the claim that adian Hockey Hall of Fame. historian, Vaughan plans to write a hockey began in Windsor would be Through his research in support book that pieces together the story of of Windsor's claim, Vaughan has hockey in Canada - this time giv- Jill Rafuse is an assistant editor in CMAJ's learned that Nova Scotian MicMac ing Windsor and its pond of dreams news andfeatures section. sticks and Star skates from Dart- the recognition they deserve. m FEBRUARY 1, 1994 CAN MED ASSOC J 1994; 150 (3) 413.