Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game/Chapter I
CHAPTER I.
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"How entrancing the sight! what life is around!
The air so bracing! the snow on the ground!
The glimmering steel in its flash on the eye,
Marks out the line, as the skater goes by."
DANIEL WEBSTER'S definition of hockey reads as follows: "A game in which two parties of players, armed with sticks or clubs, curved or hooked at the end, attempt to drive any small object (as a ball or a bit of wood) towards opposite goals."
The learned lexicographer must, of course, refer to the game of hockey as played in England, or to the game as played in Canada in the good old days when anything from a broom handle to a shilalah was used as a hockey stick, and a tin can rendered service as a puck.
"O list, the mystic lore sublime,
The fairy tales of modern time."
To trace back the sport to its very birth is not within the province of this little work, besides, its earliest history seems lost in a background of Egyptian darkness.
Truly it is a fact, though, that the foundation of our glorious scientific game was laid on "any small object and a curved stick," for the remotest recollections of the oldest players bring them back to the time when these formed the materials of the sport.
A few words, however, on the probable origin of "shinny" will not be amiss in this chapter, as few, very few, know the source from which the game developed.
It is difficult to precisely say from which particular sport "shinny" and hockey are directly sprung. The warlike Romans enjoyed a peculiar game that is most likely the precursor of hockey in England, "hurley" in Ireland, and "shinty" in Scotland, which, in point of fact, are now one and the same. A leather ball stuffed with feathers, and a bat or a club, were the essential requisities of the game, and the object was to knock the ball to a certain boundary line, and thereby score a point.
The original Scotch "shinty" resembled it more closely than did "hurley" or English hockey, but savored a trifle more of Canada's wínter sport, although, in the mildest of sarcasm, it is not probable that the votaries of the former sport would find anything of excitement in ours. It was played on the hard, sandy seabeach, with two or three hundred on each side, and their materials, or, rather, weapons, consisted of roots of trees, with a hard wood knob for a ball. History does not relate the number of casualties that occurred in these matches, of which the most important took place on New Year's Day, but if our imagination be given scope the effect is anything but pleasant.
Of all the games that developed from the old Roman sport the British hockey alone shaped the destiny of ours. There can be but little doubt, but that "shinny," the forerunner of our scientific hockey, is the Canadian interpretation of the game played across the water, adapted in its application to the climate of the country. Hockey in England is played in the winter on the frozen ground. It consists in driving a ball from one point to another by means of a hooked stick. The players are divided into two teams, each of which has its goals, which are fixed towards either end of a tolerably spacious ground. The goals are two upright posts, about six feet apart, with a cross pole placed at the height of four feet. Through these the ball must be driven in order to score a point. As regards the playing of the game, it is unnecessary further to speak, because it bears but little reference to hockey as played in Canada. Suffice it to say that in the shape of the sticks, not limited in their proportions, in the nature of the object that was used as a ball, in the unlimited numbers of the players, and in its principles, it is the parent of "shinny on the ice."
Shinny, so called, perhaps, on account of the frequent danger to which a player's shins were exposed, was a grand exhilirating sport. It had a hold upon us that the chilly atmosphere, or "the love we bore for learning," could not unfasten. Boys swarmed to the lakes in batallions and rattled along on old iron or wooden skates tied to their feet with rope. A few broken bones, a few frozen fingers, but, never mind, there were plenty of men to replace the dead. What a sight did a shinny match present! Hundreds on the same sheet of glare black ice, all eagerly engaged in one glorious game. What laughing, calling, cheering and chasing, there was to be sure! With their bright eyes and rosy cheeks they dart now in one direction, now in another till the great congealed bay roars and cracks with its living weight. The ball is in all directions in seconds of time, till finally the vast struggling crowd surges towards the goals, surrounds them, and a fierce lucky swipe knocks it through, while a hundred lusty voices cry their loudest Game! Game!!
Like the fabled Greek who used to give his time so undividedly to his work that he forgot his meals, these enthusiasts of an infant game forgot their meals, forgot their schools, forgot everything, save the game itself, but when darkness came on and their shadows grew longer, they returned home, with fresh air in their expanded lungs, strength in their limbs, and with a keen, bright eye, "seeking what they might devour."
As time wore on, the gradual development of rules and regulations wrought, in this warlike pastime, the important changes, that were, in time, to give birth to the science that characterizes hockey as the peer of clean, exciting, fascinating games.
Twenty-five years ago, hockey, as played to-day, was an unknown sport. Shinny was played on the lakes, rivers and canals throughout the country, but only a discerning eye could discover in this crude, but infatuating amusement, the grand possibilities that a refined game could offer. Without restrictions as to the proportions of the stick, the nature or quality of the puck, the size of the playing space on the ice, or the number of the players, the sport could not develope into a scientific game, until such time as it would be discussed and regulated, by those who sought its advancement.
To the McGill College and Victoria Hockey teams of Montreal the game of hockey owes its present state. These two were the first regularly organized hockey clubs in the world, the former preceding the latter by a very short time. Previous to the formation of the above organizations about 1881, teams existed in Montreal and Quebec, but the only rule that was well defined was the one which demanded that every man should "shinny on his own side." Do what you might, play on what you liked or with what you liked—and as long as you shinnied on your own side, you were within the law.
All kinds of sticks were used, long knotted roots, broom handles, clubs, and all kinds of skates were employed, from long, dangerous reachers to short wooden rockers. On each particular occasion the captains agreed, before the game, upon the rules that they would abide by or disregard, so that, the rules that governed one match, might be null and void for another. The puck was a square block of wood, about two cubic inches in size, on which a later improvement was the bung of a barrel, tightly tied round with cord. Body checking was prohibited, so was lifting the puck; if the puck went behind the goal line it had to be faced; the referee kept time and decided the games; the goal posts, placed, at times, like ours, facing one another, were also fastened in the ice in a row, facing the sides, so that a game might be scored from either road, the forward shooting in the direction of the side of the rink, instead of towards the end, as we do.
As soon as the Montreal Victorias were organized, the secretary of that club wrote to every city in Canada for information regarding the rules of hockey, but the result was unsatisfactory, because he could get none, When, shortly after, the Crystals and M.A.A.A. had formed teams, and the Ottawas and Quebecs had come into existence, the first successful matches, played under a code of rules that had been drawn up and accepted, were brought about by the challenge system. The first series of games took place during the first winter carnival, in 1884, and was played on the cold river rink, and the second, during the second carnival, in the Victoria rink, "when," as history relates, "the players were slightly interfered with by the erection of a large ice-grotto in the rink."
In 1887, the challenge system was done away with, and the Victorias, Crystals, Montrealers, Quebecs and Ottawas formed the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada, which, in the good effects that it has produced, constitutes the second epoch in the history of the game, because from this date, hockey made rapid strides in its advancement as a popular, scientific sport.
The record of the winning teams is as follows:—
| 1887 | —Crystal of Montreal. |
| 1898–94 | —Montrealers of Montreal. |
| 1894–98 | —Victorias of Montreal. |
| [1]1899 | —Shamrocks of Montreal, who in 1894, obtained the Crystals' franchise. |
In Toronto, the game was introduced by Mr. T. L. Paton, for many years a member of the champion M. A. A. A. team, who chanced to be travelling in the Royal City. Mentioning to some friends that hockey was the winter game par excellence in Montreal, he was induced to write for a puck and some sticks, and teach them the sport. This was in 1887, and in a few years the game that electrified the people of the east, was destined to secure a fast hold upon the sporting instincts of those in the west. From Toronto to Winnipeg, Hockey was received with great éclat. Clubs were formed in every city that boasted of the name, and unions and associations sprang up to regulate the games and to draw up schedules.
In the season '90–91, the Ontario Hockey Association was organized with its head centre in Toronto.
It is difficult to form any conception of the invaluable work that this association has done for the game in Ontario. Caring for the senior clubs and fostering the interests of the juniors, it has placed hockey on as solid a basis in the west, as the original association has done for Quebec.
The record of the results of each year's championship is as follows:
| Goals. | ||||
| 1891 | Ottawa H.C. | defeated | Queen's College | 4 – 1 |
| 1892 | "" | " |
Osgood Hall | 10 – 4 |
| 1893 | "" | " |
Queen's College | 6 – 3 |
| 1894 | Osgoode Hall | " |
Queen's College | 3 – 2 |
| 1895 | Queen's College | " |
Trinity College | 17 – 3 |
| 1896 | "" | " |
Stratford H. C. | 12 – 3 |
| 1897 | "" | " |
Toronto Varsity | 12 – 7 |
| 1898 | Osgoode Hall | " |
Queen's College | 7 – 3 |
| 1899 | Queen's College |
Manitoba has produced in the Winnipeg Victorias, a team that can compare most favorably with any seven that ever chased the rubber disc. Holders, for a season, of the Stanley Cup, they are past masters in the art of skating and stick handling, and because of the high perfection which the game has attained in Manitoba, they will ever be dangerous rivals for any team in the east that captures the coveted trophy.
Besides the Victorias, there are the "Winnipegs" of Winnipeg, who deserve honorable mention as a clever, practiced aggregation.
In the Maritime Provinces hockey has been introduced to stay. It is obtaining a firm hold on the younger generations, and is fast approaching the high degree of excellence that marks the game in Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario; in fact, the senior teams of Halifax and St. John, in virtue of their showing against sevens that have visited them from Montreal, are eligible to compete for the Stanley Cup.
2. The game was first introduced into the United States some years ago, by a Montrealer, Mr. C. Shearer, who was studying in the John Hopkins University, Baltimore.
He formed a team among the students of the college, and was successful in inducing the Quebec team, which was the first Canadian seven to play across the border, to travel to the Oriole city for a series of games. In 1895 the Shamrocks and Montrealers, of Montreal, delighted audiences in New York, Washington and Baltimore. Since that time the Queen's College team has played in Pittsburg, and nearly all of Canada's leading clubs have sent their representatives to play in the different American rinks.
During all this time, after our American cousins had awakened to the wonderful possibilities of hockey, the game made rapid strides in popularity. Colleges and schools took an interest in the game, and organized teams, schedules were drawn up, the public flocked to the rinks to see the games, and now it bids fair to be, in time, as popular a winter sport among the Americans as it is among ourselves. Artificial rinks are being built in the principal cities of the union, and they afford to the young players even a greater advantage than we enjoy in Canada. They are opened long before ours, and remain open for skating for weeks later, besides, being comparatively warm, spectators are not kept away from them, however inclement the weather may be. A short time ago, almost any Canadian team could defeat, with comparative ease, the best seven that our friends could get together. But, last year, a different complexion colored the comparison between the clubs, because the senior New York teams had arrived at such a high degree of science in the game, that the excellence of their playing made them eligible to honorably compete with the peers of the game in Canada. Indeed, it seems that the day is not far distant when the holders of the highest honors in hockey matters will have to look to themselves if they wish to successfully defend their laurels against a worthy opponent.
3. Hockey was first played in Europe, by another Montrealer, Mr. Geo. A. Meagher, World's Champion Figure Skater, and author of "Lesson's in Skating."
In Paris, the first European team was formed, and the gay Parisiens took most enthusiastically to it. The Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, who was one time Governor General of Canada, attended the first game played in this city, in the Pole Nord artificial skating rink. London, boasted of the second club in Europe, and in less than one season, more than five teams chased the rubber disc in that city.
Scotland was the next country to enjoy the game. In the artificial ice palace, Sauchiehall street, the first practices were held, and so proficient did the canny Scotchmen become, that a game with the team of the Palais de Glace in Paris, was arranged. A series of six matches was played in one week, with the French seven, and the crowds that witnessed the game fairly raised the roof with their clamorous applause. The Figaro, the leading newspaper in France, described hockey as a game that promised to excel all other sports in Paris, in point of popularity and "scientific possibilities."
- ↑ In 1898, the clubs which formed this league separated from it and organized a new one, called the Canadian Amateur Hockey league.