History of Hockey in British Columbia

PACIFIC COAST HOCKEY ASSOCIATION / THE WHA / INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY/
THE CANUCKS / KOOTENAY HOCKEY HISTORY / B.C. JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE /
KAMLOOPS TRADITION / B.C. WOMEN'S HOCKEY / B.C. MINOR HOCKEY

THE PACIFIC COAST HOCKEY ASSOCIATION

Detractors from the east called it the “Sunset League.” The Pacific Coast Hockey Association would sink into the ocean like the setting sun they quipped.

The P.C.H.A.’s first game was played in Victoria on January 3, 1912. Initially there were three British Columbian teams before the league expanded into Seattle, and briefly into Portland and Spokane. Then the association joined with the prairie circuit in 1924 to form the West Coast Hockey League. This league folded two years later and the players were dispersed to the National Hockey League which was expanding at the time. The 1925-26 season was the last spring a non-NHL team competed for the Stanley Cup.

The coast league wasn’t quite the equal of the NHL. During the twelve seasons that they competed for the Stanley Cup, Vancouver won in 1915 and Victoria in 1925. The PCHA’s Seattle team took the Cup in 1917 which made the Metropolitans America’s first Stanley Cup champions. Of the series that PCHA teams lost most of them were by only one game.

The coast league was the dream of Frank Patrick and later his brother Lester. Their father had made his nestegg in the timber business before selling his Nelson-based company to an English syndicate. Thus logging was the seed money for B.C.’s first professional hockey league.

The P.C.H.A.’s initial teams were the Vancouver Millionaires, the Victoria Senators and the New Westminster Royals. The latter lacked a facility and had to play in the 10,500 Vancouver rink which was built on the corner of Denman and Georgia. This artificial ice arena was second only to Madison Square Gardens in size and had more than twice the seating capacity of the Victoria rink.

The P.C.H.A. was important for a number of reasons. It gave hockey players the opportunity to move from the confining eastern leagues for the higher salaries out west. Of the P.C.H.A.’s first twenty-three players sixteen were inticed from the National Hockey Association (the forefather of the NHL).

The league also brought many innovations to the game of hockey. The P.C.H.A. placed numbers on players’ sweaters and allowed their goalies to dive for pucks and skaters to kick the vulcanite. The PCHA credited players with assists and introduced the blue line to reduce offsides and speed up the game.

Most important, however, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association was the first competitive league west of Winnipeg. This made hockey a coast to coast sport and Canada’s national past time.

THE WHA

The Vancouver Blasers were only a two year blink in B.C.’s hockey history. It was fitting that Vancouver should have an outlaw WHA team as hockey’s previous outlaw circuit had been centred in British Columbia.

The WHA’s franchise was initially allocated to Miami and was to be called the Screaming Eagles. Their master plan was to sign a few franchise players to draw fans to the Southern Florida games. They first signed Maple Leafs’ goalie Bernie Parent but then encountered a small problem. They didn’t have a rink.

This forced the franchise to relocate to Philadelphia where they played in the limited 8,000 seat Civic Centre. The Philly Blasers next signed Derek ‘the Turk’ Sanderson to a $2.6 million contract which briefly made him the World’s highest paid athlete.

The Blasers didn’t blaze, however and started the WHA’s inaugural 1972-73 campaign with only four wins in twenty games. They improved dramatically, however and finished the season with a 38-40-0 record.

In July of 1973 Vancouver’s Jimmy Pattison purchased the Blasers and moved them to the Pacific Coliseum. They shared the Renfrew St. rink with the Canucks who were then starting their fourth NHL season.

Unfortunately for Pattison he lost his scoring star Andre Lacroix who had led the WHA with 124 points (Lacroix’s contract had stated that he didn’t have to play in Canada.). The Blasers still had the talented Danny Lawson but couldn’t reach the playoffs in either the 1974 or 1975 seasons.

The always pragmatic Pattison quickly realized that Vancouver couldn’t support two big league teams and relocated the Blasers to hockey-starved Calgary. The Flames had yet to arrive from Atlanta and the newly-named Cowboys played in the 8,945 seat Calgary Stampede Corral. Their first season in southern Alberta the Cowboys improved to a 41-35-4 record and beat Quebec in the WHA quarterfinals.

Their good play didn’t continue, however and the 1976-77 season the Cowboys played brilliant at home but brutal on the road. Corral ticket holders witnessed a 26-12-2 record. On the road the cowboys stumbled out of the shute to a 6-31-5 record.

Next the franchise considered moving to a fifth city, Ottawa, but then decided to remain in southern Alberta. By this time the Calgary fans were fed up and didn’t buy tickets so the team folded.

The Screaming Eagles/Blasers/Cowboys reflected the W.H.A.’s declining fortunes. Two other teams shut down the same summer as the Cowboys and two more a year later. Finally the league ceased operations and four WHA teams joined the National Hockey League for the 1979-80 season.

INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY

Prior to the 1970s only eighteen B.C. born players appeared in one NHL game or more. Over the next three decades nearly three hundred donned NHL jerseys.

While not developing many NHL players, the Kootenay and Okanagan areas still produced world class hockey teams from the 1930s to the 1960s.

The Kimberley Dynamiters won British Columbia’s first national championship at the end of the 1935-36 season. Featuring stars Ralph Redding and Hugo Makie they beat the Vancouver Cubs and then Prince Albert and Sudbury to win the Allan Cup. Their tactics were an innovative style of pressure forechecking with every man up the ice. Kimberley had learned to take advantage of hockey’s new bluelines.

The next season the Dynamiters played fourteen exhibition games across Canada and seventy-six in Europe before winning the World Championship in London. Their only losses were two games to English teams comprised of Canadian players.

The Trail Smokeaters also toured Europe for six months the season prior to World War 11 and played in seventy-one games. They lost only one contest and also won the World Championship in Zurich. Featuring Jim Morris and Ab Cronie they outscored their opponents forty-two goals to one.

Anatoli Tarasov later stated that these 1938-39 Smokies were one of the greatest teams he had ever seen. The father of Russian hockey claimed that he had modelled his U.S.S.R. squads after the Smokie’s team play and passing.

B.C. had another claim to international success during this period. Trail player Mike Buckna, whose parents were born in Czechoslovakia became the Czech national team coach. His squads won the European championships in 1938 and 1939 and the World Championship in 1947.

It was another decade and a half after the Smokie’s victory before B.C. won another World Cup. The Penticton Vees took the Trophy in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1955 with a record of 8-0. Featuring Ivan McLelland and the Warwick brothers, they beat the Russians 5-0 for the title. Whereas the Dynamiters had used finesse and the Smokies passing and teamwork, the Vees beat the Europeans with toughness and intensity.

The Vees were so fiesty that they sometimes faught each other during practices. Jim Fairburn admitted: “I’ve lost 23 teeth so far during practices.”

The last B.C. team to win a World Championship was once again the Trail Smokeaters during the 1960-61 season. The Smokies weren’t exactly the world’s best team, however. The Chatham Maroons had beaten them for the Allan Cup but couldn’t afford the trip to Europe. So the Smokies cut their regular season short and played in numerous exhibition games. Their tired squad won six games but lost to the Czechs who were then tied with them for first place. Featuring Jackie McLeod, Seth Martin and Harry Smith Trail then astounded the fans in Geneva by surpising the U.S.S.R. 5 to 1.

INCORRECT********************

Two years later the Smokies tied the Russians instead of the Czechs at the World Championships in Sweden. But the U.S.S.R. was awarded the trophy because of a better goals for and against average record.

British Columbia didn’t win any World Championships after 1961 and Canada didn’t win any Olympic Golds either. Of the two Silvers Canada did win B.C.’s Tom Renney coached the team in 1994.

For many years B.C.’s best players would star in the NHL but be ineligable to compete in the Olympics or World Championships. That is until the Olympic and World championship committees abolished the so-called amateur rule.

THE CANUCKS

Vancouver wasn’t always a hockey hotbed. A quarter of a century after hockey was highly popular in eastern Canada Vancouver fans still didn’t know the game. THE PROVINCE wrote in 1912 that “Most of [Vancouver’s opening night fans] had never seen a hockey game before but they became ardent enthusiasts long before the finish.”

Vancouver supporters remained enthusiastic as the Millionaires (later called the Maroons) became a winning team. They took the PCHA titles in 1915, 1919, 1921 and 1923 and played for the Stanley Cup in 1915, 1918, 1921, 1922, 1923 and 1924. The won the cup of course in 1915.

Vancouver fans were deprived of great hockey when the coast league folded in 1926 but the semi-pro PCHL circuit (which was renamed the North West Hockey League in 1933 and re-renamed the Pacific Coast Hockey League in 1936) premiered two years later. The new Vancouver Lions won five titles in thirteen years before folding in 1941 (The Vancouver Forum was built prior to the 1934-35 season but had only 3500 seats. When the Denman arena burnt down in 1936 it became Vancouver’s main rink.).

A new team, the Canucks started playing after the War. Continuing the tradition of the Millionaires and Lions the Canucks won the PCHL Championship their second season in the league. In 1953 the PCHL and the Western Canada Senior Hockey Leagues merged and formed the Western Hockey League. The Canucks won the championship Lester Patrick Cup in 1958, 1960, 1969 and 1970.

Vancouver fans supported their minor league Canucks but still wanted a Big Tent team of their own. They were disappointed when the NHL doubled in 1967 without including a Vancouver franchise. So Vancouver built the 16,000-seat Pacific Coliseum which housed the WHL’s Canucks for two and one-half years.

Finally Vancouver, along with Buffalo were admitted to the NHL in 1970 for a $6 million fee. Norman "Bud" Poile was named the Canucks’ first GM and Hal Laycoe their inaugural coach. Vancouver’s first NHL game was held on October 9, 1970 against the L.A. Kings. The game was broadcast on the CBC and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Premier W.A.C. Bennett, and NHL President Clarence Campbell attended. The NHL Canucks lost their first contest 3-1 but beat Toronto 5-3 two nights later.

Vancouver finished their first season with 24 wins and 56 points placing them ahead of California and Detroit in the standings. As would be the case for most of the franchise’s history Vancouver finished near the bottom of the league but not low enough to receive that year’s best draft picks. Montreal had traded for California’s pick and took Guy Lafleur while Detroit selected Marcel Dionne.

Their second season the Canucks finished with only 20 wins and 48 points, a franchise low. The team continued to falter and by 1981 the Canucks had yet to win more than one playoff game in a series let alone a series.

But then things changed in 1982. With players like goalie Richard Brodeur, Tiger Williams, Thomas Gradin, Stan Smyl and Ivan Boldirev the Canucks went to the Stanley Cup finals before being swept by the New York Islanders.

Vancouver had beaten Calgary, Los Angeles and Chicago to reach the finals. During the Blackhawks’ series Neilson waved a white towel at referee Bob Myers after a bad call. Tiger Williams and others Canucks next hoisted towels on their sticks and further taunted the ref. Thus towel power was created and Vancouver fans have since waved white flags to show support for their team.

Following the series 100,000 fans lined Vancouver’s streets to salute their parading Canucks. It was twelve years before another parade, however. Then led by the offense of Russian-born Pavel Bure, Trevor Linden, Geoff Courtnall, Cliff Ronning and Gus Adams and the goaltending of Kirk McLean the Canucks came back from a three to one defecit to win three overtime games against the Calgary Flames. Next they beat Minnesota and Toronto to represent the west in the finals.

The Canucks pushed the highly favoured Rangers to seven games before New York ended their fifty-four year drought to win the Cup. The final 1994 game came down to a faceoff to the right of New York goalie Mike Richter with 1.6 seconds left to play.

The Canucks returned to Vancouver at 5:40 the next morning to tens of thousands of fans. They were as ardent as the Millionaires’ supporters had been eight decades before.

KOOTENAY HOCKEY HISTORY

The Stanley Cup was first awarded in 1893 to a Montreal team. That same year an arena was built in the Kootenays. It was in the town of Sandon and a year later the Crystal Ice Palace was constructed in Nelson. The Palace held 2,300 spectators and was the largest rink west of Winnipeg.

At the turn of the century Nelson, Rossland, Greenwood and Grand Forks competed with other rivals from the former towns of Sandon, Phoenix and Moyie. Like the International Hockey League in southern Ontario and Northern Michigan several years later this circuit was supported by a flourishing mining industry. Players were imported from the prairies and the Kootenay hockey was top calibre.

Kootenay hockey during this era was in contrast to the fun hockey in the north Okanagan centre of Salmon Arm where games were played on the McGuire and Shuswap Lakes.

When Frank and Lester Patrick arrived from Quebec in 1908 they helped to build a larger open ice arena. Their Nelson team beat all of B.C.’s squads but lost to the Alberta champions from Edmonton.

One future Hall of Famer who came from the Kootenays at this time was Cecil “Tiny” Thompson. He was born in Sandon in 1905 and would win four Vezina Trophies. B.C.’s first professional players also hailed from the Kootenays. Sid Desireau and Frank Ogenski of Nelson played in the Patrick’s Coast league.

Kootenay hockey grew in popularity and a few years after World War 1 Kimberley, Cranbrook, Chapman Camp and the logging centre of Wycliffe formed a league. Kimblerley had built their rink four years before and Cranbrook hosted their home games on a local pond.

Three senior teams from Trail, Rossland and Nelson registered with the B.C. Amateur Hockey Association for the 1922-23 season. Intermediate teams from Trail and Nelson did the same and played Okanagan teams from Salmon Arm and Enderby.

Senior hockey flourished and two senior circuits were created the following season. The East Kootenay League consisted of Lumberton, Wycliffe, Fernie, Cranbrook and Kimberley. The West Kootenay teams were Nelson, Grand Forks and two teams each from Trail and Rossland.

A Kootenay team competed for the B.C. championship the 1922-23 season and after a defeat won the Savage Cup two years in a row.

The 1925-26 season the Trail arena installed artificial ice which made it the Kootenay’s first covered rink. Trail won the Savage Cup for the next seven seasons and the Kimberley Dynamiters won the Coy Cup as the province’s Intermediate Champions.

Kimberly also joined the Seniors’ competition the 1931-32 season and “imported some excellent players.” They won the B.C. senior championship the 1933-34 season and the following two years. Then while the Dynamiters were travelling in Europe Nelson won the Savage Cup the 1936-37 season.

Alberta teams from Lethbridge and Coleman joined the Kootenay Senior League the following year and it was renamed the A.B.C. League. Trail won the Savage Cup and went on to defeat the Corwall Flyers for the Allan Cup. The next season Kimberley won the Savage Cup again while Trail was taking the World Cup in Europe.

Trail and Kimberly shared the Savage Cup the next three seasons prior to the War and then coast teams took the title while Kootenay rosters were depleted during the war.

The 1946-47 season the old Kootenay Senior League expanded to include Spokane (Spartans) and Los Angeles (Ramblers) teams. It was called the Western International Hockey League and actress Dinah Shore and actor George Montgomery donated a trophy.

Los Angeles lasted one season while Spokane played for most of four decades the league lasted until 1986-87.

Trail won a number of the Savage cups until Okanagan teams started to dominate in 1953. Penticton won the cup twice, Kelowna once and Vernon three times. The Vees were good enough to win the World Cup and Vernon the Allan Cup once.

By 1960 things returned to normal and W.I.H.L. teams won the Savage Cup twenty-three years in a row. Spokane cleaned up during the decade after 1968. They won eight Savage Cups in ten years and three Allan Cups in five years. The Washington city had the advantage of a 5,000 seat arena and a healthy budget.

Still the other major Kootenay teams did almost as well. Trail won the Savage Cup four times, Nelson six, Kimberly three and Cranbrook twice from 1960 until the late-eighties. Trail, Kimberly and Cranbrook also won Allan Cups during this period. Other Kootenay teams that came and went were Rossland and Elk Valley which won the Savage Cup in 1988.

By the mid-eighties the Kootenay seniors were attracting only five hundred fans. People were watching live junior games and NHL contests on television instead of senior hockey.

The Kootenay Junior B Hockey League had started the 1969-70 season with teams in Trail, Rossland, Grand Forks, Nelson and Castlegar. These west Kootenay teams were joined three years later by a Spokane and two East Kootenay teams. Later Invermere and Creston also joined.

Kootenay teams no longer dominate B.C. hockey but their new Major Junior team has asperations. On June 17, 1998, the Western Hockey League’s Edmonton Ice relocated to Cranbrook.

To showcase the Kootenay Ice the new 4,250 seat Cranbrook Entertainment Complex has been built. It carries Sandon’s spirit from one hundred and ten years ago.

THE B.C. JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

The B.C. Junior Hockey League was formed the year before NHL expansion and included teams from Kamloops, Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, New Westminster and Victoria. Fewer teams were included to maintain a higher standard. Additional junior teams were relegated to B circuits.

Three years later Vancouver and Chilliwack joined the league in 1970 and the BCJHL was divided into Coast and Okanagan divisions.

The league’s first major problem arose when some owners wanted to split from the B.C. Amateur Hockey Association (Only three of eight attended the association’s annual meeting.). These owners wanted over-age players and didn’t want Memorial Cup playdowns interfering with their lengthy seasons. The Association compromised, allowing the owners four over-age players. The teams had to compete in Tier Two Provincial playdowns, however and were told to discontinue affiation with prairie teams. A second problem resulted when some prairie teams started signing B.C. players without proper releases.

Nanaimo and Bellingham next joined the BCJHL and New West, Vancouver and Victoria left for the WCHL the following season.

In August, 1972 the rival Pacific International Junior “A” Hockey League was formed. It consisted of six teams, expanded to eight and became the Pacific Junior Hockey League two years later when Seattle and Portland left. The league folded the 1980-81 season and several of the Pacific teams joined the BCJHL.

With teams coming and going the BCJHL formed two different divisions. The interior teams were Kelowna, Merritt, Penticton and Vernon and the coast teams were Bellingham, Chilliwack, Langley and Nanaimo.

Some of the BCJHL’s best players starred during the early and mid-eighties. Ray Ferraro of Penticton, Dan Hodgson of Cowichan Valley and Craig Redmond of Abbotsford led the league in scoring. And during the 1983-84 season Brett Hull of Penticton set a league record with 105 goals and 188 points.

The B.C. Hockey League has expanded into three divisions and developed into Canada’s best Junior A circuit. Five lower mainland teams have been grouped with four island teams (including Powell River) to form the Coastal Conference. The seven Interior Conference teams range from Prince George through the Cariboo plateau and Okanagan valley to the Kootenays.

The league has dominated the Centennial/Royal Bank Cups tournaments during the last decade or so. Penticton first won the cup in 1986. Since then Vernon has won four times in 1990, 1991, 1996, and 1999. Also Richmond won the Cup in 1987, Kelowna in 1993, and South Surrey in 1998.

Thus the B.C. Hockey League started during the 1970s, came of age during the 1980s and dominated Canadian Junior A during the 1990s.

Many believe that this will continue well into the new millenium.

BACKGROUND: A HISTORY OF B.C. JUNIOR HOCKEY

British Columbia hockey was alive and well by the time that the West Coast Hockey League folded in 1926. B.C.’s first junior hockey championships were scheduled the following season when the Vancouver Terminals beat Salmon Arm. The next year the Mowat Cup was introduced there were nine eligable teams from the Kootenays, Okanagan, Prince George, Victoria and Vancouver.

Talent was evenly distributed and Fernie won the first cup, Nelson the second and Vancouver the third and fourth. There were thirteen junior teams by the 1930-31 season and Trail won the fifth and sixth cups.

The Okanagan Junior “A” Hockey League was formed the 1961-62 season with the Kelowna Buckaroos, Vernon Canadians, Kamloops Rockets and the Penticton Vees competing. The Kootenay Junior “B” Hockey League was started the 1969-70 season.

THE KAMLOOPS TRADITION

A number of B.C. teams have excelled in hockey. The Vancouver Millionaires won the Stanley Cup in 1915 and the Victoria Cougars did the same ten years later. The Kimberly Dynamiters won the World Championships in 1937 and the Penticton Vees in 1955. The Trail Smoke Eaters won the Worlds both in 1939 and 1961. And the Vernon Lakers/Vipers topped Canadian Junior A hockey when they won the Centennial/Royal Cups in 1990, 1991, 1996 and 1999.

B.C.’s other success story has been the Kamloops Blasers. They have achieved seven 50 win seasons and six WHL championships during their sixteen year history. The Blasers have made six Memorial Cup appearances, which is only one behind the Peterborough Petes who have played twenty-two more seasons.

Kamloops also won the Memorial Cup three times in four years from 1991-92 to 1994-95 which is a record. During these years three Blasers were named Memorial Cup MVPs: Darcy Tucker, Shane Doan and Scott Niedermayer.

Also, three Kamloops coaches have moved on to become NHL coaches: Ken Hitchcock, Tom Renney and Don Hay.

Why has this small B.C. city repeatedly beaten higher budgeted teams in larger centres across Canada and the U.S.? First of all the Blasers have the community support of eighty thousand fans. Tom Renney states: "There is a tremendous sense of pride in the community that collectively supports the tradition of the team.”

The Kamloops tradition started nearly seventy-five years ago when they registered a team with the B.C.A.H.A. during the 1927-28 season. Their teams played on natural ice until Kamloops built a 2200 seat Memorial Arena during the 1948-49 season. The first championship Kamloops team, the Elks played the following year in the new Mainland Okanagan Amateur Hockey League. The champs had three of the league’s top five scorers (in a five team league) and went on to win the Savage Cup. A few years later the Kamloops Loggers, a Senior AA team won the Coy Cup.

Another Kamloops team, the Chiefs played in the Okanagan Senior Hockey League during the late 1950s. The Chiefs won the Coy Cup in 1963 and 1964 while the Kamloops Rockets, a Junior A team won the Mowat Cup in 1962, 1964 and 1971.

In 1973 the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League’s Vancouver Nats relocated to Kamloops. They adopted the Chiefs’ name and featured future NHLers Ryan Walter and Reg Kerr. Unfortunately the twenty-five year old Memorial Arena was too small and the Chiefs moved to Seattle in 1977. Kamloops’ next team was the B.C. Junior Hockey League’s Braves who were a development team for Major Junior. Future NHLers Andy Moog and Tim Watters started their careers with the Braves who also folded. After the Braves came the Tier 11 Rockets who left Kamloops for Revelstoke this time.

Then Kamloops’ big break came in 1981 when the New Westminster Bruins moved north. The Kamloops Junior Oilers were owned by the Edmonton Oilers who soon considered relocating to the prairies. That was when the Kamloops community pride stepped in and raised and borrowed enough money to buy their own team.

Another reason for the Blasers’ success has been their management. Don Hay stated: “The strength of the Organization starts at the top with guys like Colin Day, Bob Brown, Stu McGregor and the scouts. As a result, we all believed in the same philosophy and what it took to be successful."

Blasers’ management was smart enough to hire the best minor league coach in Canada. Ken Hitchcock from Edmonton coached the Blasers from their inception in 1984 until 1990. He established the Blasers’ philosophy before graduating to the International League before and leading Dallas to a Stanley Cup in 1999.

Hitchcock’s first season the Blasers placed third in the W.H.L. and the second year they won the league championship and finished third at the Memorial Cup. Kamloops roared to first place in 1987 and 1988 and went to the Division Finals in 1989. The 1989-90 season the Blazers again won the WHL Championship and played for the Memorial Cup for the third time in their seven year history.

Hitchcock left Kamloops with a .693 winning percentage (291-125-15) and had been named the league’s Coach - of - the - Year in 1986-87 and again in 1989-90. Hitch was also voted Canadian Major Junior Hockey’s top coach that same season.

Tom Renney from Cranbrook followed in Hitchcock’s footsteps. His first season the Blasers finished in first place with a 50-20-2 record but injuries kept them from the Memorial Cup. In 1991-92 they compiled a 51-17-4 season (Their third consecutive 50 win season, a C.H.L. record.), won the WHL Championship and went to their fourth Memorial Cup in nine seasons. The Blazers won their first Cup, defeating the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds.

Renney was named the Coach-of-the-Year his rookie season and earned a.731 win percentage over two seasons, the highest in W.H.L. history.

Kamloops homeboy Don Hay succeeded Renney and won two Memorial Cups over the next four years and achieved a .699 winning percentage.

Since Kamloops’ golden years the Blasers have had their ups and downs. However, one thing has remained the same. Don Hay summarized: "...hard work has been the common denominator with each successful Blazer team over the years.”

It’s this common denominator that many believe will lead the Blasers to the Memorial Cup once again.

B.C. WOMEN’S HOCKEY

Women’s hockey wasn’t officially recognized until 1982. It was the year of towel power and the B.C.A.H.A. finally threw in the towel and welcomed the “B.C. Girls” into their ranks. It had only taken six decades.

A woman’s game was first played in Ottawa in 1891. Its popularity quickly spread across Canada and by the turn of the century Vancouver sported a few teams. Nelson also had a “Ladies Hockey Club” a decade later. The Sterlings and Wanderers featured two of the Patrick sisters, Dora and Cynda and played against neighbouring towns.

One difficulty that rural teams faced was the travel between towns and villages during the winter months. Thus women’s hockey consisted mostly of inter-town rivalries rather than organized leagues. In these rural areas women sometimes played hockey with and against men who were occasionally short a player for a game.

B.C. women’s hockey peaked during the 1920s. The Fernie Swastikas (before the name became ominous) won the Alpine Cup at the Banff Winter Carnival in 1923. They defeated the Calgary Regents and the Vancouver Amazons who had won the Rocky Mountain Park Trophy the year before.

Women’s hockey continued to flourish during the 1930s when women’s athletic associations were being formed. It fell off during the 1940s, however, when women were needed for the war effort. Also during the following decade women as well as men were working rather than playing sports.

Women’s hockey regained momentum during the 1960s. In 1967 the first Dominion Ladies Hockey Tournament was held in Brampton, Ontario featuring twenty-two Ontario teams. That same year the Wallaceburg Lipstick Tournament hosted sixteen teams from Ontario and the U.S. (Port Huron). It was billed as the North American Girls Hockey Championship Tournament.

Yet, while women’s hockey had flourished east of the Rockies, it had regressed in B.C. Women in Victoria didn’t have teams let alone a league and played friday night scrub games with their husbands and boyfriends. Similarly women’s hockey in Vancouver wasn’t really organized. Women athletes who wanted to stay in shape during the winter had to organize their own rec league. In both cases shin pads and figure skates were the standard equipment used.

Women’s hockey continued to gain in popularity during the 1970s but didn’t receive any formal recognition until a decade later. The first encouragement came from the politcally correct federal government which was promoting opportunities for women in sports. This in turn prompted the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to establish a female hockey council in May of 1982. This token support rippled further to the BCAHA which five months later accepted the B.C. Girl’s Ice Hockey Association into their membership (In their defence, the BCAHA did go a step further and promote women’s hockey at the B.C. Winter Games.).

The second encouragement came from the corporate sector again in 1982. Shoppers Drug Mart sponsored the first Women’s National Hockey Championship in Brantford, Ontario which made it a sport rather than a novelty.

Next, women’s hockey jumped onto the international stage. Five years after the first Women’s National, the inaugural Women’s World Hockey Tournament was held in Ontario. This prompted the International Ice Hockey Federation to support women’s hockey which indirectly resulted in it being included in Nagano in 1998.

The impact of these developments is reflected directly in the numbers. The Brampton tournament has expanded from 22 teams in 1967 to 400 teams today. Similary B.C. women’s teams have expanded from three in the 1993-94 season to thirty-seven in 1998-99.

Yet while the numbers are growing, B.C. hasn’t achieved the team success of the provinces like Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. B.C. has never won the Abby Hoffman Cup which is awarded at the Shoppers tournament. Also British Columbia hasn’t faired well at the coveted Esso Canadian National Championships. In competitions from 1995 until 2000, B.C. has only averaged from fifth to seventh place. And during a time when Alberta has won seventeen and Ontario sixteen women’s hockey trophies B.C. hasn’t won one.

It will take a while for B.C. to establish the traditions of these other provinces where girls are indoctrinated into hockey from a young age. Most B.C. girls play the sports their mothers played like basketball, soccer and field hockey.

And B.C. women’s hockey is improving. Vancouver’s Danielle Dube has played on the Canadian Women’s National Team and was ranked the top goalie in Canada. Also the B.C. Griffins competed for the Bronze Medal against Ontario in the Esso tournament last season.

There is also a healthy Triple AAA league on the lower mainland and teams throughout the province from the Kootenays and Kamloops to Sooke have won Double AA championships.

But most important, that women’s hockey hotbed of Fernie has once again reared its head. Fernie has won three straight titles in the newly created Girl’s Midget AA league. It’s hoped they will lead British Columbia to the same success that they did seventy years ago.

B.C. MINOR HOCKEY

Senior and minor league hockey have experienced a reversal of fortune over the past eighty years. The B.C. Amateur Hockey Association was formed in 1919 and minor hockey was given a back seat. There were a limited number of covered arenas and it was reasoned that transportation was too slow and expensive for the kids to travel to playoffs. So minor hockey wasn’t encouraged.

Even Junior hockey was supported largley because of the efforts of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. They were farsighted enough to realize that adult amateur and professional hockey needed a foundation of junior prospects. So during the 1925-26 season the CAHA gave the B.C.A.H.A. $200 to promote Junior Hockey.

B.C. had thirteen junior teams five years later but the CAHA wasn’t happy with B.C.’s minor hockey progress and threatened to cut the Junior grant. So the BCAHA started registering Midget and Juvenile teams that 1932-33 season. There were four Juvenile sides by the 1934-35 season and the CAHA alotted another $500.

Then minor hockey received a grass roots boost. New Westminster built the Queen’s Park arena prior to the 1937-38 season and formed a Pee Wee Hockey Association. Two years later the Vancouver Minor Hockey Association was also formed. It became known as the PNE Minor Hockey and Hastings Minor Hockey Association and is today called the Vancouver Hastings Minor Hockey Association.

B.C.’s minor programs were further promoted when trophies were donated. The Cromie Cup was first given to the Midget champions the 1937-38 season. By then there were four Midget teams and nine Juniors but the Juveniles had fallen off to just one team.

Minor hockey grew and the next year there were two additional Junior sides, a second Juvenile squad and seven more Midget teams. The Monarch Life Cup was awarded that season to the Juveniles’ champion.

Following the war the BCAHA started registering Bantam teams but discouraged travel to tournaments (There would be no Bantam playoffs until 1960-61.). The association also discouraged inter-provincial playdowns, reasoning that that playoffs would interfere with the players’ schooling.

Minor hockey received a further boost in February, 1954 when the BCAHA promoted “Minor Hockey Week” (Two years later they presented a resolution to the CAHA to have Minor Hockey Week recognized across Canada and later convinced Imperial Oil to promote Minor Hockey Week on Hockey Night in Canada.). The BCAHA kept the ball rolling when they started handing out Minor Hockey awards in 1958-59.

Pee Wee hockey was finally recognized by the BCAHA in 1955-56 and considered a division two years later. The Pee Wees were allowed district playdowns but had to wait until 1969-70 for semi-finals or finals because the Pee Wees were again considered too young (The older Bantams were allowed to compete for a B.C. championship the 1960-61 season.).

During the 1950s the BCAHA introduced unique legislation. The Trail Minor Hockey Association sponsored a resolution the 1954-55 season banning body checking in Minor Hockey. The logic was that players would become better playmakers and stickhandlers if they weren’t concerned with bodychecking. This rule lasted until 1966.

From the late 1950s until the early 1970s minor hockey grew in leaps and bounds. By 1960-61 there were 108 Minor hockey teams in the BCAHA and there were 8,000 B.C. minor leaguers playing the next year.

During the 1960s the reversal of fortune was apparent. The BCAHA had an enrollment of 4809 Pee Wees, 2169 Bantams, 1444 Midgets, 621 Juveniles, 294 Juniors, and 224 Intermediates. But there were only 67 Seniors.

Minor hockey was declining by 1980, however. There had been 52,000 players in 1974 but only 36,000 in 1980. Reasons given were: Equipment was getting too expensive; The kids had other interests; Televised games had given hockey a negative image; And there was too much of a focus on the allstars rather than the rest of the players.

By the late 1980s, however, minor hockey was growing once again. The Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association doubled their enrollment from 1989 to 1998. There was even a shortage of ice time for many minor league players.

But this time it wasn’t because the Senior leagues were excluding the minor hockey players. The reversal of fortune had taken place.