III.
THE ROYAL GAME OF HOCKEY.
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HOCKEY! Fast, furious, brilliant, it is our popular winter sport. Verily it is the game of games. Offspring of "Our Lady of the Snows," hockey is, among her many, varied games, the most fascinating, the most exciting, the most scientific.
Played in every city, town, village, hamlet, it has aroused more public interest, more enthusiasm, than any athletic pastime that the votaries of sport have yet enjoyed, and as each succeeding year glides by, it grows in popular favor.
Rinks are springing up everywhere, and even their greatest capacity cannot accommodate the enthusiastic crowds of spectators who rush to witness an exciting match.
Like the Klondyke gold fever, the love of hockey spreads. A few years ago, the sport was known only in a few cities of the Dominion—now, from far east Halifax to frigid Winnipeg the glorious game is played; most of our neighboring American cities boast of a hockey club, and even in distant Europe, teams have been organized in Glasgow, London and Paris. It is a regular occurrence for clubs to send their representatives thousands of miles to meet their adversaries in a friendly match. Teams from Manitoba and Nova Scotia have repeatedly visited Montreal, and clubs from the latter place have returned the compliment. Nearly all of Canada's leading sevens have delighted audiences in different cities of the United States, and we have had American players cross the border to chase the puck with us. Indeed, it will not be surprising if, some day, an enterprising Canadian team sails the broad Atlantic to cross sticks with an English or Parisian aggregation.
The year 1899 saw hockey the most universally popular game in Canada. With the erection in Montreal, of the Arena rink, of whose interior an excellent picture is given on the opposite page, new blood was infused into the old clubs, and young ones sprang into life like rabbits in California.
The infatuating influence of the game drew together in this vast auditorium the largest crowds that ever assembled to witness a hockey match, and the wildest. Reports from every city in Canada told encouraging tales of the growth of the game, and of the strides that it had made in popularity. Science in play developed apace with the interest that the sport evoked, and as the season came to a close the perfection aimed at by the teams of long ago was satisfactorily attained.
It is not difficult to speculate on the probable future of our noble game. One can see "Arenas" in every town in the Dominion, crowded to the doors with enthusiastic spectators, and whereas we now have only a few first-class teams, we will soon have a hundred, because hockey is a game that fascinates the player and thrills the spectator.
Snowshoeing had its days, but the shoes that trod the snow now lie buried deep beneath it, lost, forgotten, save by the lonesome Indian in the far north, who plods his weary way in search of game.
Tobogganing touched the fancy of our fastidious public, but it slid itself into insensibility, and unless promptly revived will fade, like the memory of a pleasure enjoyed, into regions of the past.
With the facilities afforded hockey players and beginners in every city in the Dominion, the game will boom. Every athletic club will have its teams, and universities, colleges and schools will buzz on the ice at their favorite sport, while hundreds and thousands, eager to enjoy the sight, will flock to the rinks and cheer their sides to victory.
"Batavia rushes forth; and, as they sweep
On sounding skates, a thousand different ways
In circling poise, swift as the winds, along,
The then gay land is maddened all to joy."
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2. In this part of the book it is but meet that attention should be drawn to the fact that our Governors-General, ever since the time that hockey obtained as a popular, scientific game have, in a most significant manner, auspiciously lent their names and aid in furthering the interests of this favorite sport.
The cup donated by the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Derby (Lord Stanley) has given birth to the keenest competition among our leading clubs, jealous of its possession. It has brought together teams that have travelled thousands of miles for the encounter, and has placed the game of hockey, through these important matches, more prominently before the public than anything that any other man has ever done for it.
Lord Stanley, now the Earl of Derby, took a great interest in hockey when he was Governor-General of Canada, and when about to leave for England, in 1893, he announced his desire to give a perpetual challenge cup to be emblematic of the championship of the Dominion.
This was made known at a dinner tendered the Ottawa Hockey team, of which His Excellency was patron, when Lord Kilcoursie, who represented Lord Stanley, read a letter in which the latter said, "I have for some time been thinking that it would be a good thing if there were a challenge cup which would be held, from year to year, by the leading hockey club in Canada. There does not appear to be any such outward or visible sign of the championship at present, and considering the interest that hockey matches now elicit, and the importance of having the games fairly played under rules generally recognized, I am willing to give a cup that shall be held from year to year by the winning club."
The cup was subsequently entrusted to Sheriff Sweetland and Mr. P. D. Ross, of Ottawa, who were instructed to hand it over to the Montreal A.A.A. Hockey Club, as winners of the Amateur Hockey Association championship.
In view of the fact that there were several hockey associations in Canada, Lord Stanley asked the trustees to suggest some means of making the competitions for the cup open to all, and thus, as representative as possible of the championship of Canada. This was done by allowing to any team that would win the championship of its respective league (recognized as such by the trustees), the privilege of challenging the holders of the cup.
The following is a record of the competitions that have taken place for the possession of the trophy:—
1893. Awarded to M.A.A.A. Hockey Club as champions of the A.H.A. of Canada.
1894. Montrealers challenged by Osgoode Hall, Toronto. No game on account of unfavorable weather.
1895. Montrealers defeated Queen's College, Kingston,in Montreal, by 5—1. Referee, F.C. Chittick. Ottawa. Gave over the cup to Victoria H.C. of Montreal, winners of A.H.A. of Canada championship.
1896. Victorias of Winnipeg defeated Victorias of Montreal, in Montreal, score 5—2. Referee, A.F. Martin, Toronto.
1896. Victorias of Montreal defeated Victorias of Winnipeg, in Winnipeg, by 6—5. Referee, W.C. Young, Ottawa.
1897. Victorias of Montreal defeated Capitals of Ottawa, in Montreal, by 15 goals to 2. Referee, J. Findlay, Montreal.
1899. Victorias of Montreal defeated Victorias of Winnipeg, in Montreal. Referee, J. Findlay, Montreal. Feb. 16th, score 2—1; Feb. 18th, score 3—2 (match unfinished.)
1899, Shamrocks of Montreal awarded the cup as winners of the C.A.H. League championship.
1899. Shamrocks of Montreal defeated Queen's College, Kingston, in Montreal, 6—2. Referee, H. Pulford, Ottawa.