History of Hockey (Part 2 of a series)

The pre-Herder years - 1924-1934

Before 1924, hockey in the Corner Brook area was largely an informal winter activity. In St. John's, the Newfoundland capital, the sport had been an organized one for roughly 30 years, but in the Bay of Islands hockey was still a novelty. If there were games, they were played on the frozen bay and were more recreation than competition.

Between the years 1901 and 1923, the weekly newspaper for the Bay of Islands, The Western Star, briefly covered the sport on several occasions but only for games which took place in the capital city. Oftentimes, open air rinks were constructed on the bay to facilitate recreational skaters but there is no mention of hockey games taking place. The most popular competitive winter sport at this time was ice boat racing.

All of this changed suddenly with the construction of the pulp and paper mill and the population surge which accompanied it. Many of the new mill employees came from central or eastern Newfoundland and Canada, and some considered hockey an integral part of winter itself. In late 1923, while the mill and surrounding Townsite were still under construction, several employees sought and obtained permission from the Newfoundland Power and Paper Company to make a rink at the Number 2 Warehouse.

A Western Star article from Jan. 9, 1924, says, "A splendid sheet of ice has been obtained, and hockey teams are being formed."

Although there were to be numerous alterations to the structure of the Corner Brook leagues in the following decades, hockey was to remain a permanent, and organized fixture of winter life in the mill town on the Humber.

Several games were played in 1924, but not in an actual league. The first reported game at the rink was between hastily assembled teams from Corner Brook and Deer Lake. Unfortunately, no score was mentioned in The Western Star. Near the end of January, Staff Houses 51 and 52 squared off. A large crowd was in attendance, including people from the neighboring community of Curling. The turnout was impressive considering that the rink was reportedly hard to find, lacked adequate seating, and was cold. The victor of the first inter-mill contest was Staff House 51 by a score of 3 to 2. A couple of weeks later, Corner Brook played Curling, but no score was reported in the local paper, most likely due to the newspaper staff's relative inexperience at covering sporting events.

That same year the Town Construction Sports and Social Committee was formed in order to arrange Townsite's various leisure activities. It was the original committee from which sprang the Corner Brook Athletic Association of later years. This dedicated group subsequently would be responsible for regulating the league, resolving disputes, fund raising, and setting up games with teams from other areas.

The following year, 1925, saw the first organized hockey league in Corner Brook. The players for the first league were drawn from mill employees and the teams were labeled accordingly: the Accounts were office staff, the All-Stars were culled from other departments at the mill, the Electrics were electricians, and Townsite Construction were, of course, employed as construction workers on the new town. In the short season which followed, the All Stars emerged as the top team, the first champions of the Corner Brook League, and the first to win the Stadler Cup. The Stadler Cup was named after John Stadler, the general manager of Newfoundland Power and Paper, and was donated in late 1925. In subsequent seasons it became emblematic of hockey supremacy in Corner Brook.

Spectators in 1925 witnessed the first international hockey games played in Corner Brook. It was a two-game series pitting Team Newfoundland against the likewise broadly- named Team Canada. The Canadians were not a visiting team however. Both groups were comprised of mill employees.

Newfoundland won the first game by a score of 4 to 2, but lost to Canada in game two. The average attendance of both games was 450 people - no small feat considering the town was still in its infancy.

In 1926, the people of Corner Brook enjoyed the second year of league hockey in a new skating rink. Originally, the plans for Townsite included a rink but the Newfoundland Power and Paper Company was experiencing financial difficulties by this date so they had to improvise. The building that would house Corner Brook hockey for the next three decades, until the construction of Humber Gardens in 1955, was originally a building from Deer Lake used in the construction of pipe lines to the power plant. However, it was undoubtedly an improvement over of the No. 2 Warehouse.

There were only three teams in the 1926 season: the Electrics did not return to competition, the Accounts were renamed the Head Office, Townsite Construction was replaced by the Papermakers, and the previous year's champions, the All Stars. In the nine game season that followed, the Papermakers were the winners and received the Stadler Cup for their efforts. The average attendance for the games was somewhere around 350 people. There was also a secondary league that year comprised of teams like the Engineering Department and women's hockey although the weekly newspaper does not give much detail on either.

Due to the mild conditions in early January 1927 the start of the season was somewhat delayed, but by the end of the month the Accounts (Head Office), Papermakers, and All Stars were back at it again. Once again the Papermakers were victorious, securing the Stadler Cup for the second year in a row.
A team of Corner Brook's best also played teams from Sydney and Grand Falls. M. G. Basha was the promoter of the Corner Brook/Sydney series which took place in Corner Brook on Feb. 7, 9 and 10th. The average attendance was 500 people. Sydney was the only team to pull out a win and they took the Basha Cup back to Nova Scotia.

Grand Falls was not as lucky. The first three games for the Tuma Cup, named after Simon Tuma, were played in Corner Brook and the home team won all three. They also went on to win 2 of the next 3 in Grand Falls. However, the train trip to the rival paper town may have proven more difficult for the Corner Brook team than the series. A reporter with The Western Star who followed the team to Grand Falls related how the normally seven-hour train ride turned into 21 hours when the train got stuck in Deer Lake overnight. The majority of players had a horrible time sleeping due to the lack of space and the snoring of one of their teammates. As the sports writer says, "One can hear now the loud snoring of that old veteran "Sharkey" (Marchildon) as the temperature gradually ascended, and finally drove the occupants out of the baggage car."

After a sleepless night, the team finally arrived at Grand Falls five o'clock the next evening, just two hours before game four of the series was scheduled to begin.
The rink was home to several other hockey games during 1927. Corner Brook defeated Curling in what most likely was the area's first recognized Junior Hockey match up. There was also a match between two non-league teams: Goodyear and Petries.

Finally, there was more women's hockey, but in this instance The Western Star provided better coverage. The game was between Mrs. Ledrew's and Mrs. Dunphy's teams. The contest was mostly penalty free, but, as the reporter said, "Tina Garcin nearly laid Grace (Fisher or Ledrew) out once though, and the referee had to put them in the cooler for a minute or two." Apart from this minor squabble, the game was largely one-sided. Mrs. Ledrew's team won 6-0. This was the final game of 1927.

The first contest to excite hockey fans during the 1928 season was the mid-January series between Corner Brook and the St. John's Guards. Corner Brook players had never faced off against a team from the capital. A. E. Hickman of St. John's provided the trophy for the series. Although both teams fought hard, the Guards prevailed, taking 2 of the 3 games at the Corner Brook rink. However, in the Tuma Cup series between Corner Brook and Grand Falls, the former were victorious again. The boys from Corner Brook won 2 of the 3 games at home and 1 of 2 in Grand Falls.

In Senior League play, the All Stars, Papermakers, and Head Office returned once more to vie for the Stadler Cup. Ultimately, the Head Office team were named champions, foiling the Papermakers' attempt at three Stadler Cups in a row. Also, in the previously unmentioned Intermediate League, the Mechanics came out on top. Finally, 1928 was the first year that a championship was awarded for Junior, or high school, hockey. There had been scattered matches in previous years, such as the aforementioned game between the Public School and Curling, but in 1928 the mill company donated hockey gear to both the Public School and St. Henry's, and the now well-equipped teams began what was to become a longstanding rivalry. The first Junior championship went to the Public School.

The following year, 1929, St. Henry's Catholic School was named Corner Brook Junior Hockey champions. In the Intermediate League, there were four teams: the Mechanics, Maroons, Corner Brook, and Curling. Curiously enough, The Western Star listed the Intermediate champions of 1928 while neglecting to mention their competition, and alternately listed the four teams in 1929 without naming the winners.

The Corner Brook Hockey Team in 1929. From left (front row) are Karl Trapnell, Fergy Ferguson, Alex Collins, Allan Curnew; (centre) Andy Cluston, Ron Martin, Freddy Mills, Bill Cossitt, Steve Read and Sharkey Marchildon; (back) Albert Bergeron, Harry Brown, Simon Tuma (trophy donor), Carl Jentz and Cabot Fitzgerald.

"It is rumoured in Hockey circles today that a new whistle is to be purchased for the use of the referee and the Star suggests that an attempt be made to find one with a note different from the voice of a lady enthusiast who has stopped the play several times lately by her bird-like screams."