Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction - March 2007
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/27/2007
One of the most fascinating rink relics that we've ever come across, this four-page program from Montreal's second Winter Carnival held in 1884 we believe, can be considered the earliest hockey-related program ever offered. Held between February 4th and 9th, the carnival featured hockey matches played on both the outdoor skating rink and the "Victoria Skating Rink". The "Programme" lists a "Grand Hockey Tournament" beginning on Monday and continuing on each weekday morning until Saturday's "Termination of Hockey Tournament." McGill had won the first ever "unofficial" World Hockey Championship, played at the Carnival a year earlier with a square wooden puck, and this time faced teams that included the Montreal Victorias, Montreal Wanderers, Montreal Crystals and Ottawa’s Rideau Hall Rebels later known as the "Silver Seven" and "Ottawa Senators". It was the Victorias, led by McGill graduate R.F. Smith, who won the mythical "Canadian Championship", defeating Ottawa. The first ever organized Ottawa team was assembled specifically to take part in this tournament by none other than Canada’s "Father of organized hockey"; James Creighton who later became friends with teammates Edward & Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley’s sons. Smith meanwhile founded the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association team a year later and entered it into the tournament, but because he had only seven members, he successfully pleaded with the committee to reduce team sizes from nine to seven. The Montreal AAA team would become the first winner of Lord Stanley's Dominion Challenge Cup in 1893, with Ottawa’s Hockey Club being the runner-up - eight years LATER! Other interesting info to consider is that Lord Stanley, Lady Stanley, their son Edward and their daughter Isobel witnessed their very first hockey game at the Montreal Winter Carnival on February 4, 1989 - five years after this program was printed! From a time when hockey was in its infant stages and from an event that saw the first ever photo taken of a hockey game in progress, this treasure, with its beautiful, thought-provoking graphics, measures just over 5" by 8" and has miraculously survived in excellent condition with no major flaws. Other carnival attractions included snow-shoe, skating and trotting races, attack and defence of the Ice Palace, a curling bonspiel and lacrosse on skates. Also included in the lot is a one- inch medal from the carnival in 1885, and a classic postcard of a hockey game in progress at Montreal's Victoria Rink which is postmarked "1904", 20 years after the 1884 carnival! Mind-boggling historical program is a marvel and a museum piece - we wish we had more space to rave!
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