Sunday marks precisely 100 years since a hockey group from British Columbia received the Stanley Cup.
On March 30, 1925, the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League defeated the Nationwide Hockey League’s Montreal Canadiens 6-1 to clinch their best-of-five collection, turning into the final non-NHL group to boost Lord Stanley’s cup.
Events will take place in the Victoria area over the weekend to mark the anniversary, together with the show of the Stanley Cup at the Oak Bay Recreation Centre on Sunday afternoon.
Amongst these in attendance will probably be Bob Miles, whose grand-uncle was Harry “Hap” Holmes, a goaltender who received 4 Stanley Cups with 4 completely different groups, together with the Cougars.
Miles stated Holmes’s nickname of “Completely happy” or “Hap” was an inside joke referring to the truth that he by no means smiled.
His profession started at a time when goaltenders weren’t allowed to drop to the ice to make a save. He additionally used pads that have been small compared to these utilized by trendy netminders.
A 1925 article within the Saskatoon Phoenix famous that Holmes made his personal pads out of “some canvas, just a few maple splints, a few straps, and a little bit of felt.”
“A goalie cannot be judged by the pads he wears, however slightly by the pucks he stops,” Holmes stated.
Holmes did not put on a masks or a helmet, however he donned a cap on the ice to cowl his bald scalp, based on the Hockey News, “as a result of lore has it that his shiny head made for a simple goal for followers who wished to spit tobacco juice on him.”
Cougars’ legacy remembered
After the Cougars’ victory over the Canadiens, the group drank champagne ordered from the Empress Lodge, based on a 1995 retrospective printed within the Instances Colonist, and the Stanley Cup was placed on “unguarded show” at a jewellery retailer in downtown Victoria.
The Cougars, who performed their dwelling video games in an enviornment in Oak Bay, returned to the Stanley Cup ultimate in 1926, falling to the Montreal Maroons.
Following the loss, the league dissolved and a number of other Cougars gamers have been offered to a brand new NHL group in Detroit that was named the Cougars in honour of the defunct Victoria franchise, earlier than finally altering its identify to the Pink Wings.
On The Island5:42Studying in regards to the legacy the goaltender who helped the Victoria Cougars seize the Stanley Cup in 1925
CBC Victoria’s Alex Wauthy spoke to Bob Miles, the nice nephew of Harry ‘Hap’ Holmes.
Among the many gamers who moved to Detroit was goaltender Holmes, who was posthumously elected into the Hockey Corridor of Fame in 1972.
Miles hopes for a “loud and proud” celebration of the Cougars in Victoria, one thing that would make his taciturn grand-uncle proud.
“Though his nickname was Completely happy and he by no means smiled, I am certain he can be very joyful to see the celebration occurring this weekend in Victoria,” he stated.
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