The Huron Expositor, 1997-02-26, Page 22-TNII MOON IMPOIIIMIN. VMwwry WS. 11907 �.
Gose -up
Women's hockey a fun game in 1922
BY DAVID SCOTT
Expositor Editor
Not many people around
Seaforth could sell you about
Irene Patterson's hockey
career - probably because
everybody knows her as Pat
Bennett.
"People ask me .how I get
Pat out of Irene but they
don't know my last name was
Patterson," says Bennett,
who will turn 89 in a few
weeks.
She thinks kids today have
it a little easier.
"Heavens, the kids put their
skates on at home now, get
driven to a warm place. You
had to keep skating then or
you froze to death."
A women's hockey report
from 1922, that recently
appeared in our weekly Years
Agone feature, mentioned a
group of local women who
got together at the local rink
to play "a very strenuous
game of hockey." One team
called themselves the "Wild
Cats" and the other squad
was referred to as "a picked
team of girls." And Patterson
wasnamed as the star of both
sides putting in two goals.
She was the youngest one out
playing. "I wanted to play
hockey so I just went along
with them," she says.
Local Women Players
Listed as players were Fiff
McKay, Janet Hays, Jean
Hays, Agnes Smith, Mae
McGeoch, Edna Gemmell,
Irene Patterson, - Verna
Graves, Myrtle Sharky, Mary
Habkirk (although Pat says
this could be May Habkirk)
and a few others she remem-
bers Tike Fuzz Beatty and
goaltender Norma Jefferies.
. "That Norma Jefferies was
a scream. She'd see them
coming down the ice with the
puck and she'd shut her eyes.
She never knew where the
puck went and neither did
vie," says Bennett.
Dawson Reid was the refer-
ee. His sister Martha,
although not named in the
report, -was a regular player
with this group. Daws teased
her that she shouldn't be out
on the ice with the other
women playing hockey
because she couldn't skate
backwards, said Pat. And
Martha would get steamed
and argue she should be out.
"The boys used to kid the
life out of her."
There was no serious
league, season or schedule.
"It was just a bunch of local
girls who wanted to get
together." The "Wild Cats"
was a name some of them
chose for fun.
They'd get a crowd out to
watch them play, including
their parents. Women's hock-
ey didn't go unnoticed in
Seaforth in 1922.
Minimal Equipment
"Oh, look at them, the out-
fits they have on. Look the
pants they have to wear,"
were a few of the comments
Pat and her teammates would
receive. "You never saw
women in pants .then," she
said.
There wasn't much in the
way of equipment - no hel-
mets or faccmasks for sure.
Basically all they had was
skates, sticks, gloves,
sweaters. stockings and
pants.
PHOTO BY DAVID SCOTT
REFLECTING ON HOCKEY - Pat Bennett took time
recently to share her hockey experiences of the 1920s and
'30s with the Huron Expositor.
PLAYING AT BANFF - Pat Bennett (back row, far right)
was a member of the Lethbridge "Kiwanettes" who played
for the westem Canadian final against Edmonton in 1933.
"The stockings came up to
the top of your legs and 'were
held on with thick elastic_
bands. We usedto put maga-
zines in our socks. If you got
hit, that was your protection."
Ice time at the old Palace
Rink was scarce and the local
girls played whenever they
could.
"We just had the rink, when
the men weren't playing. On
each side of the rink they had
a curling rink. If they hap-
pened to be having a tourna-
ment and they needed the.
centre, you didn't use their
curling rinks."
Although Pat refers to it as.
just a game of pick up, there,
was some serious rivalry with
one town down the road.
"Clinton. We fought like
dogs. They always did. Even
the boys, they couldn't play
a game unless there was an
awful fight. And there still is,
Seaforth and Clinton never
did agree."
Pat said they had more fun
at those games than driving
all the way to the city for
entertainment.
"They weren't as many cars
then. We always had to ask
somebody who had a car (for
a ride to Clinton). And
there'd be about six of us go
in one car. We had to -make
sure the driver covid stay
long enough to King us
home again. Transportation
was scarce then. Even though
it was only eight miles, you
Farm Credit Corporation awards
Sixteen $1,000 scholarships
offered to members
Farm Credit Corporation
has announced it is providing
16 scholarships, for $1,000
apiece, 10 members of 4-H
groups. across Canada and
their counterparts in Quebec.
• The -program is "designed
to heighten youth awareness
of agricultural issues, to help
rural youth gain access to
post -secondary institutions
and to encourage pursuit of
higher education."
To qualify for the 1997 edu-
cation scholarships, appli-
cants must be 16 years -old,
submit a completed applica-
tion form and write a 500 to
1,000 word essay on one of
three topics: the rmpact,of
technology onagriculture,
the impact of environmental
regulations on agriculture, or
the new generation of
Canadian farmers - my
vision.
The scholarships will be
administered by the Canadian
4-H Council and promoted
by provincial councils, where
applications arc available, or
from FCC offices. Applicants
must have been 4-H members
for at least two years and
have been registered as mem-
bers within the last five
years.
Deadline for essays and
applications is March 31.
didn't walk it."
Although the local 'girls
only played Clinton for fun,
the boys teams were starting
to play other towns then. The
next year a juvenile boys
league was formed including
teams from . Seaforth:
Tuckersmith, McKillop and
Dublin.
Started Skating Young
"They had a board all the
.way around the rink. I was
just old enough to get my.
nose on the top of it (when i
started skating). I used to go
down and watch them skate
and say 'if I had a pair of
skates. I could do that too.'
Mother said, 'there's no
money for.skates.' "
Her mother was widowed at
the age of 35 in North Dakota
and brought five children
back to Seaforth to raise.
"My brother Vince and I
were about the same age. He
was a year and a half older.
Mother got a pair -of spring
skates and had them rivetted
onto a pair of his shoes. And
that's what he and I skated
on. But I had them on from
half -past -seven until half -
past -eight and I wouldn't
dare go in and sit down or
he'd take them off me. Then
he had them from half -past -
eight until 'ten o'clock.
"Next year there was
enough money gathered
together so I got a pair of
skates. horn then on, 1 was
never off the ice."
Skating Card for Rink
"In those days it was the
old rink (Palace Rink) before
it burnt down. Vince and I
could skate like a son-of-a-
gun.- Every time the rink was
open, we were there. At
Christmastime, mother gave
us a little card, it cost a dol-
lar. You carried that card
wherever you went. If the
rink was open, you could go.
It didn't cost you a thing."
Pat also remembers skating
in the frozen fields near town
and how all the local children
would gather after school and
on the weekends and skate
for hours.
"Over near Chicken
Jimmy's (Scott). Beattys
used to have their abattoir.
That field was full of stumps.
We lived up on James Street.
The kids would come up to
our place. Our mother had a
summer kitchen. And we'd
put our skates on. Then we'd
go down to the field. climb
,the fence and skate. When
you got tired you .sat on a
stump. If the kids knew today
what we had to do for fun
then."
The end of daylight
wouldn't mean the end of
skating for the day.
"They.used to have kids
there from four o'clock on to
midnight. I've seen lanterns
going around then."
Pat and her friends went
through the routine of lacing
up 'their skates in her moth-
er's back kitchen fora few
years until her mother got
tired of, them tracking in
Snow. Then they went. to
skate in a field near the rail-
way tracks that was also full
of stumps. But they'd lace
their skates up while sitting
on the cold tracks and freeze
their bottoms, said Pat.
• "-You'd take your shoes
down and pack them around
with snow so no one woule
see them."
In the conclusion of this
storynext week, we'll tell you
about Pat Bennett playing in .
the western Canadian final
for women's• hockey at the
Banff Winter. Carnival in
1933.
February 19
Expositor.
Exposed
The. Ex -Files:
Spotted Mistakes:
1) Page 1 - "ence" appears
in sentencend makes no
sense - Ethel Walker
2). Page 7 - In Scoreboard
"lone goal" - two goals
scored -.Marg Henderson
3) Page 1 - "week's".
instead of•1'year's" - D.
McQuaid
World may of
prayer Service
FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 1997
2:00 PM
• St. James Roman Catholic Church,
Victoria St., Seaforth
SPEAKER: JANE KUEPFER
ACC wEreoME!
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Trudee, Shelly, Bonnie, Cindy and Jen
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