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Goderich Signal Star, 2017-03-08, Page 7Wednesday, March 8, 2017 • Signal Star 7 history The ‘Goderich Seven i hinny' hockey had been played for decades on the harbour ice and lake. Yet, it was not until December 1895 that the first Goder- ich ice hockey club was organized. Goderich was not the first town in the area with a hockey club but the town's early 'hockeyites' embraced the sport with enthusi- asm if not skill. Alex McIvor, a member of the first Goderich team, recalled in a 1951 article in the 'Goderich Signal Star' that the club was organized by "Billy (Bucko) Babb and associ- ates around the Ocean House" hotel. Despite never having "seen a real hockey stick or puck'; the club challenged area hockey teams to a match. Club secretary, Dan Mclvor obtained sticks and pucks and arranged a few practices before the team's first game. Monday, February 3, 1896 stands as a monu- mental day in Local sports as the first organized hockey match took place in Goderich at the West street rink The 'well: - attended' match was played against the power- house Seaforth team organized years earlier. Like all early hockey teams, none of the play- ers wore helmuts, pads or masks. However, the Goderich team was fur- ther disadvantaged, according to Mclvor, by its lack of uniforms and short pants. With only spring skates clamped to winter boots, "few of us knew anything about offside rules or any rules other than for shinny" Mclvor remem- bered. Indeed, when an offside was called on the Goderich team, the home team fans, not Huron History David Yates understanding the game, "were up in arms" until the umpire explained the rule. Pre- dictably, the Goderich team took an 8-1 'trim- ming' from Seaforth. Undaunted, the Goderich team played and lost their,next game in Kincardine but won their first game against Ripley. Goderich ended the season in March with a 2-2 tie against Clinton. During that first season, the players trav- elled by "open sleigh and occasionally got tossed out" but Mclvor said "we surely had good times:' Early hockey games were played without goal nets which caused end- less disputes' and fights on and off the ice. Each team had seven players on the ice; a goalie, cen- tre, three forwards, a cover point (who played both defence and offence) and a defensive point skater. Without a backup goalie or relief skaters or shift changes, all seven played for the entire game which was divided into two thirty minute halves. Fighting was also an integral part of the game. Often times, players returned home "with more bruises than glory." Hockey's growing popu- larity prompted one paper to observe that "lacrosse gave way to football, football dwin- dled into hockey, and still large numbers of the rural population are able to walk without the aid of crutches." Hockey Team, 1895-1900 Although the Goderich team had a lacklustre first season, they re -organized in November 1896. By the 1898 season, the Goder- ich team was informally known as 'the Goderich Seven: 'I hey became the town's pride. Local papers gave detailed cov- erage to each match. Shinny hockey was still played on the harbour ice but fans paid .10 cents to watch the action at the West street rink. As the games were played on natural ice at the rink, soft ice often postponed matches and cut seasons short. n February 1898, a match between the north and south side residents of the Square was held in the West street rink. It was argua- bly the most comically awkward matched ever waged in Goderich. Ice hockey was still a nov- elty for most players. At half-time, the 'Signal' reported that at half time "both sides had a restand dressed wounds:' The "cachina- tions [shrieks and howls] of the audience could be heard for miles" as play- ers laid into each other with stick and fist. At one time, an 8 player pile up provoked "con- vulsions of laughter" from the crowd as "each player meas ured the ice more than once and a few more than a dozen times." The 'Signal' reported that "as regards the play, we may have seen some a little more scientific, but for real enjoyment, for hearty laughter, none could be Netter." The prize was $12 raised for the local band and a barrel of flour for the King's Daughters to distribute for poor relief. In March 1899, the first appearance of a Goderich team called the 'Sailors' was reported. The Sailors (who really were mari- ners) defeated the clerk's team. The 'Signal' called it "a great game" but "the score was too big to count." By 1900, the 'Sig- nal' reported that Goder- ich Collegiate classes were playing hockey against each other. By the early 1900's, hockey, in Goderich, eclipsed curl- ing as the most exciting winter sport. In addtion to the Goderich Hockey Club, industrial and fra- ternal teams, like the Mensetung Canoe Club, organized. I ith each season, the Goderich Seven improved. In one home game against Clinton in 1899, Goderich trounced the'Hubites' 10-0. The 'Goderich Star' observed that the Goderich team had "never played such hockey or had as good a team on the ice." At last, Goderich was "playing real hockey." When the hockey club re-organzied in Novem- ber 1899 for the 1900 sea- son, the 'Signal' was pre- dicted that "the prospects of another successful sea- son are bright." In an exhibition game in Sea - forth, the Goderich team was beaten 8-5 after "a hard and somewhat rough game." Although Goderich narrowly beat Clinton in another 'rough game' by a score of 6-4, the team lost exhibition matches against Lucknow and Ripley. The team was headed for a mediocre season. In 1900, the Iluron Hockey League con- sisted of only three teams (Clinton, Goder- ich and Seaforth). Sea - forth and Goderich squared off against each other in a two game play off series for the league championship. On Feb- ruary 12, 1900, at the West street rink, the first of what the 'Star' called "the long talked of championship" matches between Seaforth and Goderich began. "In the presence of the largest garhering we have seen in the rink," the 'Star' reported that Goderich managed a stunning upset by trouncing the heavily favoured Sea - forth team 11-5. The paper bragged that Goderich could."beat any team in the county." "Considered almost invincible on their own ice," the Seaforth team wanted revenge. In the much anticipated game in Seaforth the follow- ing week, a hockey mad Goderich, delayed the 3:35 pm train until 6:30 pm when the most fans could travel to Seaforth to cheer their team. Seaforth opened the scoring with two goals but the Goderich team rallied so that by half- time, the score was 3-2 in favour of Seaforth. In "a hard fought" second half, an unrelenting Goderich team, perhaps buoyed by hometown support, defeated Sea - forth 6-3. Goderich was ecstatic and the 'Star' proclaimed their team 'Champions.' Fortune had come full circle. The Goderich Seven had defeated the team that had beaten them so soundly in their first game in 1896. Canada's game had taken root in Goderich, the home of NHL legends Jack Price, Albert Dewsbury, Larry Jeffrey, Gary Doak and the undefeated 1947 Louzon Flyers team. Hockey remains an embedded tradition at the centre of the town's life.