The Birthplace of Hockey Museum
424 Clifton Avenue B0N 2T0 Windsor, NS, Canada

Africville Sea-Sides, 1922 From the Canadian Encyclopedia: THE COLORED HOCKEY LEAGUE OF NOVA SCOTIA The Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes (CHL) was an all-Black men’s hockey league. It was organized by Black Baptists and Black intellectuals --- Pastor James Borden of Dartmouth Church;--- James A.R. Kinney, a Cornwallis Street Church layman and later the first black graduate of the Maritime Business College; ---James Robinson Johnston, first black graduate of the Dartmou...th University law program; ---and Henry Sylvester Williams, a Trinidadian law student at Dalhousie University and later the founder of the first Pan-African Conference (1900) and was founded in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1895. It disbanded in 1911 and reformed in 1925 but fell apart by the 1930s. Play was known to be fast, physical and innovative. The league was designed to attract young Black men to Sunday worship with the promise of a hockey game between rival churches after the services. By the early 20th century, the CHL had expanded from a humble three-team league which included its maiden club, the Dartmouth Jubilees to include newly formed regional challengers. Some of these had established baseball roots: the Africville Sea-Sides; the Truro Victorias; the Charlottetown West End Rangers; the Amherst Royals; and the Hammond Plains Moss Backs. Teams were only permitted arena access after the white leagues were finished with their seasons. As a result, official league games were generally conducted between late January and early March; at that point, the natural ice surface would become too poor to conduct matches. Games were played with no official rules other than the Bible. The result was, ironically and unintentionally, a more physical and innovative style of hockey. By all accounts, championship games were on par with the best of the white teams. League play was known to be fast-moving and robust. In the first five years of the 20th century, a dispute over expanded rail service to the port of Halifax caused many hockey players and their families in Africville, the Black community in Halifax, to be at odds with provincial and city officials over a proposed railroad annexation of their land. A five-year legal battle ensued. League organizer James Robinson Johnston represented the families of the Black community in a bid to stop the annexation. During the legal battle, some rink owners refused to rent to the league or to any Black teams. Other rink owners agreed to only do so in late March when the natural ice surface was already beginning to melt. Local newspaper coverage of the league also disappeared virtually overnight. This effectively killed the CHL as an economic and social Black movement. The last recorded newspaper account of the league during this era appeared in 1911. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/.../coloured...

From the collection: signed Red Kelly wooden puck With the US election in the news these days, it's interesting to see how hockey intersects with politics. This intersection is very notable with Hall of Famer Red Kelly. He was a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Toronto-area riding of York West from 1962 to 1965, during which time he won the Stanley Cuptwicewhile actively playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He won a total of eight Stanley Cups with Detroit and Toronto, and won the Lady Byng Trophy four times in his 20 year career.

The origins of ice hockey by Garth Vaughan http://www.hockeycentral.co.uk//Ice-Hockey-in-Nova-Scotia.

Though the museum is closed for the season, we can still feature items from our collection, online. Here is a signed Bobby Orr stick, circa 1970. Orr started out using CCM Tack skates and Northland sticks, but as his career progressed, he switched to Bauer skates and Victoriaville sticks. When a gross of Orr's sticks (144) arrived at Boston Gardens, he would put his skates on and test each one for the reach, the lie, and the feel. He'd select 4 or 5 sticks for himself and se...nd the rest to the pro shop where they sold like hotcakes. From Wikipedia: "Robert Gordon Orr OC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the position of defenceman. Orr remains the only defenceman to have won the league scoring title with two Art Ross Trophies. He holds the record for most points and assists in a single season by a defenceman. Orr won a record eight consecutive Norris Trophies as the NHL's best defenceman and three consecutive Hart Trophies as the league's most valuable player (MVP). Orr was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979 at age 31, the youngest to be inducted at that time." A true hockey legend.

WHHS board members Paul Beazley and Krista Lloy display the beautiful "Birthplace of Hockey quilt" that came to us courtesy of Margie Fletcher and the Avon River Quilters. Stay tuned for details.

David Carter pointed out that part of the Windsor Citizen's Hockey Trophy resembles a pumpkin. This is very appropriate for the town of Windsor at this time of year, and brings to mind the Pumpkin Regatta.

Hats off to Windsor Hockey Heritage Society president Trina Cuvilier Norman, who has been doing an admirable job as president over the past three years. Trina, like the rest of the board, is dedicated to celebrating the unique role Windsor, Nova Scotia, occupies in the history of hockey. This history comes alive in our museum displays. The operation of the museum is made possible by charitable fundraising events like the Long Pond Heritage Classic and Golf Fore Hockey tournam...ent. Trina is a long-time trainer of cadets and in this photo is wearing her uniform. A suitable caption might be: "Standing on the road of life, close to home." This past year has been a difficult one for her, with the loss of her husband, Jeff. We wish her all the best in the coming months. Thank you, Trina! A reminder that the museum is closed for the season. We hope to reopen in June 2021. Website: https://birthplaceofhockey.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/Born_in1800 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/windsorhockeymuseum/