Hockey became part of Chapleau community life in its early years with road trip to Sudbury by 1893

SEE BELOW

In the beginning, one of Chapleau's earliest residents, J.Gill built the first ice skating rink shortly after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, according to Vince Crichton in 'Pioneering in Northern Ontario'.

However, Vince noted that "it is definitely known from an old minute book of the Chapleau Brass Band that such an enterprise was being operated by J. Gill during the winter of !888-89".

How come this information comes from the band's minute book? Well, apparently Mr. Gill had entered into a contract with the band, which was formed in 1888, to supply music on skating nights at the rink. 

Around this time, Chapleau must have formed its first seven man hockey team because in 1893, it made its first road trip to Sudbury for a game.

 Sudbury Museums web site reports as follows: "Hockey is widely considered to be Sudbury's most popular winter sport.  The first enclosed skating facility in the area, Martin's Rink, was built in 1892 and during that year, a group of men formed teams for the first game of hockey in Sudbury during the  winter carnival.

"The first inter-town hockey game played in Sudbury was on March 13, 1893 against Chapleau.  Sudbury won the match with a score of 2-1."

It also provided insight into how the game was played: "The early hockey games were much different than today's style.  The first games were played by teams of seven with no player substitutions.  Instead of three periods, there were two halves and scoring a goal was called "taking a game".  There were no linesmen  and only one referee, an amateur who knew the basic rules of the game and volunteered for the task.

SEE BELOW

"The first indoor rink was nothing like what we are accustomed to today.  These were unheated, wooden buildings that were numbingly cold in the winter.  There was no artificial ice, which meant that in the spring, the ice would turn to slush, making it almost  impossible to play hockey (although efforts were still made)."  Chapleau was no exception.

  I have been unable to discover the names of players on this team, or a photo but hockey had become part of community life.

Vince tells us that by about 1895 Lombard LaFrance who had arrived in 1885, had built a rink on Lorne Street. Although it was an open air rink it  was enclosed with a high board fence .  Mr. LaFrance may have been a member of the  1893 team that travelled to Sudbury. His son, also Adelard or "Adie" played several games for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League in the 1930s.

Over the years this rink was gradually enclosed and by 1951, it was closed and the Chapleau Memorial Community Arena was officially opened. on the same spot It was replaced by the Chapleau Recreation Centre which included the Mrs. A.W. Moore Arena in 1978.

Back to the early years of hockey. By about 1910, maybe even a bit earlier, there was a very competitive town league which led Robert McEween to donate the McEwen Cup. Mr. McEwen operated a pressing and tailoring shop which he established in 1905.

The first winners of the McEwen Cup, emblematic of local hockey supremacy was in 1911. From a personal view, my grandfather Harry Morris and my great uncle Charles Mulligan played on the team.  Grandpa had arrived in 1910 to work for the CPR as trainman/conductor.

I have included photos of the first winning team of the McEwen Cup, a photo of a town league team on which the famous goaltender Bob Turner played, and fast forwarded to the Chapleau High School team of 1956 when I was a student there and had "retired" as a player and was a referee. 

If any readers can provide more information on Chapleau hockey history, please feel free to contact me. Thanks. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

PHOTO INFORMATION

Robert McEwen donated the McEwen Cup, emblematic of hockey supremacy in Chapleau. Here is the first winning team in 1911. Photos are numbered: 1, Peter Moran; 2, Gordon Sheppard; 3, Simon Kruger; 4, Harry Morris (my grandfather); 5, Omer Lahay; 6, Oscar Tremblay; 7, Ken McFadden ;8, Charles Mulligan (my great uncle); 9, Herb Merrick and 10, Robert McEwen.

In 1919, Bob Turner, a legendary goaltender over the years was playing for a Chapleau team. In back are Clothier (could be different spelling and first name not given), Fred Kelland, Alex McAulay, Frank Boucher, Buster McAdam, Bob Turner, Amon Saylors, Ken Sheppard.  These were the days of seven man hockey and no subs

The CHS team of 1956 is below.A highlight of the year for the Chapleau High School team of 1956 was a trip to Terrace Bay. Back row from left: David McMillan, Doug Sleivert, Stan Barty,Thane Crozier, Clarence Fiaschetti (teacher and coach), George Lemon (principal) Second row: Doug Espaniel, Roger Mizuguchi, Bill Cachagee . Front are Jim Hong, Bert Lemon, Harry Pellow, Ken Schroeder, Robbie Pellow (Mascot) Marc Boulard, Harry Hong, Jim Machan, Ron Morris. Note that Clarence was playing on the 1949 Junior team, and was also first CHS student to return as teacher.