1917 hockey ring found on the shores of Scotland makes its way back to Canada Rosebuds ring shrouded in mystery By: Taylor Allen Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 11, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/04/2023 (879 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You would never expect to find a piece of Manitoba hockey history washed up on shore — especially in Scotland of all places.

But that is exactly what happened on the morning of Feb. 19.

Ian Carson, a 64-year-old semi-retired software consultant from Glasgow, and his wife Louise were out for a walk at Ardmore Point — a small peninsula roughly 10 miles from their home — when something caught his eye.

“Somewhere in the tideline, I could see the top of a little sealable plastic bag. It was a bit mucky so it was hard to tell what was in it, but I picked it up and when I looked at it, you could see there was a ring inside,” Carson told the Free Press in a phone interview.

“So, I thought, ‘Well, that’s quite interesting.’”

Carson took his discovery home for further inspection. As he washed off the dirt and grime, he could see the silver band was inscribed:

Portland Rosebuds
PCHA 1917
Tommy Dunderdale

“So, obviously, I started googling,” Carson said.

He quickly discovered Dunderdale was an Australian-Canadian professional hockey player who eventually settled in Winnipeg.

Dunderdale, who died in the Manitoba capital in 1960 at the age of 73, is the only Australian-born player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (1974). He was also enshrined into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame (MBHHOF) in 1995.

Carson admits he’s no hockey expert. He’s only been to one game in his life. Winnipeg, however, is something he does know well. He was visiting a friend in Vancouver in 2018 prior to hopping on an Alaskan cruise. The friend, one of his former university classmates, had to visit the Prairie city for a few days for a business trip and Carson decided to tag along.

“I’m not just saying this because it’s your town, I actually quite liked it. It’s quite the nice place. I didn’t know what to expect of it. My limited knowledge of Winnipeg before that was it’s a town in Canada that isn’t near any other town and it gets very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer,” said Carson.

“I found it very flat. I come from a place that isn’t so flat. So, that was really interesting. So, yeah, I’ve been to Winnipeg, so that kind of helped the story. It piqued my interest.”

Dunderdale was born in Australia in 1887 before moving to England and then Ottawa with his family, where he got his first taste of organized hockey in 1904 with the Waller Street Public School team. One year later, he ventured out west to play amateur hockey in Winnipeg while attending business school. The following season, the 1906-07 campaign, Dunderdale made his pro debut with the Winnipeg Strathconas of the Manitoba Hockey Association. After four years in Manitoba, Dunderdale took his talents to the National Hockey Association — a league for teams based out of Quebec and Ontario — where he suited up for the Montreal Shamrocks and Quebec Bulldogs.

Dunderdale really started to make a name for himself in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). He played in the league from 1911-1923 and was named to the First All-Star Team six times. The forward scored 194 goals in 241 regular season games, and etched his name into the record books in 1921 with the Victoria Aristocrats when he scored the first penalty shot goal in hockey history.

Dunderdale was a member of the Portland Rosebuds from 1915-1918. In 1916, the Rosebuds became the first American team to play for the Stanley Cup, losing 3-2 in a best-of-five series with the Montreal Canadiens. Despite coming up short, “Portland Ore./PCHA Champions/1915–16” was carved into the most coveted prize in all of hockey.

Carson sent an email to the MBHHOF and Museum asking for help in tracking down a Dunderdale relative.

John Jameson, the hall’s digital curator, monitors the inbox. He gets a wide range of messages, but typically it’s from people looking for ex-teammates, or requests for more information on an old picture or logo.

But an email from someone overseas saying they found a 100-plus year-old hockey artifact on a rock?

“I would say this is the quirkiest (email I’ve received),” said Jameson.

As for the ring itself, Jameson and MBHHOF president Jordy Douglas have never seen anything like it. Portland didn’t win their league title in 1917, making the meaning behind it a mystery.

“Rings were not common until the ‘70s, maybe ‘60s. A lot of times, they didn’t get rings when they won the cup, they’d get things like cufflinks or tie pendants,” said Douglas.

“I’ve heard where some teams would give them a jacket for winning and stuff like that. So, for the Rosebud ring in 1917, what a rarity that is because that is not common. Maybe it was an anniversary ring celebrating the Rosebuds for being around for 10 years or something. But it sure wasn’t common, so I don’t know what that was for. That’s the oldest ring I know, to be honest with you.”

While the HHOF in Toronto does have rings that date back further, Craig Campbell, the manager of their resource centre and archives, told the Free Press he’s never seen one like this either.

Carson and the MBHHOF spent the next few weeks scouring the web trying to find a living Dunderdale to no avail. Dunderdale didn’t have any children, making the hunt much trickier.

Carson knows someone in England who was born in Winnipeg, so he decided to reach out to them for help on Twitter. It was a Hail Mary that didn’t lead to anything, until about a month later when Carson got a notification that someone responded to his tweet.

Their name? Sara Dunderdale — Tommy’s great-great niece in Paradise, N.L.

For whatever reason, Carson’s tweet just so happened to pop up in Sara’s newsfeed.

“I was shocked. As soon as I saw Portland Rosebuds, I knew it was the Tom Dunderdale we’re related to and his ring. I couldn’t believe it,” Sara said.

“My granddad (Tommy’s nephew) in particular was very proud (to be related). We made a trip to Toronto to see him in the Hockey Hall of Fame and we’ve always talked about how we have an uncle in the Hockey Hall of Fame. And there’s always been a Tom Dunderdale in each generation of the family. That’s my brother’s name.”

The ring is currently on its way to the Maritimes to be with Sara’s brother Tom who lives in Nova Scotia. Prior to this, the family had no idea the ring existed, but they’re overjoyed as they don’t have anything that belonged to their famous uncle.

How did it end up in Scotland? Sara doesn’t have an answer for that one. Her grandparents lived in England, so there’s a bit of a connection to the region, but it’s still bizarre. There are cruise ships that sail through that area, so Carson’s best guess is someone had it on one of those before it somehow ended up in the water.

“I’m just pleased that it all worked out so well. It’s just an interesting story that I can bore people with, you know? It’s just such a random thing,” said Carson.

And it couldn’t have happened at a better time.

A few months earlier, Sara was once again on Twitter when she came across a Canadian military uniform from the Second World War that was up for auction.

It was her grandfather’s.

He passed away in 2006 and was also named after Tom. Sara’s father passed away that same year.

She reached out to the seller, but they wouldn’t budge, and it ended up selling for a hefty price.

Carson, on the other hand, wouldn’t even let Sara reimburse him for shipping. He was simply happy to play a role in getting the ring to where it belongs.

“I feel like there is something greater at work here, to be honest. I was so sad about the uniform. I also just married a man from Scotland this past summer. Then for the ring to show up, in Scotland, and find its way back to us, it feels like dad and grandad are behind all of this somehow,” Sara said.

“And for someone as lovely and kind as Ian and his wife to search out my family and to send the ring back to us is the icing on the cake. When my husband and I finally visit Scotland, we will be looking them up and we’ll be buying them a drink for sure. I told Ian we are forever connected now. It’s the fellowship of the ring.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31