Winnipeg Falcons get their due

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This article was published 26/04/2022 (1269 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Falcons have landed.

More than a century after the Winnipeg Falcons Hockey Club claimed Olympic gold, the Canadian government has cemented its achievement in national history.

A commemorative plaque was unveiled Tuesday, during a ceremony at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, to celebrate a group of men who rose above discrimination and war-time hardship to become the world’s first Olympic hockey champions.

“The Falcons gave Winnipegers, Manitobans and Canadians something to cheer about,” said Col. Dave Grebstad. “The men of the Falcons are examples we can all emulate.”

The team demonstrated the perseverance and grit that personifies the spirit of Winnipeg, said Grebstad, who authored a book about the Falcons’ victory.

He had nominated the team for recognition through the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in 2018. The board planned to unveil the plaque in 2020, but COVID-19 postponed the event.

Most of the Falcons were Icelandic men who fought for acceptance in Winnipeg’s Senior Hockey League during the early 1900s.

Shunned for their European descent, they struggled to find ice-time and competitors.

Before their triumph on the Olympic stage, the men had fought in the First World War. Two of their players — Frank “Buster” Thorsteinson and George Cumbers — died overseas.

When the surviving members returned to Winnipeg, they reunited and won Canada’s national amateur championship. Their victory secured them a spot at the 1920 Olympics in Belgium and, ultimately, Olympic gold.

Dozens gathered to witness the ceremony, including descendants from all but one of the original players. Many in the crowd wore replicas of the Falcons’ yellow and black jerseys emblazoned with a red maple leaf.

Cathie Eliasson spoke as a representative of the Falcons’ descendants, her grandfather, Konrad “Konnie” Johannesson played defence for the team.

“(The Falcons proved) that seemingly impossible dreams can come true,” Eliasson said. “As proud as we are of the team’s achievements, we also each remember a special individual man.”

In 2002, the Falcons nearly lost the title of being the first Olympic hockey champions due to a technicality.

The first Winter Olympic Games did not happen until 1924, so some officials, including Hockey Canada, considered the 1920 victory null, Eliasson said.

Public outcry from Icelandic Canadians convinced Hockey Canada to correct its mistake, and now that the Canadian government has immortalized the Falcons’ victory, its history is irrefutable, she said.

The plaque details the Falcons’ story in English, French, and Icelandic and will be permanently located at the First Lutheran Church on 580 Victor St., where some of the original Falcons attended service.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca