Vying for senior amateur hockey supremacy

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/04/2016 (3826 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Allan Cup will be presented in Steinbach on Sat., April 16. Six teams, including the defending champion South East Prairie Thunder, are battling this week for the trophy emblematic of the Canadian senior AAA hockey championship.

To be accurate, the winner will receive a replica of the historic cup that was first put up for competition in 1909. The original Allan Cup is in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

When the trustees of the Stanley Cup determined that it would be awarded to the professional hockey champion, Sir Montague Allan donated a new trophy for amateur competition.

Like the Stanley Cup, teams could challenge for the Allan Cup. After the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association was formed in 1914, the national body decided that a series of playoffs should replace the challenge system. Beginning in 1920, the Allan Cup champion represented Canada in amateur play at the Olympics and world championships. This continued until Canada’s national team was formed in the 1960s.

Winnipeg senior teams did well in the early years. The Victorias won four challenge series in 1911 and 1912. Winnipegs won the Allan Cup in 1913, the Monarchs in 1915 and the 61st Battalion of Winnipeg in 1916. In Toronto in 1920 the Winnipeg Falcons beat Toronto Varsity 11-5 in the two-game, total-goal Allan Cup final.

Next for the Falcons was a trip to Antwerp, Belgium where ice hockey and figure skating were scheduled in April as part of the Summer Olympic Games.

The other sports were played throughout the summer, concluding with track and field in August. Falcons won the hockey competition, which was considered the amateur championship of the world.
In 1928, the University of Manitoba Varsity went East and won the Allan Cup by beating Montreal Victorias two games to one. In the 1930-31 season, Winnipeg had three strong senior teams — Elmwood Millionaires, Native Sons of Canada, and Winnipegs. Their goal was to win the Canadian senior title, as the 1931 Allan Cup champions would represent Canada  at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.

After Winnipegs won the city championship, the team’s road to the Allan Cup then went through Brandon, Port Arthur, North Battleford and Edmonton. In the best-of-three Canadian final played at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre, the Western champions beat Hamilton Tigers two straight. The following February, Winnipegs won Olympic gold and the world title.

What followed for Manitoba was a long Allan Cup drought that lasted until the Winnipeg Maroons won in 1964. Maroons had lost the final in 1961 and 1963.

Registered with Hockey Manitoba, Warroad Lakers from northern Minnesota won three straight Canadian senior AAA titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996. Île-des-Chênes North Stars captured the Allan Cup in 2003 and South East won its first of two in 2012.  

As the host team for this year’s championship, South East has the advantage of playing in its home arena.

Île-des-Chênes is the second team from Manitoba. Grand Falls-Windsor is representing the Atlantic region and Stoney Creek, Ont. the Central region. Shellbrook Elks qualified from Saskatchewan and last year’s finalists, the Bentley Generals from Alberta, hope to win the cup for the Pacific Region.

The semifinals will be played April 15 at 4 and 8 p.m. The final, which will be televised on TSN, goes at 3 p.m. on April 16.  

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com