Nova Scotia women have played hockey since 1895, and have not stopped. Through the first two decades of the 1900s, Truro's Ping-Pongs and the New Glasgow Ladies were crucial to keeping the sport alive in the province.
Nova Scotia women have played hockey since 1895, and have not stopped. Through the first two decades of the 1900s, Truro's Ping-Pongs and the New Glasgow Ladies were crucial to keeping the sport alive in the province.
The Maritimes are often discussed as one of the birthplaces of hockey in Canada. By 1895, women's hockey was being played in St. John, Newfoundland and Halifax, Nova Scotia, among other towns.
Mt. Allison University in Sackville was believed to have a women's hockey team by 1902. By 1903 teams were talked about in Amherst, and two in Truro nicknamed "Ping" and "Pong" that played a game in front of 500 fans to benefit the local hospital. The Ping-Pongs combined for games against the Duchesses of Amherst that winter, and continued playing intrasquad games in front of lively crowds as well. They also travelled to Windsor to beat a team of women from that town.
The following winter, Halifax finally joined the foray icing a team who met up with Windsor, including a 3-2 win in early February of 1904 where "the girls looked charming and did some skilled playing," as The Evening Mail reported.
The Ping Pong Hockey Club remained the most active in the era, continuing to compete, including another fundraiser game for the Muir Hospital in 1904. Seeing the success of the games in Truro, other Nova Scotia women's teams began playing charity matches including a 1905 game in Windsor between teams nicknamed the Evening Stars and Morning Glories. The sport continued to grow with teams popping up across the province including in Wolfville and Dartmouth. Dartmouth's Imperials and Halifax's Kananites started into regular competition, while other teams such as the Silver Bells of Halifax also taking part. The game saw steady participation from 1907 to 1913 in the province.
Over the next half decade, the bulk of coverage in Nova Scotia newspapers discussed women's hockey played outside their borders touting top teams in Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, and New York. The game had seemingly died away in Nova Scotia.
That was, until 1920 when the sport saw a resurgence among women, particularly in the towns of New Glasgow and Glace Bay, which helped propel another wave of province-wide excitement.
On February 17, 1920, the New Glasgow Ladies' Hockey Team drew a record crowd for the city, drawing 1,500 fans to see their title game against the Glace Bay Ladies.
Glace Bay entered with a 5-3 lead in the total goals series. The Sydney Record reported that an equivalent 1,500 fans watched the contest, the largest crowd the city had ever seen for a hockey game, where Lizzie (Elizabeth) Macdonald, referred to by The Evening Mail as "one of the fastest skaters and cleverest stick handlers in the country," lived up to her billing scoring all five goals for Glace Bay
The February 17 final saw action described as having "clever stick handling, fast skating, sensational rushes, good combination and passing, strong defence work and excellent shooting," in Halifax's Evening Mail.
Cassie Cullen opened the scoring for New Glasgow, whose team was nicknamed the Tanlac Kids, pulling the series to 5-4. Before the period was out, Cullen connected with Annee Chisholm who scored for New Glasgow giving her team a 2-0 led in the game, and tying the total goals series at 5-5.
As the second opened, Chris Macdonald, a New Glasgow blueliner fed Cullen who scored her second of the game. Cullen scored her hat trick goal later in the period, but Glace Bay pulled back with Lizzie Macdonald scoring a pair for Glace Bay.
The third period continued with more scoring. Annee Chisholm matched Cassie Cullen's hat trick scoring a pair in the third period for New Glasgow. Glace Bay pushed back with Bessie Sheriff scoring to make the game 6-3, but that's how it would end. The three goal margin gave New Glasgow a 9-8 series win.
The Nova Scotia league wasn't a two team affair however, as it also featured a strong team from Antigonish, known as the Ice Sickles. Antignoish faced New Glasgow earlier in the season with New Glasgow winning 3-2. The real victory however, came in how this game helped change the perspective of onlookers, as the game was referred to in Halifax newspapers as "an eye opener," in a game said to have "probably the largest crowd that ever witnessed a hockey match in Antigonish."
"Those who expected to witness something resembling a tea party, left the arena feeling that they had seen a real hockey battle."
Ice Sickles captain Zena Cameron opened the scoring quickly in that game. Cassie Cullen responded with an end to end rush to tie the game at 1-1. The two stars of the game continued their back and forth in the second period as Cullen scored to open the period, with Cameron responding to again tie the game less than a minute later. Cullen would cap the win scoring her third of the game in the final period giving New Glasgow the 3-2 win.
The province also featured teams from Amherst and Springhill.
Championships, however, were not as straight forward in the 1920s as they are today. Antigonish, Glace Bay, and New Glasgow all laid claim to the Maritime title in February 1920, claims that resulted in the final series between New Glasgow and Antigonish.
In 1921, New Glasgow and Glace Bay continued to play as two of the top teams in the east. Cassie Cullen scored a pair for New Glasgow in a 3-1 win over PEI's Charlottetown. New Glasgow also beat teams from Moncton, Halifax, Sydney, Springhill, and Amherst that winter, and again claimed they were Maritime champions. That claim was disputed by Glace Bay who managed to defeat New Glasgow in a disputed match.
Newspapers at the time seemed incapable of deciphering who was Nova Scotia's top team either. On March 3, 1921 Halifax's Evening Mail published an article discussing New Glasgow's hunt for a challenge from any team saying they'd travel to Boston, Philadelphia, and Montreal to play teams. According to the article, the loss to Glace Bay was disputed as the Glace Bay team "did not play according to the rules." New Glasgow's manager reported that a Glace Bay player refused to leave the ice after being assessed a penalty. The following month, the same newspaper published a photo of the Glace Bay Ladies' Hockey Team with caption reading "these clever girls from the Cape Breton town claim Maritime Provinces title by virtue of their defeat of the New Glasgow team..."
A few days later, The Evening Mail published a follow up saying "Down in Glace Bay, the fair hockey players claim that they are entitled to the title known as the "Maritime Ladies Champions." Glace Bay's claim came from beating New Glasgow in a single game, while New Glasgow claimed they had beaten teams from a half dozen Maritime cities and that one loss in their season "does not rob them of the title."
These types of confrontations were not uncommon in early women's hockey as teams played without leagues, and when leagues were formed, women's sports were often not welcomed under the umbrella of provincial and national titles. It wasn't until the Dominion Women's Amateur Hockey Association was formed in 1933 that a modicum of structure was formed, but similar disputes remained.
Perhaps one of the more interesting developments in Nova Scotia women's hockey is that a trio of Halifax women had moved to Boston and were playing for the Boston Ladies Hockey Club in 1923. Those women, Pearl Conrad, Anna McAthur, and Margaret McDonald, who captained Halifax's women's team in 1922. Canadian players were a significant portion of Boston's early hockey history, including an all-Canadian men's team known as Maple Athletic Association in the 1920s.
As the 1920s progressed, fewer teams were competing regularly in Nova Scotia, but Dartmouth remained perhaps the most prevalent again forming a strong team in 1928. The power in Maritime hockey however, had shifted to other locations, specifically Prince Edward Island where the Summerside Crystal Sisters.