The Edmonton Hockey Club was a Canadian amateur men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

club first organized in 1894 and formally established in 1896. The club consisted of two teams, the Thistles who were the elite players, and the Stars who were young prospects. The Thistles played for the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

twice, losing each time; in 1908 versus the

Montreal Wanderers The Montreal Wanderers were an amateur, and later professional, ice hockey team based in Montreal. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the National Hockey Association ...

and in 1910 versus the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

. The club folded in 1910 and the Thistles were replaced by the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...

as Edmonton's elite team.

Foundation

The Thistles were first organized in 1894, and were the first hockey team in Edmonton to hold regular practices. They named one Inspector Snyder as their first captain. The team was made up of the local well-to-do, mostly of British (especially

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

) extraction, thence the allusion to the

Scottish thistle ''Onopordum acanthium'' (cotton thistle, Scotch (or Scottish) thistle) is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Europe and Western Asia from the Iberian Peninsula east to Kazakhstan, and north to central Scandinavia, and ...

. They played the first recorded game in the city's history in 1894. In 1895 they played a series of games against

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...

officers from Fort Saskatchewan. The Edmonton Hockey Club was officially founded on 20 November 1896. and consisted of two team, the senior Thisles, and the junior Stars. The Stars played against their cross-river rivals, the South Edmonton Shamrocks, for the first time on 1 January 1896, and the Thistles first played the Shamrocks on 31 January 1896. Soon-to-be mayor

William Antrobus Griesbach Major general, Major General William Antrobus Griesbach, (January 3, 1878 – January 21, 1945) was a Canadian politician, decorated soldier, mayor of Edmonton, and member of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons and of the Senate ...

was a member of the Stars in 1896 and soon moved up the Thistles, though was never a star player. For their first season, games were played on

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...

, with an outdoor rink constructed in 1896 at

Jasper Avenue Jasper Avenue is an arterial road in central Edmonton, Alberta, and is the city's main street. Jasper Avenue has no official street number but is aligned with 101 Avenue with the majority of its length. Jasper Avenue is a major public transi ...

and First Street, and this was the club's home until local businessman

Richard Secord Major general (United States), Major General Richard Vernon Secord (July 6, 1932 – October 15, 2024) was a United States Air Force officer who worked in covert operations. Early in his military service, he was a member of the first U.S. avia ...

sponsored the construction of the new indoor Thistle Rink at 102 Avenue and 102 Street with a capacity of 2,000 spectators it became a central part of the small Edmonton and area population's social scene. Founded as the Edmonton Hockey Club in 1905, the club helped found the

Alberta Amateur Hockey Association Alberta is a province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, the Northwest Territories to its north, and the U.S. stat ...

in 1907. In 1908 and 1910, the Edmonton club would challenge for the Stanley Cup. Although the club was technically amateur, the club hired

Tommy Phillips Thomas Neil Phillips (May 22, 1883 – November 30, 1923) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger. Like other players of his era, Phillips played for several different teams and leagues. Most notable for his time with the Kenora Th ...

Didier Pitre Joseph George Didier "Cannonball" Pitre (September 1, 1883 – July 29, 1934) was a Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey player. Nicknamed "Cannonball," he was renowned for having one of the hardest shots during his playing career. One of t ...

and

Lester Patrick Curtis Lester Patrick (December 31, 1883 – June 1, 1960) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach associated with the Victoria Aristocrats/Cougars of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA; Western Hockey League (WHL) after ...

for the challenge, and only one player who had played from the regular season played in the challenge against the

. It was to no avail, as the Wanderers won the series. The Edmonton Hockey Club folded after 1910, and the Eskimos club was formed for the 1910–11 season by Deacon White from the remains of the organization.{{cite book , title=The Battle of Alberta , last=Sandor , first=Steven , publisher=Heritage House Publishing , location=Surrey, B.C. , year=2005 , isbn=1-894974-01-8 , pages=17

References

Defunct ice hockey teams in Alberta

Edmonton Hockey Club The Edmonton Hockey Club was a Canadian amateur men's ice hockey club first organized in 1894 and formally established in 1896. The club consisted of two teams, the Thistles who were the elite players, and the Stars who were young prospects. The ...

Ice hockey clubs established in 1896 Scottish-Canadian culture 1910 disestablishments in Alberta 1896 establishments in the Northwest Territories

Foundation

See also

References