By Matthew Clark
Contemporary professional sports, particularly in North America, has become a multi-billion dollar industry where successful athletes achieve a status beyond that of celebrity. Indeed it often appears to be the case that a successful athlete is disturbingly semi-defied, worshipped in way that elevates them above that of hero. Long gone are the days when "Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton."Contemporary culture sees professional sports as an end in itself. This is particularly true of the game of ice hockey in Canada.
Canada is a nation which fits the description Winston Churchill once made of his political opponent Clement Atlee."Mr. Atlee is a modest man," Churchill once admitted, then added, "He has much to be modest about."Such is true of the underachieving Canada. The singular exception to this condition is the sport of ice hockey. In that endevour the Canadian mouse is indeed mighty, punching well above it's weight.
Canadians make up the bulk of players in the National Hockey League, the world's premier professional ice hockey league. In international competition Canada ice hockey teams have won more Olympic titles and world ice hockey championships than any other nation.
The height of achievement in this team competition is to be a member of a team which wins the Stanley Cup, emblematic of professional ice hockey supremacy. Possessed by the National Hockey League, the Stanley Cup is the oldest team athletic championship trophy in North America (est. 1893).
Around the globe hockey players dream of being on a (Stanley) Cup victorious squad. Control of the 'cup' allows the National Hockey League to brag, with justification, that it is the number 1 professional ice hockey league around the globe.
Yet the 'bowl' as the Stanley Cup is sometimes affectionately titled, was not always the monopoly of one overarching organization. There was a time when the Stanley Cup was a challenge trophy, governed by a board of trustees, whose members were appointed due to their ice hockey knowledge and (as was as humanly possible) impartiality. Under the trustees tutelage the board decided what teams could contest for the championship trophy. While far from being a perfect system, the arrangement had the endearing quality of allowing teams such as the Kenora Thistles to play for the cup, not just outfits from the major population centres such as Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal. Such a system engendered the saga of the Dawson City Nuggets, an ice hockey team straight out of the Klondike Gold Rush.
In 1896 Dawson City comprised a community of 500 inhabitants, located in Canada's Northwest Territories (later in the Yukon territory). With the discovery of Gold the ensuing rush increased the population to 30,000 by 1898. Included in this migration was Joseph W. Boyle, ice hockey fan and gold miner. Boyle used his financial success to start an ice hockey team. He used the lure of gold to attract players such as Randy McLennan and Weldy Young, ice hockey stars of the day. Once Boyle thought he had acquired a strong competitive team he issued a challenge to the current Cup holders the Ottawa Silver Seven. This challenge was accepted by the Ottawa club and endorsed by the cup Board of Trustees. There would be an ice hockey showdown between the Ottawa Silver Seven and the Dawson City Nuggets (Nuggets being the teams nickname).
Thus on December 18, 1904, in minus 20 degree (farenhuit) temperature the Nugget players and coach left Dawson City for Whitehorse. Interestingly they travelled by dogsled in this leg of the journey. Later modes of transport would be steamship as well as train. On January 6, 1905 the team boarded a train in Vancouver for the Nations capital (Ottawa). Ottawa was achieved on the 11th of January. Altogether the oddyssey had taken 24 days to cover 6400 kilometres (4000 miles).
Needless to say the Nuggets were not a 'fresh' bunch of athletes when they skated out to face their opponents on January 14, 1905. Nevertheless the match was filled with plenty of fistacuffs. While the Dawson crew held their own in this area of combat they were badly outplayed in the game, suffering defeat by a score of 9-2. The next match was decidely worse, ending 23-2 in the Silver Sevens favour, making it the most lopsided score in Stanley Cup history. Ottawa had emerged as the victors in the best of 3 tournament. Deservedly they kept possession of the title "Stanley Cup champions."
Nevertheless all was not lost for the Nuggets. On their trek back home the Northeners participated in a total of 23 exhibition contests, emerging victorious thirteen times, against 9 defeats, as well as one tie. As a reward for their sense of adventure the teams name was placed on the Stanley Cup within the section of challenger.
Under the present setup enforced by the National Hockey League only franchises competing within the league schedule (thereby league sanctioned) can attempt to be cup winners. Champions can only come from large market teams which produce "a return on investment" for their owners.
Thus most small cities and towns are left without an oppurtunity to assemble a Stanley cup winner. This would not be the case under a challenge trophy regime. It would do the modern ice hockey fan well to remember an era when Dawson City or Kenora. as well as many other small population centres, could compete for the Stanley Cup with the chance, however remote, that they might vanquish teams from Ottawa, Toronto, or Montreal.
Reference:
13 Man Sports
Gold Rush: The Story of the Dawson City Nuggets
13thmansports.ca/2022/04/11/gold-rush-the-story-of-the-dawson-city-nuggets
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