Hornby Hockey Rink
Description
- Media Type
- Image
- Item Type
- Photographs
- Description
- Photo of the Hornby hockey rink, clubhouse, and team, prior to 1914
L-R the players are – Hiram Tuck, Stanley Learmont, John Bailey (goalie) George King, Earl King, J. Blackall, George (Bud) Galbraith, and referee Gordon Chisholm.
The following is a collection of anecdotes and facts about Hockey in Hornby, assembled by Irene Saunders.
John Bailey (the goalie) had a hook on his right arm, and still managed to keep out the puck. George King became a flight instructor in WWI, and Bud Galbraith served in the army.
Organized hockey was played in the area since the turn of the century; first on Brain’s Brewery pond, and then on land leased from Stewart Robertson. The rink was on the south side of Steeles, across from Hornby school and beside the creek.
There was a nice clubhouse at the east end of the rink, and wooden boards round the sides of the rink, the same as the rinks in town. In the fall of the year, a dam would be put in the creek to ensure enough water was always available to flood the rink. After the game they would use a watering can to resurface it. There were posts with wires strung across to hang the lanterns, until Stewart Robertson, whose house had a Delco system for lighting, put in a couple of poles and wiring to light the rink. Hydro was installed along the Base Line (Steeles) in 1919. - Notes
- They never played on Sunday. The dressing room was in the west corner net to the road. It was a separate room, heated by a stove. In the other half of the clubhouse the front opened up, and there was a screen so the pucks wouldn’t fly in. You could watch the game from inside the clubhouse, where it was warm. Eventually the boards wore out, and by that time Stewart was gone. They got a bulldozer to put mounds of soil around the sides, but it was never as good. The clubhouse was sold to Joe Ferrier to build his house, but pupils from Hornby School made use of it at noon hour, and even in the 1940’s it was a great place for young people to meet on Sunday for a game of shinny.
In the era when they used lanterns to light the rink for hockey, there were also carnivals. On one occasion, Will Chilsholm gathered up people on the way, and won the prize for bringing the most people to the carnival; a buggy whip.
- Inscriptions
- Gordon Chisholm was a hockey referee for the OHA. He had a brass bell, not a whistle. The referee’s skates are different from players’ skates. His were tube skates with tubes about the size of a pencil. It was said they could knock the players down, but they couldn’t knock the referee down. He was solid on his feet and big at that time. Gordon walked from the 6th line and Steeles to catch the train for Streetsville at Hornby station for the games, and he would come home on the midnight train.
When Hornby was in the OHA league, they had a special train to Galt with a special rate for the hockey team and the followers. - Subject(s)
- Local identifier
- TTOIIMS0057
- Language of Item
- English
- Geographic Coverage
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Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43.56681 Longitude: -79.83293
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- Copyright Statement
- Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Contact
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Trafalgar Township Historical Society Sponsor: Jeff Knoll, Local & Regional Councillor for Oakville Ward 5 – Town of Oakville/Regional Municipality of Halton - Transcription
