Victoria Skating Rink

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The Victoria Skating Rink was an indoor skating rink located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which opened on December 24, 1862. The building was used during winter seasons for pleasure skating, ice hockey and skating sports on a natural ice rink. In summer months, the building was used for various other events, including musical performances and horticultural shows. It holds the distinction of having hosted the first-ever recorded organized indoor ice hockey match on 1875-03-03.^[1] It was also the location of the first Stanley Cup playoff game in 1894. It was also the first building in Canada to be electrified.

It was located at 49 Drummond Street (now renumbered to 1187), south of Sainte Catherine Street and bordered by Stanley Street on the east, just north of René Lévesque Boulevard (formerly Dorchester Boulevard). It was located one block to the west of Dominion Square, where the Montreal Winter Carnivals of the 1800s were held. The rink closed in 1937^[2] and today the site is occupied by a parking garage.

Contents 1 Building 2 History 2.1 Ice Hockey 2.2 Ice skating 2.3 Other Events 2.4 Location Today 3 IIHF recognition 4 References 5 External links 5.1 Articles 5.2 Photographs

[edit] Building

The basic requirement for this type of building was a shed covered by a long, wide-span roof. It was similar to military drill sheds, first constructed in Toronto, Hamilton and London beginning in 1863, and train sheds, which by the mid-1800s had reached spans of 300 feet (91 m). The building was designed by Lawford & Nelson, Architects, and was originally a long (252 feet (77 m) x 113 feet (34 m)), two-story brick edifice with a 52 feet (16 m)-high pitched roof supported from within by elegantly curving wooden trusses, which sprung up from the ground level and spanned the entire width of the structure. Tall, round-arched windows punctuated its length and illuminated its interior, while evening skating was made possible by 500 gas-jet lighting fixtures set in coloured glass globes. At a later date, the lighting was converted to electric, making the building the first in Canada to be electrified.^[3]

The ice surface measured 202 feet (62 m) by 85 feet (26 m), dimensions very similar to today's National Hockey League (NHL) ice rinks. It was surrounded by a 10 feet (3.0 m)-wide platform, or promenade, which was elevated approximately 1 foot (30 cm) above the ice surface and upon which spectators could stand or skaters could rest.

[edit] History

The Victoria Skating Club incorporated on 1862-06-09^[4] for the purpose of buying the land and building the rink. The rink, one of the first and largest indoor rinks in North America, was completed and opened on 1862-12-24.^[5] However, it was not the first indoor rink in Montreal. The first had opened in 1859, at the north end of St. Urbain Street, for the Montreal Skating Club.^[6] It was the first of numerous ice rinks in Canada to be named after Queen Victoria.^[6] By about 1880, membership in the Victoria Skating Club had reached 2,000, mostly drawn from Montreal's upper classes, who enjoyed considerable leisure time and could afford to participate in such events as the fancy-dress balls, which were a regular feature at the rink.^[7]

An quote from the 1870s that appeared in Montreal Yesterdays captures the essence:

“When many hundred persons are upon the ice, and with every variety of costume, pass through all the graceful figures that skaters delight in, the scene presented to the spectator is dazzling in the extreme.”^[8]

The rink became a major attraction for visitors to Montreal. In 1886, Capt. Willard Glazer described the scene:

“One of the principal points of attraction in both winter and summer is the Victoria Skating Rink, in Dominion Square. This extensive building is used during the milder months of the year for horticultural shows, concerts and miscellaneous gatherings. In the winter the doors of this place are thronged with a crowd of sleighs and sleigh drivers, while inside, skaters and spectators form a living, moving panorama, pleasant to look upon. The place is lighted by gas, and men and women, old and young, with a plentiful sprinkling of children, on skates, are practicing all sorts of gyrations. The ladies are prettily and appropriately dressed in skating costumes, and some of them are proficient in the art of skating. The spectators sit or stand on a raised lege around the ice parallelogram, while the skaters dart off, singly or in pairs, executing quadrilles, waltzes, curves, straight lines, letters, labyrinths, and every conceivable figure. Now and then some one comes to grief in the surging, moving throng; but is quickly on his or her feet again, the ice and water shaken off, and the zigzag resumed. Children skate; boys and girls; ladies and gentlemen, and even dignified military officers. Some skate well, some medium, some shockingly ill; but all skate, or essay to do so. It is the grand Montrealese pastime, and though the ice is sloppy, and the air chill and heavy with moisture, everybody has a good time.”^[9]

The Rink hosted pleasure skating and masquerade balls during the 1880s Montreal Winter Carnivals, which took place a city block to the east in Dominion Square.

[edit] Ice Hockey

In 1873, James Creighton, a member of the Skating Club and a figure skating judge, started organizing sessions of "shinny" at the rink, played informally between members and guests of the Club. The rules followed were the informal rules of the outdoor game played in Nova Scotia where Creighton was born and raised.^[10]

On 1875-03-03, the rink hosted the first recognized and recorded indoor, organized ice-hockey game.^[11] The match lays claim to this distinction because of several factors which establish its link to modern ice hockey: it featured two teams (nine players per side), goaltenders, a referee, a puck, and the score was recorded. This first game was organized by Creighton, was pre-announced to the general public in the pages of The (Montreal) Gazette newspaper and was played between two informal teams, which included a number of McGill University students, under a pre-written set of rules, with a recorded score. In order to limit injuries to spectators and damage to glass windows, the game was played with a wooden puck instead of a lacrosse ball, possibly the first time such an object was used. A post-game story appeared in The (Montreal) Gazette the following day.

Announcement

Victoria Rink - A game of Hockey will be played at the Victoria Skating Rink this evening, between two nines chose from among the members. Good fun may be expected, as some of the players are reputed to be exceedingly expert at the game. Some fears have been expressed on the part of intending spectators that accidents were were likely to occur through the ball flying about in too lively a manner, to the imminent danger of lookers on, but we understand that the game will be played with a flat circular piece of wood, thus preventing all danger of its leaving the surface of the ice. Subscribers will be admitted on presentation of their tickets.^[12]

By moving ice hockey game indoors, the 202 feet (62 m) by 85 feet (26 m) dimensions of the rink initiated a major change from the outdoor version of the game, limiting organized contests to a nine-man limit per team (there were no substitutions permitted in that era). The rink's dimensions have defined the dimensions of ice hockey rinks in North America ever since.

The Rink was home to the Victoria Hockey Club, first organized in 1881. Play at first was by exhibition only as there were no leagues. The Rink was used for exhibition games or as an indoor facility if the outdoor rink was not available during the annual Winter Carnivals. It was for the 1883 Carnival that hockey team sizes were reduced further, to seven per side, which was the common size for the next thirty years.^[13] Eventually the tournament play led to plans for a league. The Rink hosted the founding meeting of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada league, organized in 1886, the second organized ice hockey league in Canada.

Lord Stanley, later to donate the Stanley Cup trophy, witnessed his first ice hockey game at the Victoria Rink on 1889-02-04, seeing the Victorias defeat the Montreal Hockey Club 2–1.^[14] According to The Globe, "the vice-regal party was immensely delighted with it."^[15] The Victoria Club would later host the first Stanley Cup playoffs in 1894.^[16] By that time, the building had gained an elevated balcony for additional spectators and a projecting loge, precursor of today's luxury boxes. See 1894 Stanley Cup Playoffs In 1896, the rink was connected by telegraph to distribute the Winnipeg Stanley Cup series score immediately. This is considered the first ice hockey broadcast by wire.^[3]

[edit] Ice skating

The rink hosted figure skating and speed skating sporting events as well. Figure skating, known as "fancy skating" began in the 1860s and the rink held championships starting in the 1870s. Creighton became acquainted with the Club as a figure skating judge. A combination of racing and fancy skating championships was held in February 1888 that was announced internationally in the 1888-02-01 New York Times. The races were "220 yards, quarter mile, half mile, mile, five miles, 220 yards over six hurdles 27 inches high, and junior championship races."^[17] This was followed a week later by the fancy skating championship of figures.

The Canadian Amateur Figure Skating Championship was held at the rink on February 18, 1896.^[18]

[edit] Other Events

From the 1870s onwards, the Rink hosted the annual Montreal Horticultural Society show each September. The Rink hosted many musical performances. In 1890, an audience of 6,000 attended a benefit for Montreal's Notre-Dame Hospital featuring a performance by soprano Emma Albani, as well as pianist and composer Salomon Mazurette, violinist Alfred De Sève, and the Montreal City Band under the direction of Ernest Lavigne.^[19] The rink is also known to have held performances of the Montreal Philharmonic Society, which existed from 1875 to 1899.^[20]

[edit] Location Today

After years of neglect in the 1920s, the arena finally closed in 1937^[21] and was converted into a parking garage. As shown in the photos, the location is now occupied by a parking garage for a local branch of National Car Rental. It sits adjacent to the Sheraton Hotel and is just a slapshot north of the Centre Bell two city blocks to the south, the home arena of the NHL Montreal Canadiens.

[edit] IIHF recognition

On July 2, 2002, the International Ice Hockey Federation issued a press release announcing that it would actively pursue the idea to acknowledge the site of the Victoria Skating Rink with "a commemorative plaque or other historical site marker to remind the passers-by of the existence of the Victoria Skating Rink, the birthplace of organized hockey."^[22] The IIHF has subsequently decided to honour the Rink's significance in two ways. In 2007, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced the creation of the Victoria Cup, a trophy named for the arena, for which -- along with 1 million Swiss francs -- one NHL team and the champion of the European Champions Hockey League will play off annually beginning on October 1, 2008.^[23] In May 2008, the IIHF dedicated a historical plaque to recognize the Rink's significance. The plaque was dedicated on 2008-05-22 at Centre Bell, which is nearby.^[11]

[edit] References

Bibliography

• Collard, Edgar Andrew (1962). Montreal Yesterdays. Longmans Canada. 
• Jenkins, Kathleen (1966). Montreal: Island City of the St. Lawrence. Doubleday & Company. 
• Glazier, Capt. Willard (1886). Peculiarites of American Cities. Hubbard Brothers. 
• Vigneault, Michel (1998), “Out of the Mists of Memory, Montreal, 1875-1910”, Total Hockey, Total Sports 

Notes

[edit] External links

[edit] Articles

• IIHF recognizes Victoria Skating Rink as birthplace of hockey
• Virtual Museum exhibit on venue
• 1870 Skating carnival

[edit] Photographs

• Image "Skating Carnival, Victoria Rink, Montreal, QC, painted composite, 1870," at Musee McCord Museum website
• Image "Hockey Match, Victoria Rink, Montreal, QC, composite, 1893," at Musee McCord Museum website