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Prime Minister Harper Pays Tribute to the "Father" of Organized Hockey
22 May 2008
MONTREAL
Thank you very much, Michael, for that kind introduction. To the President of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Mr. Fasel, and the President of Hockey Canada, Bob Nicholson, here from my own hometown of Calgary, nice to see you. Mr. President of the Montreal Canadiens, Pierre Boivin, ladies and gentlemen. I forgot Mayor Tremblay. This is your city. Ladies and gentlemen, I first want to thank all of the organizations represented here for inviting me today.
As you will see in a moment, today is a bit of a coincidence, but a happy coincidence, of two separate projects: one planned by the International Ice Hockey Federation in conjunction with the City of Montreal, and the other by the Government of Canada.
I am delighted to be here, where we will be carrying out those two projects at the home of the Montreal Canadiens. In Canada, hockey is not just a game. It is part of our way of life, which is why it's a great pleasure for me to pay tribute today to James George Aylwin Creighton, one of the most influential pioneers of our national winter sport. It's doubly appropriate that we are honouring him here in Montreal, because this is where he organized the first indoor hockey game, in effect founding the modern game 133 years ago. In the process, we are joining with the IIHF, which is honouring Montreal, and more specifically the famous Victoria Skating Rink, the home of that first historic game. We are conferring that recognition here at the Bell Centre, not far from where that rink once stood and which is today of the home of the most successful professional hockey team in history, the Montreal Canadiens, a club which will, as Michael mentioned, celebrate its own 100th anniversary next year.
I'm a big hockey fan, and I always want to know more about how our sport evolved over the centuries since the ancient games when humans played with sticks and balls. The evolution of hockey, like any sport, was and is an incremental process. Creighton deserves special recognition because he formalized the game, bringing it indoors, establishing fixed teams – originally, by the way, there were nine players per side – and helping create the first written code from which today's rulebook is descended. We know this to a significant degree thanks to the efforts of Bill Fitsell, who is here today. Bill is the founder of the Society for International Hockey Research. In fact, Creighton had all but disappeared from our history until he was rescued by Bill's painstaking archival work. He told Creighton's story in his 1987 book Hockey's Captains, Colonels and Kings. It tells how the young native of Halifax grew up playing the game variously known as hurley, whicket, ricket or breakshin on outdoor ice. Creighton brought his love of the game with him to Montreal. Here on March third, 1875, it was he who organized the very first indoor contest at the famed Victoria Rink. He wrote the so-called Halifax rules that governed the game and captained the team that won that night.
Creighton first promoted hockey in Montreal, then in Ottawa and throughout Ontario, and is probably the man who introduced the sport to the family of Governor General Lord Stanley.
In Montreal, Creighton went on to captain one of the teams that competed regularly. In fact, he captained the first organized team, formed out of the Montreal Football Club, and after he moved to Ottawa, he played a part in the founding of the Vice-Regal and Parliamentary Hockey Club, better known as the Rideau Rebels. The Rebel Club was successful in spreading the appeal of the young sport throughout Ontario and most notably among members of the family of Governor General Lord Stanley. In other words, Creighton is the closest thing hockey has to a founding father. I was reminded of all of this by an article published in Legion Magazine last year by Toronto hockey historian D’Arcy Jenish. In Ottawa, Creighton was a prominent citizen. In fact, he spent 48 years as law clerk of the Senate of Canada, the longest term ever for a senior Parliamentary official. He was such a prominent citizen that his funeral was significant enough to attract the attendance of former Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden, yet despite this, Creighton is today buried in an unmarked grave in Ottawa's Beechwood Cemetery. Although Creighton himself made no claims about his critical role in the founding of our national game, this seemed to me to be a cruel reward for his unpretentious nature, so our government contacted Parks Canada and nominated Creighton as a Person of Historic Significance for our country.
I want to thank the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada for approving the designation of James George Aylwin Creighton as an Historic Person, and I want to thank everyone who helped give Creighton's story the recognition it deserves. The plaque we're unveiling today will ensure that his contributions to hockey are known to future generations of Canadians. If I can, I would also like to conclude by putting in a plug for the Society for International Hockey Research, which today I believe is represented here by President James Milks. The Society is undertaking efforts to raise funds to mark Creighton's final resting place in Ottawa. Thank you very much.
