Calgary Vics—A New Era Of Hockey In The South

During early days the First World War, the Edmonton Dominion Furriers club (or "Dominions") had taken over from the former Stanley Cup-challengers Eskimos as the top senior team in Alberta.

But as the War continued in Europe, the Calgary Vics wrested control of Alberta’s senior amateur hockey scene away from the Dominions. By 1916, the Vics had impressed all critics as the top team in the province.

The Vics, though, scandalized the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association (AAHA) when time came for them to face the Edmonton Bearcats for the provincial championships. The Vics’ brass told the AAHA that if their players did not get paid to play in the final, they would not show up. The ultimatum angered the Bearcats and infuriated the AAHA, which had been created to ensure that professionalism did not creep into the ranks of amateur hockey as it did in 1908 when the Edmonton Eskimos brought in professional ringers to play for the then-amateur Stanley Cup championship.

No settlement was ever reached, and the Bearcats were awarded the provincial title by default. But the Vics’ hold on Calgary hockey fans had major effects on the hockey scene in southern Alberta. Even though hockey was played in Calgary before it arrived in Edmonton, the provincial capital had taken over in the last 20 years as the province’s hockey headquarters. Edmonton teams had twice played for the Stanley Cup, and in 1913 Edmonton got a new arena, the Edmonton Gardens.

The Vics breathed new life into the Calgary hockey scene. When the war ended, the Canadian military and the City of Calgary agreed to transform the Horseshoe Arena, which was located on an army base in the city, into a new home for hockey. The rechristened Victoria Arena became the new home for the Vics, replacing the Sherman Rink that had burned down.

The spectre of professionalism which followed the Vics would later force the formation of the Big 4 League in 1919. That league would bring the issue of "amateur" teams that paid their players to the forefront, and forever change the hockey landscape in the province.

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