In the back of the book _Gopher Hockey by the Hockey Gopher_ is a section on
Gopher hockey history by Donald Clark.  For a brief word about Donald, he is a
member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, was manager of the first U.S. National
Hockey team to play in the Soviet Union, and has been honored by the N.H.L.
with the Lester Patrick award for service to hockey.  It took a full page in
the book to actually cover his accomplishments and credits.
 
I was playing with our new scanner at work and thought I would try the OCR
software on some of that section.  The early history is really more a history
of hockey; U.S. and Canadian, amateur and professional.  This isn't because
Minnesota has more of a claim here than others; but rather, because the hockey
world was much smaller.  I suspect that anyone else's history would shed equal
light.
 
The portion below is the earliest, before hockey at the University of Minnesota
was formally and permanently organized.  The portion not included is organized
by coaching era.  It's broadly interesting history as well, at least the early
years.  If there's further interest and no threats of copyright enforcement, I
can scan those pages as well.
 
Here goes...
 
Minnesota, with its thousands of lakes and ponds, was an ideal place for the
newly formed game of ice hockey to prosper.  Shinny, an organized game, had
been played in the state since the Civil War.  Ice Polo had been popular in
St. Paul and Minneapolis since the early 1880's.  It was a matter of time
before the University of Minnesota would display an interest in the sport.
Such concern manifested itself when the first University of Minnesota team,
unsanctioned by the college, was organized in January of 1895 by Dr. H. A.
Parkyn, who had played the game in Toronto.
 
It appears that Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore may have been the first
college in the United States to play hockey, having tied the Baltimore
Athletic Club at the dedication of the newly built North Avenue Rink in
Baltimore on December 26,1894.  The University of Minnesota may have been the
second college in the nation to play the game.  Although students from Yale
and other eastern colleges visited Canada during Christmas vacation of 1894,
Yale did not play the game until January of 1896 when they met Johns Hopkins.
Columbia started hockey competition during the winter of 1896, while Brown and
Harvard continued to play ice-polo through the season of 1896-1897.
 
Prior to meeting the Winnipeg Seven, the newly formed Minnesota team played
three games against the Minneapolis Hockey Club, with the collegians winning
two and losing one game.
 
The game against Winnipeg was played at the Athletic Park in downtown
Minneapolis, located at Sixth Street and First Avenue North, just north of the
famous West Hotel.  The park was located on the present sight of the renowned
Butler Square Building, next to the recently constructed Target Center Arena.
The park was the home of the professional Minneapolis Millers Baseball Club
until they moved to Nicollet Park at Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street on June
19,1896.  Athletic Park was opened in 1891.  For those interested in baseball
lore, Athletic Park measured 275 feet in left field, and 250 feet in right
field.  It was a home-run hitter's delight.
 
The following reports are from local newspapers:
 
Minnesota Ariel, February 16, 1895. page 5:
 
The University of Minnesota hockey team will play a game for the championship
of Minneapolis against the Minneapolis Hockey Club at their rink, at the
corner of Fourth Avenue and Eleventh Street South.
 
The game is preparatory to the game to be played Monday afternoon by Winnipeg
and the University of Minnesota.  Winnipeg is champion of the world.* Winnipeg
has returned from a rough trip through eastern Canada and has defeated without
too much trouble Montreal, Toronto, Victoria, Ottawa, Quebec, and the
Limestones.
 
The University started practice two or three weeks ago and played against a
Minneapolis team, being defeated 4-1.  A week and one half ago they defeated
the same team 6-4.  Tonight they play the tie off for the championship.  Dr.
H.A. Parkyn has been coaching the boys every afternoon.
 
He has a couple of stars in Willis Walker and Russel.  Walker plays point and
Russel coverpoint, with Van Campen in goal.  Parkyn and Albert are center
forwards.  Dr. Parkyn's long experience with the Victoria team of Toronto, one
of the best, makes him a fine player.  Thompsen and Head, the other two
forwards, are old ice polo players and skate fast and pass well.  Van Campen,
quarterback on last year's football team, plays goal well.
 
Many tickets have been sold for tonight's and also Monday's game.  Tickets are
25 cents, ladies come free.
 
The excitement of these games is intense, and surpasses that at a football
game.
 
*This statement is incorrect: "The Winnipeg team did not play for the Stanley
Cup in 1895.  In 1895 Queens University challenged the Montreal team and lost.
However, the Winnipeg Victorias did win the Stanley Cup the following year, in
1896.  They must have informed the St. Paul-Minneapolis press that they were
the champions or the news media garbled the story."
 
St. Paul Pioneer Press Feb. 19, 1895.  Page 6:
 
The first international hockey game between Winnipeg and the University of
Minnesota was played yesterday, and won by the visitors 11-3.  The day was
perfect and 300 spectators occupied the grandstand, coeds of the University
being well represented.  Features of the game was the team play of the
Canadians, and individual play of Parkyn, Walker, and Head for the University.
Hockey promises to become as popular a sport at the University as football,
baseball, and rowing.
 
The first attempt to organize varsity ice hockey at the University of
Minnesota took place in November of 1900 when a committee composed of George
Northrop, Paul Joslyn, and A.R. Gibbons was appointed to draw up a
constitution for the club and look into other problems concerning playing the
game at the university.  A committee of S. Collins. T.B. Richards, and R.
Tibbetts conferred with the Athletic Board regarding the flooding of Northrop
Field.  It was decided not to flood Northrop Field, and instead to play at
Como Lake in St. Paul several miles distant.  No scheduled games were played
during the season of 1900-1901, and it was not until late in the season of
1903 that the University of Minnesota played any games on a formal basis.
Only two contests were played that season, both resulting in wins for the U of
M.  Minneapolis Central High School was defeated 4-0 and the St. Paul
Virginias 4-3.  Team members were: John S. Abbott, Frank Teasdale, Gordon
Wood, Fred Elston, Frank Cutter, R.S. Blitz, W.A. Ross, Arthur Toplin, and
Captain Thayer Boss.
 
St. Paul Globe February 1, 1900:
 
Chicago, Illinois - To play ice hockey, universities and colleges in the west
need covered buildings.  A.A. Stagg of the University of Chicago says the game
would be popular with covered buildings.  If Chicago had facilities they would
like to meet eastern colleges."
 
The season of 1903 proved to be the last of ice hockey on a formal basis at
the University of Minnesota for a period of nearly two decades.  In 1910
efforts were made to revive the sport and to interest the Universities of
Chicago and Wisconsin in the sport, so as to furnish Big Ten Intercollegiate
Conference competition.  This move met with failure.
 
University of Minnesota Daily, January 13, 1914:
 
As its meeting Wednesday afternoon the Board of Control voted $25 to outfit a
hockey team.  It was just enough to outfit one man, not seven, with sticks and
pucks.  In this the board, with all due respect for its other admirable
qualities, shows the most parsimony in the matter of financing minor sports
that it has shown over the past years.  This is not so evident in the matter
of hockey as it is in track.  If the University ever expects to develop its
minor sports program, it will have to exchange its attitude somewhat."
 
In 1915-1916 a series of games was played by a team representing the
University of Minnesota against Minneapolis and St. Paul high schools and St.
Thomas College.  However, the team was not recognized by the University of
Minnesota Athletic Board at this time and the games played were classed as
"pick-up" contests.  About this time the fraternities began taking an intense
interest in hockey.  While in the season of 1914-1915 only two fraternities,
namely Delta Tau, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon, had iced teams.  By the following
season 16 fraternities were playing the game.  Professor O.S. Zelner worked
untiringly to organize the teams and the league.  These games were played on
outdoor ice on Northrop Field with the finals and playoffs often being played
at the indoor "Hippodrome" ice at the state fairgrounds in St. Paul.  Some of
the better frat players of this era were the Bros brothers (Chet and Ben),
Jenswold, and Lapiere.  By 1920 the number of frat and intramural teams
playing was over 20 in number.  It is interesting to note at this time the
women students at the university became interested in hockey and organized
teams and a league.  Some of the frat players such as Bernard and the Chester
Bros acted as coaches for the women's teams.
 
During the 1920-1921 season a few games were played as a varsity sport.
Hamline and St. Thomas were defeated.  St. Thomas, considered the state
champion, was defeated by Minnesota 3-1 in a game played at the Coliseum Rink
on Lexington Avenue near University Avenue in St. Paul.  Warm weather canceled
several of the scheduled games.  Beaupre Eldridge of St. Paul, a student at
the time, was very instrumental in organizing the team and promoting the sport
at the University during this period.  Team members for the 1920-21 season
were: Pond, Dwyer, Langford, Strange, Worreal, Byers, Watson, DeForest, Beard,
Higgens, Swenson, Graham, Taylor, Chet Bros, Ben Bros, and Eldredge.
 
 
Doug P.
--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--
Douglas J. Peterson                   Have         _--____    ____
[log in to unmask]            you        `   /  ----        /
ETS Systems Services/Safety Labs          driven     -/- __  ____ _  /
Ford Motor Company                           a    .  /  / \--/___/ \/
(313) 390-8089            GO GOPHERS!!!           \_/  ,\_/ /    \_/_   lately?
--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--