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Location | Corner of Theodore (now Laurier) and Waller |
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Coordinates | 45°25′25″N75°41′09″W / 45.4237°N 75.68580°W |
Owner | Rideau Skating and Curling Club |
Operator | Rideau Skating and Curling Club |
Surface | Multi-surface (one curling, one hockey and figure skating) |
Construction | |
Broke ground | 1887 |
Opened | February 1st 1889 |
Renovated | 1919 [1] |
Tenants | |
Ottawa Hockey Club, several local hockey leagues, skating and curling clubs |
The Rideau Skating Rink was an indoor skating and curling facility located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Consisting of a curling rink and a skating rink, it was one of the first indoor rinks in Canada. The Rideau Rink was scheduled to open on January 10, 1889, but unseasonably mild weather postponed the grand opening to February 1. [2] It opened on January 25, 1889 for select V.I.P.s although this was a misunderstanding and should not have denied entry to season ticket holders. [3] It was located on Theodore Street, (now Laurier Avenue) at Waller Street, at the present location of the Arts Hall of the University of Ottawa, near the Rideau Canal.
Besides curling and recreational skating, the rink was also used for ice hockey and figure skating. It was the site of the first recorded organized women's ice hockey game on March 8, 1889. [4] It was also the site of the first Ontario men's ice hockey championship game on March 7, 1891. [5]
Skating was popular in the 1880s in Ottawa. Ottawans would skate on the Rideau and Ottawa rivers and the Rideau Canal, and at covered rinks such as the Royal and Dey's Rink. As in Montreal, costume skating carnivals were highlights of the social scene. [6]
By 1887, the Royal Rink had been converted into a roller rink and the demand for ice time on the Dey's Rink was greater than the rink could supply. Due to the lack of ice time available, the Ottawa Hockey Club became dormant. Local investors, together with the Capital Skating Club decided to build a new rink, finer than Montreal's Victoria Skating Rink. The new rink was also to be used for curling, so the enterprise became known as the Rideau Skating and Curling Club. The project was sponsored by Lord Stanley, the Governor-General, who took shares in the project. [7]
The rink had separate skating and curling surfaces, and was laid out in an 'L' plan, with one entrance on Theodore and one on Waller. The entrance on Theodore had a cupola. The roof was supported by 42-foot (13 m) high arches. The construction was not without incident and the incomplete building collapsed in a windstorm on November 16, 1888, but the building was ready for skating in January 1889. Lord Stanley participated in its formal opening festivities on February 1, 1889. The Rideau Rink hosted a small version of a Winter Carnival on its opening night which was a huge success. The 43rd band under the direction of James Carter, band master, gave an excellent programme. [8]
Orchestral style | Orchestral number |
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Organized ice hockey activities began with a game on February 14, 1889, played between members of the Ottawa and Rideau social clubs. James Creighton captained the Rideau team and P. D. Ross captained the Ottawa team. The next day Ross and Creighton would officiate at a match between civilian and military teams.
In 1894, the rink was "improved and repaired" in time for an exhibition game on December 27, 1894 between the Montreal Hockey Club and the Ottawa Hockey Club, won by Ottawa 5–1. [9]
Starting in 1904, the rink was used by the Minto Skating Club. Several Canadian figure skating championships were held there by the Minto Club, although the first official Canadian championship took place in 1914 in Montreal. In 1907, a fire occurred at the rink, causing the cancellation of a planned Canadian figure skating championship. [10]
In 1916, the rink was taken over by the federal government for World War I purposes. The curling club moved to Victoria Street, on the approximate location of today's Supreme Court of Canada building. [11] In 1922, a new Rideau rink was built nearby on Waller Street, to the east of today's 'Rideau Centre' shopping centre. The new rink was eventually taken over by the Minto club exclusively and renamed the Minto Rink. The Minto Rink was destroyed by fire in 1949. The club would build a new rink on Henderson Avenue. [10] The original Rideau Rink was demolished to build the Fine Arts Building of the University of Ottawa. The Rideau Curling Club eventually moved to a facility on Cooper Street, where it continues today and celebrated its 125th anniversary in November 2013.
Played on March 8, 1889, Ottawa Evening Journal reported that the lineups were:
The Government House team won. The score was not reported. [12]
A seven-a-side game was recorded in the Ottawa Citizen on February 11, 1891 at the rink:
A ladies' hockey match was played at the Rideau Rink yesterday between teams as follows:
No. 1: Miss M. Mackintosh, captain; Miss L. Wise, Miss Munro, Miss A. Ritchie, Miss Cambie, Miss Jones, Miss White.
No. 2: Miss H. Wise, captain; Miss A. Mackintosh, Miss M. Ritchie, Miss McClymont, Miss Burrows and the Misses Gordon.
Number two team won by two goals to 0. [13] [14]
The first championship game of the new Ontario Hockey Association was held on March 7, 1891 between the Ottawa Hockey Club and Toronto St. George's. Ottawa won the game 5–0. The game was attended by 1,000 fans. [5]
Ottawa | Toronto St. George's |
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Referee - A. Z. Palmer |
The teams would play an exhibition two weeks later in Toronto, which Ottawa won 4–0 at the Mutual Street Rink. Ottawa would play the same day against Osgoode Hall at the Toronto Victoria Rink, winning 6–2. [5]
The rink is known to have been used in Amateur Hockey Association of Canada men's play by the Ottawa Hockey Club from 1889 until 1895. The club also returned to it for one season in 1898. The Ottawa City Hockey League held matches at the rink. The Ottawa College also used the rink.
Mutual Street Arena, initially called Arena Gardens or just the Arena, was an ice hockey arena and sports and entertainment venue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1912 until 1931, with the opening of Maple Leaf Gardens, it was the premier site of ice hockey in Toronto, being home to teams from the National Hockey Association (NHA), the National Hockey League (NHL), the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) and the International Hockey League (IHL). It was the first home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who played at the arena under various names for their first 13½ seasons. The Arena Gardens was the third rink in Canada to feature a mechanically frozen or 'artificial' ice surface, and for eleven years was the only such facility in eastern Canada. In 1923, it was the site of the first radio broadcast of an ice hockey game, the first radio broadcast of an NHL game, and the first broadcast of an ice hockey game by long-time broadcaster Foster Hewitt.
TD Place Arena, originally the Ottawa Civic Centre, is an indoor arena located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Opened in December 1967, it is used primarily for sports, including curling, figure skating, ice hockey, and lacrosse. The arena has hosted Canadian and world championships in figure skating, curling, and ice hockey, including the first women's world ice hockey championship in 1990. It is also used for concerts and conventions such as Ottawa SuperEX.
The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal. The club was winners of the Stanley Cup in 1895 and held it until 1899, except for a period in 1896. The club remained amateur, splitting from the ranks of teams turned professional in 1908. The club was the first winner of the Allan Cup and continued to play until 1939, when it folded after its 65th season. The club often also fielded junior and intermediate teams.
Ernest Harvey Pulford was a Canadian athlete at the turn of the twentieth century, winning national championships in ice hockey, lacrosse, football, boxing, paddling and rowing. A highly regarded defenceman with the Ottawa Hockey Club, where he was known for being a large and solid player who was excellent at checking opponents. With Ottawa he won the Stanley Cup four times, and also won championships or tournaments in every sport in which he played. When the Hockey Hall of Fame was founded in 1945, Pulford was one of the original nine inductees.
James George Aylwin Creighton was a Canadian lawyer, engineer, journalist and athlete. He is credited with organizing the first recorded indoor ice hockey match at Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1875. He helped popularize the sport in Montreal and later in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada after he moved to Ottawa in 1882 where he served for 48 years as the law clerk to the Senate of Canada.
The Ottawa Senators were an ice hockey team based in Ottawa, which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League (NHL) and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934. The club, which was officially the Ottawa Hockey Club, was known by several nicknames, including the Generals in the 1890s, the Silver Seven from 1903 to 1907 and the Senators dating from 1908.
Philip Dansken Ross was a Canadian journalist, newspaper publisher, amateur athlete, and ice hockey administrator.
The Ottawa Auditorium was a 7,500-seat arena located in Ottawa, Ontario. It was located in Downtown Ottawa at the corner of O'Connor and Argyle Streets, today the site of the Taggart Family YMCA. Built primarily for ice hockey, the arena was also used for sports events, assemblies and musical concerts.
Dey's Arena, also known as Dey Brothers Rink, Dey's Skating Rink and The Arena, were a series of ice rinks and arenas located in Ottawa, Ontario, that hold importance in the early development of the organized sport of ice hockey in Canada. It was the home arena of the Ottawa Hockey Club, variously known as the Generals, the Silver Seven and the Senators from the 1890s until 1923, although it is known that games were also played at the Rideau Skating Rink in the 1890s and the Aberdeen Pavilion in 1904. The rink and arenas were built by two generations of the Dey family, who were prominent in Ottawa at the time, with a thriving boat works business serving the lumber business. The Dey family also played hockey.
Edwin Peter Dey was a boat-builder, ice arena owner, and hockey team owner. He was an owner of the Ottawa Senators men's ice hockey club from 1917 until 1923. He and his brothers Frank Edgar Dey and William Ernest Dey built the various Dey's Arenas where the Senators played until 1922–23.
The Victoria Skating Rink was an indoor ice skating rink located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened in 1862, it was described at the start of the twentieth century to be "one of the finest covered rinks in the world". 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 events, including musical performances and horticultural shows. It was the first building in Canada to be electrified.
The Ottawa City Hockey League (OCHL) was an amateur ice hockey league with junior, intermediate and senior level men's teams in Ottawa, Canada. Founded in 1890 by the local Ottawa Hockey Association, the OCHL was created to organize play within the city of Ottawa. It is considered the second ice hockey league to form in Canada.
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John Kerr (1863–1933) was a Canadian ice hockey player and athlete. He was one of the founders of the Ottawa Hockey Club for which he played from 1883 onwards. He was a member of the Ontario championship team in 1891, 1892, 1893 and the Canadian championship team of 1892. He played the forward position.
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