The Trail of the Stanley Cup: Roadblock to Nineteenth Century Hockey

Let me first just say that in no way do I mean to disparage Charles Coleman's magnum opus The Trail of the Stanley Cup here. It is a wonderful, an exceedingly important one in the study of the history of organized hockey.

The Trail presented results and player statistics for nineteenth-century hockey, something that had never been done before. It went back as far as 1893, of course, since this was the first season that the Stanley Cup was awarded. It also only covered the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada, and its successor the Canadian Amateur Hockey League, which is understandable given that teams from this league won all but one of the Stanley Cup championships awarded before 1900. Ultimately it's not so much an issue with the book, but the perception of later historians.

With Coleman's work, the nineteenth century is seen by many historians to be "done", taken care of. However, since the trustees decided that only Canadian senior-league champions could challenge for the Cup, there were only three leagues in Canada in 1893 that could have a team in contention (AHAC, the Ontario Hockey Association and the Manitoba and Northwest Hockey Association), and Coleman focused only on one. Even today historians such as Kevin Slater are still working on completing statistical records of the OHA in the nineteenth century, which had been left untouched, a matter of the mists of history. I compiled the MNWHA records myself over a decade ago, since before then apparently no one had record of how many goals Dan Bain scored in regular competition (65 in 27 games by my count), because it seems only Stanley Cup games mattered.

But there was so much more to hockey in the nineteenth century than the Stanley Cup, and I see The Trail of the Stanley Cup standing as a bit of a roadblock to this realization. By the 1899 hockey season, the game was being played at the senior level in British Columbia and several districts of the Northwest Territories (Assiniboia and Alberta especially), as well as in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It had spread to the US in Minnesota, New York, Pittsburgh and the Michigan Peninsula. There were intermediate and junior leagues in the hockey centres of the AHAC, OHA and MNWHA as well. None of this was considered by Coleman (as it was not in he purview), but much of it has been ignored by historians as well.

And that's just the post-1893 era. Coleman also did not consider the origins of organized hockey going back to 1875. Senior hockey games were played in Montreal from that year, and Quebec City, Ottawa, Kingston and Toronto joined in, all before the introduction of the Stanley Cup. Historians are only now catching up on much of this information, which has lain buried in old newspapers for over a century. It's starting to come to light, but I think we'd have it before now if that mammoth volume had not been in the way, in a way.

Dr. Jerry Laflamme

Dr. William "Jerry" Laflamme, noted dentist and hockeyist, was a fixture in the Ontario Hockey Association senior ranks throughout the 1910s, always serving as his team's captain. He captained the St. Michael's squad to the Allan Cup in 1910 (his first year in senior hockey), and did the same for the Toronto Dentals in 1917. Playing centre for the first half of his career and defence for the second, Laflamme was always noted for his speed, knowledge of the game and leadership.

He led the OHA in goals in 1911/12, playing on a team with Hall-of-Famers Frank Rankin and Frank Foyston. He played for six different senior OHA clubs, which compiled a combined record of 55-19-1 when he was a regular. He was later an NHL referee, and was a coach of the Montreal Maroons for one season.

After his offensive outburst in 1911/12, Laflamme apparently changed his focus to defence (while still playing centre), leaving the goal-scoring to Rankin. He still produced a few goals, but his defensive efforts made his team an outstanding defensive squad, and if there had been a Selke Award at the time, he would surely have been in the running. His Point Allocation numbers in 1912/13 make his look like a blueliner rather than a centre, which he certainly was. He made the switch to defence for real in 1915/16, and continued to put up solid performances.

Laflamme was a fast, skilled player, and very tough to boot; he did not miss games unless he meant to. He excelled at all facets of the game, having no particular weakness. His "hockey sense" was likely his best feature.

He is a dental student, and no centre in Canada understands the scoring game better than “Jerry”. He is fast, as quick as a flash, carries his forwards with him in passing rushes, and is always watchful until something happens. (New York Times, 25 Feb 1910)

For the match tomorrow night the Torontos will be greatly strengthened by the services of Jerry Laflamme at centre. He is conceded to be one of the fastest forwards in the OHA... (Montreal Gazette, 27 Feb 1912)

Jerry Laflamme is made of the real stuff. He started out with a very sore leg...and before the first half ended he fell on [an opponent's] skate and opened a nasty gash over his eye. It took five stitches to close the cut, and Jerry gamely went into the fray in the second half. It failed to slow him up one bit. (Toronto World, 22 Feb 1913)

The second quote above, referring to Laflamme joining the Torontos, comes from a time that several strong offers were made by NHA Toronto teams for his services. Laflamme ultimately did not accept the offer, and did not turn professional. This likely had nothing to do with desires to remain "pure", but instead reflected the fact that "amateur" players often made as much as the pros did at the time.

Had he joined the Toronto Hockey Club, Laflamme would have been a very good NHA player, judging by his Point Allocation results. Not a superstar certainly, but a highly effective man. Toronto didn't make out so badly, of course. Not being able to sign Laflamme, they instead added a teammate of his to play centre the following season in future Hall-of-Famer Frank Foyston. As good as Laflamme was, Foyston was certainly the better man.

Season	Club	League	Pos	GP	MIN	OP	DP	PP	TPA	TPAK
1910	Toronto St. Michaels	OHA	5	80	1600	1.8	2.8	0.0	4.6	2.88
1911	Toronto St. Michaels	OHA	5	80	1600	5.3	-0.3	0.0	5.0	3.13
1912	Toronto Eatons	OHA	4	80	1600	6.2	-0.1	0.0	6.1	3.81
1913	Toronto St. Michaels	OHA	5	80	1600	0.5	4.5	-0.6	4.4	2.75
1914	Toronto St. Michaels	OHA	5	80	1600	3.7	0.3	0.0	4.0	2.50
1915	Toronto St. Michaels	OHA	5	80	1600	1.2	0.6	0.0	1.8	1.13
1916	Toronto Argonauts	OHA	3	72	1800	0.2	3.6	0.0	3.8	2.11
1917	Toronto Dentals	OHA	3	48	1200	0.2	4.4	0.0	4.6	3.83
1918	Toronto Dentals	OHA	3	80	2000	0.7	5.5	0.0	6.2	3.10
1919	Toronto Newmans	OHA	3	80	2000	2.4	-0.2	0.0	2.2	1.10
1920	Toronto Granites	OHA	3	80	2000	0.3	6.8	0.0	7.1	3.55
1921	Toronto Granites	OHA	3	8	200	-0.2	1.0	0.0	0.8	4.00
				848	18800	22.3	28.9	-0.6	50.6	2.69