Once Upon A Berlin Time...

Hockey

Hello fellow Berlinites:

This story has to be one of the toughest researches that I have undertaken. It wasn’t because there isn’t much hockey history in Berlin; it was because I wanted to get to the roots of hockey in this city. Now that I have found out how Berlin’s most famous sport got started here in the "Paper City", it opens the door for me to write about all the champions that Berlin produced in this sport in later years. So to the likes of Omer, Barney, Al, Rod, all the local members of the NH Hockey Hall of Fame, the citizens of Berlin, past and present, the spectators, all who have played, and the young ladies who are now starting their own history, I hope that you enjoy this short story.

A 1903 Berlin Independent mentioned that high school pupils were soon to embark on a new sport, it was called hockey. They said that some students had recently practiced with that end in view. They also said that there was excellent material in the high school with which to work. With this, the paper said that it would be well to advise the local people of the way in which this game was played. The next paragraph was their interpretation.

"The rules of the game are that you can’t swing your hockey stick above your knees, you are not allowed to throw the puck with your hands, and it is a foul to kick it with your skates. The correct number of players on each side is seven, but the game is often played with many more and frequently with fewer. The object of the game is for each side to try to knock the puck through its opponents goal, which is done mostly by team and head work. The game is not like a baseball or football game. It is equally good to watch, but it is not one at which you can cheer. The playing is too rapid and incessant, and the most the spectators can do is give a sharp yell, when anything sensational happens."

After this short story, I could not find anything significant about any organized hockey in town. I am quite sure that it was being tried out on the winter ice, because every now and then, I would find short stories about it in the high school notes. Berlin, Gorham and Gould Academy seemed to be playing each other in scholastic contests. I am not quite sure where they held their games though. It wasn’t until 1915 that I could find any more mention of trying to organize hockey in town. A man named "Packy Whyte " tried to get something organized. He ended up going to England and being wounded in World War 1, early in 1916.

In March of 1916, a short article in an old Berlin Reporter said: "The Fast Seven hockey team hereby challenges any hockey team composed of schoolboys to meet us on the ice for a hockey game on Saturday March 4^th. Anyone accepting this challenge please communicate with Gordon Brown, captain, or Jack Quinn, manager, before Friday evening. This tells me that some organized hockey was being played in the early 1900’s in Berlin, before this challenge was made. By this time the YMCA field was being used for a place to play. Here was the Fast Seven lineup: center- Jack Quinn, rover-Gordon Brown, right wing-Almon Hutchinson, left wing-Robert Rahmonop, cover point-Wentworth Brown, point-Marten McCabe, and goal guard-Arthur Boivin. These were the seven man team positions.

This was the first hockey lineup that I found. I don’t know whatever became of that challenge game, but it seems that this sport was starting to grow with the Brown family getting involved. Not much else could be found and I attribute this to the World War. Once the war was over and the young men came home hockey started showing up in the paper and it was really getting going.

The winter of 1919-1920 showed four different teams playing in what was called the Berlin Rink Association Hockey League. They played their games at the YMCA field every Tuesday and Thursday night at 7:15. Admission to these games was thirty-five cents for men, twenty-five cents for women and ten cents for children. These teams were: Town, Cascade, Burgess, and Berlin Mills. Mr. OB Brown now donated a cup for the team that won the championship in this league. This championship raised the interest of hockey in Berlin to a new level. I wonder where that cup is today.

The Brown family owned a huge paper mill in LaTuque, Quebec, along with its assets in Berlin. There were many hockey teams in this area and the sport was really big. They had a mill league that was second to none. It was decided in January of 1920 to gather some all stars from the local teams and challenge the stars of the Brown Corporation and other teams that were in the Province of Quebec.

That winter the Berlin aggregation met and played against the highly touted St. Patrick’s team of Sherbrooke and the LaTuque team from the Brown Corporation. Both of these teams came to Berlin and went down to defeat to the locals. Hockey was now embedded into the blood local residents.

This team was now invited to come to Canada and play against these same teams on their home ice. The all stars went across the border in the end of February on a hockey tour which started in East Angus and ended up at the city of LaTuque. The men who made this trip were: Leo Beaudoin, Eugene Dupont, Louis Fleury, Charles Dubey, Armand Dupont, Gordon Brown, Oscar Montminy, Ovila Gregoire, DP Brown, and Harry Raeburn.

This team put on a spectacular show