History
of the Aces con't
Women's
Hockey Group Finds Its Roots
The Local Organization Uncovers
Treasured Past
But
when the Stratford Minor Girls Hockey Association discovered
recently that they weren't the first of their gender to
play the sport in this city, they took an altogether different
approach.
Having
some history, dating back to the early 1900's as it turned
out, inspired the organization to research its roots and
honour the surviving members of the last ladies hockey
team to play in Stratford, the Aces, which operated from
1935-40.
"We
really have an interesting story here,' said SMGHA president
Karen Smythe, who has headed the group's project with
the theme 'Then and Now'. "We had ladies playing
hockey in Stratford 60 years ago and we want to promote
that. We're not new."
The
revelation of ladies playing hockey in Stratford years
ago came not from within the city, but from an outsider.
Kitchener's Sue Scheerer, captain of Canada's world champion
women's hockey team, was the speaker at the SMGHA's first
banquet this past spring and mentioned that a Stratford
team had played the famous Preston Rivulettes in the 1930's.
'It
took off from there." said Smythe, whose mother,
Helen MacDonald, the SMGHa treasurer, knew that two ladies
in her local cribbage league had played hockey in their
younger days.
One
of those ladies, Lottie Rigg, now Lottie Libett and the
mother of former NHLer Nick Libett, had been a goaltender
for the team and owned a photograph of the Aces team of
the 1935-40 which she turned over to the SMGHA. She, along
with Olive 'Ollie' Aiken were invited to an interview
session with the SMGHA executive to share their memories
of five seasons with the Aces.
Ollie,
shying from the spotlight and not wishing to offend any
of the other players still living in the area, asked that
only her maiden name--the one she had during their years
with the team--be used.
The
results of the interview, along with photographs and information
from the Stratford Perth Archives, plus a few Beacon Herald
clippings found during research at the public library,
have given the SMGHA a valuable remembrance of their hockey
history that will eventually be displayed in a showcase
at the Arena.
But,
not satisfied with that, the SMGHA also plans to honour
the Aces at their annual banquet next spring, and is arranging
to hold the first-ever reunion for the team.
"They've
never had a reunion in 60 years and they're quite excited
about it," Smythe said. "About half of the ladies
know about it, but we're still trying to track some of
them down. That's where we'd like the help of anyone who
might know someone in the picture, or know where we can
find them."
Smythe
had also been in contact with Melanie McFarlane of the
Ontario Women's Hockey Association about getting the players
inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. While that remains
only a possibility, McFarlane was able to guarantee that
the Aces could be bused down for a tour of the Hall, and
have their team picture hung there.
The
SMGHA has also sent all of its information to the prolific
hockey writer Brian McFarlane, who recently published
a book about women's hockey entitled 'Proud Past, Bright
Future'. Some of the information on the Stratford team
could be included in a second book which is in the works.
As
a further honour to the Aces, the SMGHA will use the nickname
Aces for all of its teams beginning this season.
"We looked last
year at coming up with a name for the association, everything
from the old indians' name to ones based on the Festival,
but nothing seemed to fit,"
Smythe said. "Then when we found out about the Aces,
we asked the ladies if we could use their name and they
said they'd be honoured."