Grew up a hockey fan, lived my life around the sport, played a few years, but the professional league from almost 100 years ago has me curious. Did these men play hockey as a full time job? It looks a little more casual than today's hockey. How and why was it filmed if modern sports broadcasting seems to begin in the 1950s? I'm guessing most listened to games on the radio. Who went to the games? The stands look pretty loaded. Were tickets cheap, or only something the upper class would go check out? The ice looks pretty rough, did they clear it at all during the game or just before and after? Did they bus between the original 6 cities or actually fly? How many games did they play a year? Obviously there's major equipment improvements but do you have a fun fact about old school hockey gear? I'm in a learning mood tonight, so tell me all you can.
8 comments
Every sport was sooooo much slower.. it’s a whole nother level!!
Very few pro athletes were strictly pro athletes back in the day. Some made huge money but it was rare and notable. Most just had a seasonal job depending on what sport they played.
It was filmed for something called serials at movie theaters. Before television, you would/could get your news at a movie before the featured film. Most news serials would have world news, US news, celebrity news and sporting news. If you lived in a big city, there may be a local news section but that was mainly reserved for newspapers.
The game film you are watching here was likely filmed to be a full feature before a movie as people wanted to watch sports but had no way to watch it live.
Trains were the most common way to travel with a team in the 20s and 30s. The first US highway system was a infrastructure project meant to get money into people’s pockets and try and jumpstart the economy during the great depression. Before then, traveling by bus or car would have been difficult between cities. Because you would travel by train, which was expensive and slow, series between teams would be longer. In baseball, you would see 8 to 10 game home stands instead of a 3 or 4 game set.
As for hockey gear, it was pretty rudimentary. No helmets or masks. Stick blades were very flat. Padding was minimal.
The people are all dead.
Did he call the puck a ball?
Cops one the ice to stop a brawl.
Does anyone have recommendations for a video or a book from first hand accounts on the experience and lifestyle of these players. There must be an interview from the 70s or 80s with some of these guys.
When I see old clips like this it always makes me think I could play with those guys. And I can’t even ice skate.
Edit: Did you notice the goalie wearing a hat?
That’s some quality Beer League energy going on there.
Just look how far equipment has come and of coarse the training