Pieces of Vancouver’s hockey past in Coal Harbour and Stanley Park
This past Sunday, Rebecca and I ventured out for morning breakfast followed by a walk into Stanley Park with our cameras. Venturing down to the trails, I was mentioning how depressing it is that there is next to nothing in terms of honoring the spot where Denman Arena once stood.
Then Rebecca points out this.
It’s not much, but there is a brief mention of the rink where the Vancouver Millionaires won the Stanley Cup against the Ottawa Senators in the 1915 finals. Today, it’s not much more than a bus stop, a great set of benches to chill on the corner of Denman and Georgia, and a small parking lot for the nearby marina.
I kept thinking that this is such a Canadian version of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”. Instead of paving paradise to put up a parking lot, the rink burned down so they stuck in a parking lot. Of course, Coal Harbour has a tad more history to it than that, especially since the arena met its end in 1936.
This, of course, sparked a conversation about the history of hockey on the west coast, namely Vancouver, and how much the Patrick brothers, Frank and Lester, revolutionized the game of hockey.
Among their contributions:
- The forward pass
- The blue line
- The penalty shot
- The boarding penalty
- The playoff system
- Kicking of the puck (except into the net)
- Allowing goalies to fall to make a save
- Crediting of assists on goals
That’s just to name a few, but 22 of the changes implemented by these brothers are still in the modern day NHL rule book, shaping the game that’s still played today. In fact, they helped build the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from near scratch to one of the best leagues to play in at the time. Why there isn’t more recognition of this is beyond me, if not a little sad.
After that, it almost seemed fitting that you walk into the park for which the Stanley Cup is named after, Lord Frederick Stanley, the statue pictured above.
For more insight on Denman Arena, Rebecca has more on miss604.com:
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Great article John!
I must admit that most of the information I didnt know the history of. Thank you,
Steve
Great article, John; thanks.
Speaking of Lester Patrick …
I always liked the naming of conferences and divisions after people; naming them geographically is easier, but IMNSHO much lazier, as renaming them meant similarity with the other US professional leagues, and supposedly, to get people to better “understand” the game.
In 1967, six teams were added to the “Original Six”, and the NHL split into the Western and Eastern divisions. With further expansion, realignment in 1973-74, and the 1970-expansion Vancouver Canucks being moved from the *eastern* division, the Western and Eastern divisions were subsequently divided upon realignment into conferences and divisions. These naming conventions always got me to thinking about who these people were, and what their contributions were to 20th-century ice-hockey and the NHL.
By the end of the 1992-1993 season, there was the Clarence Campbell (“west”) conference with the Norris and Smythe divisions, and the Prince of Wales (“east”) conference with the Adams and Patrick divisions. The wikipedia entries for the 2 conferences and 4 divisions shed further light about this structure of “yore” …
Ah, how I remember the `Nucks playing Chicago and Minnesota North Stars in the ol’ Smythe …
Thanks, Steve!
And right on, Henry. The Patricks truly are a foundation family of hockey.
[...] The forward pass, the blue line, and the playoff system are all some of the rules of hockey as we know it today that were invented here in Vancouver at the turn of the last century. [source] [...]