Left to Right: 1: Alice Cooper, 2: Blackman, 3: Mellie Inches (Miss E Morrison), 4: Unknown 5: Miss Effie Agnew (Shilvock), 6: Miss Alice Northy, 7: Unknown
Mary Milne; Captain and Cover Point, Eva Blackman; Goal, Ethel Blackman; Rover, Frances Honey; Center and President, Reba Demutm; Left wing and Secretary, Hazel Blackman; right Wing, Johanna Aconite; Point.
Back row: Hazel Pitt, spare; Chas W. Taylor, manager; Amey Burnett, right wing. Centre Row: Grace Laugheed, spare; E. Blacknam, captain (goal), Lily Fox, left wing. Front Row; Bertha Mary, point; Alice Hender, centre; Alex Issacson, rover.
The Rossland Ladies’ Hockey Team
The Rossland Ladies’ Hockey Team originally formed to play in the 1900 Rossland Winter Carnival - as a “novelty” for the attendees. To join Rossland’s club, each player had to pay the then-not-insignificant fee of 50 cents. Enough for two full teams eagerly paid up and a powerhouse was born.
Team Members:
Johanna Aconite, Effie (Shilvock) Agnew, Ethel Blackman, Eva Blackman, Hazel Blackman, Amey Burnett, Alice Cooper, Mrs. Daly (patroness), Reba Demuth, Helen Falding, Lily Fox, Miss Harris, Alice Hender, Miss Herchmer, Frances Honey, Mellie (Morrison) Inches, Miss B. Inches, Alex Issacson, Madge Keating, Grace Lougheed, Bertha Mary, Tessie McDonald, Miss McFarland, Mary Milne, Alice Northy, Hazel Pitt, Miss Ruff, Ethel Stephens, Chas W. Taylor (manager).
The Rossland’s ladies hockey team lost 2-1 to Grand Forks at the 1917 provincial championships – “the first loss for our women’s team in fifteen years,” lamented the local paper.
Hall of Famers
The 1900-18 Ladies’ Ice Hockey Team was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame under the Pioneer category in 2018.
“In Rossland, women’s hockey was by then well established, with enough players to form two teams (the “Crescents,” whose colour was scarlet, and the “Stars,” wearing “gobelin blue” — they were also known as the reds and the blues) who would play each other. In 1900 it was reported that “The costumes will consist of bloomers and skirts of the club color and white sweaters trimmed with the club colors.” The skirts were ankle length, of heavy wool. Such uniforms are displayed in an 1897 picture of the team on skates, with hockey sticks but without the colourful toques that were said to be a standard part of the team’s attire. The players were not wearing gloves and there is no evidence of protective padding. There is also no evidence of a special goalie stick or pads. Women’s hockey must have been a more genteel game than that to which we have become accustomed in recent years. Like the men, they played seven a side and although the team might carry at least one extra player on its roster, there were no substitutes during the game.”
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