Hockey History

Hamilton Commercial League activity from 1925
Teams represented industry and retail stores from City's wealthy past

The Barton Street Arena was not just for the Hamilton Tigers of the NHL in 1925. A variety of semi-professional and amateur clubs used the facility on a regular basis, including several industrial leagues.

One such league was known as the Spalding Commercial League, and three contests in the league were held one night in February of 1925.

It is interesting to note that these teams represented some of the manufacturing and commercial enterprises in Hamilton at the time, a city that was also vibrant and industrious in this era.

It is also interesting to note some of the names of the teams, and some of the artistic license used by the reporting in writing about the teams.

Even the opening of the Spectator article was loaded with enthusiasm and hype:
"Hockey fans will wait a long time before they get another evening's entertainment like that put on by the Spalding Commercial League at the arena last night," stated the opening paragraph. "Thrills and spills, good hockey, bad hockey, and the happy medium, smart team work, individual brilliancy, big scraps and little scraps, and a little of everything in the hockey book, flavored with tobasco, was dished up for the edification and learning of one of the largest crowds of the season."

In the first match-up, the Bell Telephone team faced off against the Zimmerknits. The Westinghouse club was pitted against the 91st Kilties, and in a clothing-store shootout, Graftons and Eatons went at each other for the final game.

The newspaper report finalized the night as such:

"While the Blue Bells were defeating the Zimmerknits by a score of seven to one in the opening game of the night, the Electricians and Kilties were battling to a 3-all tie. Eatons got away with a 3 to 1 win over Graftons when they secured a couple of lucky breaks in the last frame."

Once again, as was the norm at the time, only the last names of the players was mentioned, while the referee usually received more respect with the printing of his full name.

The 7-1 win by Bell Telephone came at the hands of Harley, Cameron, Shannon, and Bawden, while Duignan scored the lone Zimmerknits goal.
The Westinghouse-Kiltie game was a little closer, resulting in a 3-3 tie, but ref Jimmy Drouchen had his hands full with the teams.

"The second period was a nightmare," it was reported. "Not only was the penalty box full most of the time, but the ice was fairly littered with players. Practically every man on both teams got the gate on different occasions, some of them two and three times. Hill (Westinghouse defenseman) got a five-minute sentence for back talk, and goalkeeper Jackson of Westinghouse served two minutes."

The Eatons club, also known as the "Knitters" were held at bay during the first period by Graftons, also known as the "Clothiers." One would think the "Knitters" name would apply to the Zimmerknits, a Hamilton-based clothing manufacturer.

The Clothiers scored first with a goal by Welsh, and the game remained that way until the third period, when Eatons winger Alldis scored a pair in the third, along with another by Theoret.

After the matches, the standings in the league had changed somewhat:

"The standing finds the Westinghouse aggregation still on top of the heap, but they are sharing the top rung now with the Bell Telephone lads and the Kilties."

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