It’s
hard to believe that women’s hockey has only been in the Olympics since 1998,
yet women’s hockey in Canada began as early as the 1890’s. The first game was
played between a Government House team and a Rideau team on a rink in Ottawa
(History of Women’s Hockey). One of the first women to be photographed playing
hockey was Isobel Stanley (daughter of Lord Stanley) that was actually
participating in the game in 1890 (History of Women’s Hockey).
Isobel Stanley (in the white), 1890
At this time in
hockey history, females were still required to wear the traditional long
skirts. After being adopted by many university teams across Canada over the
years, and the formation of the Ladies Ontario Hockey Association (LOHA) in
1922, women's hockey really began to flourish and expand nation wide (Adams, 2008).
In
1930, a few players on the former Preston Rivulettes female softball team suggest
they partake in a winter sport as summer was coming to an end, and an obvious
choice for Canadians during the wintertime was hockey (Adams, 2008). The
Preston Rivulettes team was arguably the most successful female hockey team of
all time, and was compared to other female sports teams such as the extremely
successful Edmonton Graduates basketball team. The
team composed of 10 players: Nellie Ranscome (Goalie), Grace Webb and Margaret
Gabbitass (Defense), Helen Schmuck, Hilda Ranscombe (Captain), Marm Schmuck
(Forwards), Myrtle Parr, Pat Marriott, W. Makcrow and S. Leahy (Alternates)
(Adams, 2008).
 |
| The Preston Rivulettes (circa 1932): Back: M. J. Dykeman, Herb Fach, R. B. Osgood. Middle: Pat Marriott, Grace Webb, Mrs. Olive Dykeman (chaperone), Helen Schmuck, Helen Sault. Front: Hilda Ranscombe, Marg Gabbitass, Nellie Ranscombe, Myrtle Parr, Marm Schmuck. Courtesy of the City of Cambridge Archives Photographic Collection. |
It is incredible how a team like the Rivulettes were able to be
successful and compete for such a long period of time during the Depression
years where it was a time of financial hardship marked with uncertainty. One of
the major differences between modern hockey and early hockey was the numbers of players
on the team, in today’s society there could be up to 20 players on a team. At
this time the players were out of their traditional long skirts and into
equipment that is more suitable for the sport including jerseys, and goalie
pads. Herb Fach who was the owner of the Lowther Street arena that was located
in Preston coached the Rivulettes and in 1931, the team joined the Ladies
Ontario Hockey Association and dominated the league for ten straight seasons until 1940 (Adams, 2008).
 |
| Photograph from the 1934 Preston Rivulette team. |
Although
more and more women were participating in hockey, women still had to face many
social and gender barriers while trying to thrive in a masculine dominated
sport. The Rivulettes had a difficult time finding available ice, and time slots;
in most cases they were given the leftovers after the male teams had selected
their schedule even though their coach was the owner of the arena (Adams, 2008).
The LOHA schedule consisted of regular season games, competing against two or
even six towns nearby consisting of teams from: Kitchener, Guelph, London,
Hamilton, Stratford and Toronto (Adams, 2008). The Rivulettes defeated all
opponents and won the LOHA championship all ten years they competed in the
league. In 1933, another women’s hockey association the Dominion Women’s
Amateur Hockey Association (DWAHA) was created for the top teams from across
the country to compete (Adams, 2008). From 1933-1940 the Preston Rivulettes
competed for the Dominion Women’s Hockey Championship and was successful
capturing the title 4/8 times, sometimes they were not able to compete because of financial reasons. The team also competed in the Eastern Canadian
Women’s Hockey Championship from 1934-1940 defeating teams from Montreal, and
various teams in PEI to claim the title 5 times.
Hilda Ranscombe
Hilda Ranscombe
Travel at this time was not
very efficient; they took a train to the Maritime’s where they had to take a
ferry over the PEI, cutting the ice as they go. At this time the number of
teams within LOLA had decreased significantly because most teams thought that there
was little or no chance for success against the strong, and skilled Rivulettes
also because the “Queen’s of the ice” had never lost a game in Ontario. LOHA
was forced to create an “A” league and a “B” league, which only included first
year teams and those who were not as skilled, this gave upcoming teams more opportunity to compete and grow (Adams,
2008).
Image of the arena located in Preston
The
Rivulettes still experienced issues with ice time even though in Preston the
women’s team sometimes drew a larger crowd than the men’s team who was always
the first priority. The team went through a lot of financial hardship, they
were not able to compete in various championships because they couldn’t raise
enough money to cover the teams travel expenses, and this was another downfall
of the Depression. At the end of the Rivulettes career in 1940, the
participation of women’s sport across the country was very slim and as a result
LOHA was unable to continue independently and joined the Ontario Branch of the
Women’s Amateur Athletic Federation (WAAF) (Adams, 2008). The Rivulettes hockey team hung
up their skates in 1940 and left behind them a legacy for women’s hockey, Hilda
Ranscombe who was the team’s captain was being called “Preston’s own female
version of Wayne Gretzky”, and she was and still continues to be an idol for many young girls.
The Rivulettes were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in
1963, the Canadian Hall of Fame in 1996, the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame in
1997, and in 1999 the captain, Hilda Ranscombe was named female athlete of the
20th century by the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame (Hockey Blog in
Canada, 2008). Between 1930-1940 the team played an estimated 350 games and the
number of loses and ties can be counted on one hand (Rivulettes Junior Hockey
Club, 2013). The inclusion from the HHOF is celebrating the successes of an
incredible Canadian team who was and will continue to be known for their
accomplishments. The Preston Rivulettes were
allegedly invited to compete in Europe but were unable to because of the start
of World War II, after that they didn’t compete again because of government
imposed gasoline rationing that prevented them from honoring travel commitments
(Hockey Blog in Canada, 2008). They will always be known for their dominating
performances against teams from across the country, and should be known in
hockey history as the most successful women’s hockey team.
Record: 350-2-3
By: Lindsay Barker
200902381
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