During the 1910s it was not entirely uncommon for deaf, or “deaf-mute” as they were called at the time, hockey players to pop up on the competitive hockey scene, either in the amateur or in the professional circuit.
Two of the more distinguished deaf hockey players around this time were Walter Molisky and Jack Ulrich, and they both had in common that their hockey skills had been honed at the Deaf and Dumb Institute (Manitoba School for the Deaf) on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Walter Molisky (b. 1888) was originally from Poland, but his family had moved to Canada when he was just a toddler, and he had grown up in Regina, Saskatchewan. Jack Ulrich (b. 1890) in turn originally hailed from Kursk in Russia, but his family immigrated to Canada around the turn of the twentieth century and settled in Manitoba.
While both Molisky and Ulrich were with the Manitoba School for the Deaf hockey team in 1907, the team became champions of the Central Juvenile League, with Molisky starring as a rover and Ulrich as a left-winger.
Manitoba School for the Deaf team in 1907 –
Walter Molisky at right in the front row, Jack Ulrich at right in the middle row
(The Silent Echo / Gallaudet University Archives)
Molisky and Ulrich both continued to climb up the hockey ladder in Winnipeg in the upcoming years, and in 1909–10 both players appeared with the Winnipeg Garrys in the Winnipeg Intermediate Hockey League, with Ulrich also appearing briefly with the Winnipeg Hockey Club of the local senior amateur league. And the next season, in 1910–11, they played alongside each other on the Winnipeg AAA in the Manitoba Independent Hockey League.
1910–11 would turn out the last mutual hockey destination for Molisky and Ulrich, as Molisky headed back home to Saskatchewan to play for the Regina Seconds and the Regina Caps for the 1911–12 season, whereas Ulrich instead jumped on the opportunity to play professionally with the Vancouver Millionaires in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). On a star-studded Millionaires team Ulrich figured as a substitute, scoring four goals in three games during the 1911–12 season.
For the 1912–13 season Vancouver Millionaires manager Frank Patrick released Ulrich to the Victoria Senators, and Ulrich established himself as a reliable substitute in the league, mostly playing as a right-winger. Local newspaper the Victoria Daily Times, at the onset of the 1912–13 season, seemed very satisfied with the new forward acquisition, and praised him for his stickhandling, his shot and his back checking:
At the end of the 1912–13 season the Victoria Senators edged out both the Vancouver Millionaires and the New Westminster Royals for the PCHA championship, and Ulrich scored two goals in five games during the season. He also appeared in three post-season exhibition games with the Victoria Senators against the Stanley Cup champions Quebec Bulldogs of the National Hockey Association (NHA), with the Senators winning out 2 games to 1.
Walter Molisky and Jack Ulrich
While Jack Ulrich had established himself as a reliable substitute in the professional circuit, Walter Molisky had quietly established himself as one of the most promising forwards in the senior amateur game. During the 1912–13 season he had again played with the Regina Caps, and for the 1913–14 season he held down the centre forward position on the Regina Victorias, aiming for the Allan Cup as senior amateur champions of Canada.
Walter Molisky was a small player in stature, but he had good speed and strong rushing abilities, as well as good offensive instincts, and he scored 18 goals in 14 games for the Regina Victorias during the 1913–14 regular season in the South Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League, third on the team behind Lyman “Hick” Abbott (35 goals) and Fred Wilson (22 goals).
Regina Victorias eventually made it to the 1914 Allan Cup finals – after first having defeated the cup holding Winnipeg Monarchs 5 goals to 4 on March 13 – where they squared off over two games against the Grand-Mère Hockey Club from Quebec. Grand-Mère took a quick three-goal lead in the first period of the first game on March 16, but a first period goal by Walter Molisky turned the tide, and when the game was over the Regina Victorias had won 6 goals to 4.[4]
In the the second game between the two clubs, on March 18, Regina won again, this time 4 goals to 1 (for an aggregated final score of 10-5), with Molisky scoring two of Regina’s goals, and the Victorias carried off with the Allan Cup.[5] On Grand-Mère’s defence played Dave Ritchie and Phil Stevens, who both later would go on to play in the NHA and the NHL, but it didn’t stop Molisky from showing himself from his best side.
Jack Ulrich won a second consecutive PCHA championship with Victoria in 1913–14, while scoring two goals in nine games. But for the next two seasons – in 1914–15 and 1915–16 – he would instead spend his time on the Canadian East Coast, with the Montreal Wanderers and the Toronto Blueshirts in the NHA, where he would score a total amount of five goals in 26 regular season games.
At the end of the 1913–14 season, prior to departing to the NHA, Ulrich wrote a sour letter to the sporting editor of the newspaper Toronto World, where he proclaimed that he didn’t need on-ice instructions from his coach Lester Patrick, and that he couldn’t score many goals because of limited ice time. He also objected to the use of the nickname “Dummy”, which the newspaper subsequently apologized for.
Jack Ulrich retired from hockey after the 1915–16 season, due to injuries, and in 1916 he married Mabel Agnes MacKenzie from Montreal in Toronto. In 1927 he died of acute appendicitis in Detroit, aged 37.
A contemporary deaf hockey player to Walter Molisky and Jack Ulrich, who made a short splash on the amateur and semi-professional scene, was defenceman Alexander “Moose” Lobsinger (b. 1888) from Mildmay, Ontario. Lobsinger won the Boundary Hockey League championship in British Columbia in 1913–14 with the Grand Forks AC, as a teammate of future Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Mickey MacKay. Lobsinger had also played previously in Saskatchewan, with Weyburn and the Moose Jaw Robin Hoods, and at the onset of the 1914–15 season he had a try-out with the Ottawa Senators of the NHA.[7]
Alexander Lobsinger news item from Edmonton Bulletin (April 4, 1914)
Walter Molisky continued to play a key role on the Regina Victorias up until the 1918–19 season, but the overall strength of the team was weakened by a number of other key players departing for military duty in World War I, and the team would not reclaim the Allan Cup, losing a 1916 challenge to the Winnipeg 61stBattalion by a 3-13 aggregated score over two games.
From the 1916–17 season and onwards Walter Molisky was joined on the Regina Victorias by his younger brother Willie, a right-winger, and the two brothers would accompany each other as teammates for four years on the Victorias, the Regina 77th Battery team, and the Regina Reginas.
During the 1918–19 season Molisky also coached the junior Regina Pats, an all-hearing team where his youngest brother Johnnie played as a right-winger.[8]
Walter Molisky died in his hometown of Regina, Saskatchewan on July 9, 1972, aged 84.
Sources:
[1] Victoria Daily Times, Dec. 28, 1912
[2] Victoria Daily Times, Dec. 19, 1912
[3] Toronto World, Mar. 17, 1914
[4] Regina Leader-Post, Mar. 17, 1914
[5] Regina Leader-Post, Mar. 19, 1914
[6] Edmonton Journal, Mar. 19, 1914
[7] Ottawa Journal, Dec. 9, 1914
[8] Regina Leader-Post, Mar. 8, 1919
Posted on Behind the Boards (SIHR Blog)
Two of the more distinguished deaf hockey players around this time were Walter Molisky and Jack Ulrich, and they both had in common that their hockey skills had been honed at the Deaf and Dumb Institute (Manitoba School for the Deaf) on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Walter Molisky (b. 1888) was originally from Poland, but his family had moved to Canada when he was just a toddler, and he had grown up in Regina, Saskatchewan. Jack Ulrich (b. 1890) in turn originally hailed from Kursk in Russia, but his family immigrated to Canada around the turn of the twentieth century and settled in Manitoba.
While both Molisky and Ulrich were with the Manitoba School for the Deaf hockey team in 1907, the team became champions of the Central Juvenile League, with Molisky starring as a rover and Ulrich as a left-winger.
Manitoba School for the Deaf team in 1907 –
Walter Molisky at right in the front row, Jack Ulrich at right in the middle row
(The Silent Echo / Gallaudet University Archives)
Molisky and Ulrich both continued to climb up the hockey ladder in Winnipeg in the upcoming years, and in 1909–10 both players appeared with the Winnipeg Garrys in the Winnipeg Intermediate Hockey League, with Ulrich also appearing briefly with the Winnipeg Hockey Club of the local senior amateur league. And the next season, in 1910–11, they played alongside each other on the Winnipeg AAA in the Manitoba Independent Hockey League.
1910–11 would turn out the last mutual hockey destination for Molisky and Ulrich, as Molisky headed back home to Saskatchewan to play for the Regina Seconds and the Regina Caps for the 1911–12 season, whereas Ulrich instead jumped on the opportunity to play professionally with the Vancouver Millionaires in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). On a star-studded Millionaires team Ulrich figured as a substitute, scoring four goals in three games during the 1911–12 season.
For the 1912–13 season Vancouver Millionaires manager Frank Patrick released Ulrich to the Victoria Senators, and Ulrich established himself as a reliable substitute in the league, mostly playing as a right-winger. Local newspaper the Victoria Daily Times, at the onset of the 1912–13 season, seemed very satisfied with the new forward acquisition, and praised him for his stickhandling, his shot and his back checking:
“He is a magnificent stickhandler and possesses a grand shot from either side. He is heavily handicapped because he cannot hear or speak, but his individual work is equal to the best. Ulrich is noted as being a back checker without an equal, and his acquisition by the Victoria hockey squad means the strengthening of the Senators.”[1]
– Victoria Daily Times, Dec. 28, 1912
Ulrich communicated with a pencil and a notepad off the ice [2], but he claimed he took no instructions from Victoria coach Lester Patrick on how to play while on the ice, and only answered to his signals regarding him going on and off the ice.– Victoria Daily Times, Dec. 28, 1912
“What do you mean by writing in the paper that I have to depend on Mr. [Lester] Patrick for directions while in the game. I never depend on him, except his signals for me to go to the bench or come on the ice …”[3]
– Jack Ulrich in a letter to the sporting editor of the Toronto World at the end of the 1913–14 season
– Jack Ulrich in a letter to the sporting editor of the Toronto World at the end of the 1913–14 season
At the end of the 1912–13 season the Victoria Senators edged out both the Vancouver Millionaires and the New Westminster Royals for the PCHA championship, and Ulrich scored two goals in five games during the season. He also appeared in three post-season exhibition games with the Victoria Senators against the Stanley Cup champions Quebec Bulldogs of the National Hockey Association (NHA), with the Senators winning out 2 games to 1.
Walter Molisky and Jack Ulrich
While Jack Ulrich had established himself as a reliable substitute in the professional circuit, Walter Molisky had quietly established himself as one of the most promising forwards in the senior amateur game. During the 1912–13 season he had again played with the Regina Caps, and for the 1913–14 season he held down the centre forward position on the Regina Victorias, aiming for the Allan Cup as senior amateur champions of Canada.
Walter Molisky was a small player in stature, but he had good speed and strong rushing abilities, as well as good offensive instincts, and he scored 18 goals in 14 games for the Regina Victorias during the 1913–14 regular season in the South Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League, third on the team behind Lyman “Hick” Abbott (35 goals) and Fred Wilson (22 goals).
Regina Victorias eventually made it to the 1914 Allan Cup finals – after first having defeated the cup holding Winnipeg Monarchs 5 goals to 4 on March 13 – where they squared off over two games against the Grand-Mère Hockey Club from Quebec. Grand-Mère took a quick three-goal lead in the first period of the first game on March 16, but a first period goal by Walter Molisky turned the tide, and when the game was over the Regina Victorias had won 6 goals to 4.[4]
In the the second game between the two clubs, on March 18, Regina won again, this time 4 goals to 1 (for an aggregated final score of 10-5), with Molisky scoring two of Regina’s goals, and the Victorias carried off with the Allan Cup.[5] On Grand-Mère’s defence played Dave Ritchie and Phil Stevens, who both later would go on to play in the NHA and the NHL, but it didn’t stop Molisky from showing himself from his best side.
“Moliski played a wonderful game. The little man had both [Fred] Kelly and [Fred] Hoffman checked to a standstill and was boring into the husky defence of the challengers regardless of their weight.”[6]
– Edmonton Journal, Mar. 19, 1914
1914 Allan Cup final box scores from the Regina Leader-Post
Outside of the game of hockey Walter Molisky worked as a printer on the staff of the Regina Leader-Post newspaper, which covered the Allan Cup games meticulously on their sport page.– Edmonton Journal, Mar. 19, 1914
1914 Allan Cup final box scores from the Regina Leader-Post
Jack Ulrich won a second consecutive PCHA championship with Victoria in 1913–14, while scoring two goals in nine games. But for the next two seasons – in 1914–15 and 1915–16 – he would instead spend his time on the Canadian East Coast, with the Montreal Wanderers and the Toronto Blueshirts in the NHA, where he would score a total amount of five goals in 26 regular season games.
At the end of the 1913–14 season, prior to departing to the NHA, Ulrich wrote a sour letter to the sporting editor of the newspaper Toronto World, where he proclaimed that he didn’t need on-ice instructions from his coach Lester Patrick, and that he couldn’t score many goals because of limited ice time. He also objected to the use of the nickname “Dummy”, which the newspaper subsequently apologized for.
“… And you wrote I was not a goal-getter. How could I score a goal when I was on the ice for only a few minutes? At the [West] coast they called me a pinch goal-getter. At the coast they never called me “Dummy” in the paper. It is vulgar to call like that. Why not call me Jack or Silent? Suppose you are deaf, how would you like to be called “Dummy”? I am not a dummy; I am deaf, that is all.”[3]
– Toronto World, Mar. 17, 1914
– Toronto World, Mar. 17, 1914
Jack Ulrich retired from hockey after the 1915–16 season, due to injuries, and in 1916 he married Mabel Agnes MacKenzie from Montreal in Toronto. In 1927 he died of acute appendicitis in Detroit, aged 37.
A contemporary deaf hockey player to Walter Molisky and Jack Ulrich, who made a short splash on the amateur and semi-professional scene, was defenceman Alexander “Moose” Lobsinger (b. 1888) from Mildmay, Ontario. Lobsinger won the Boundary Hockey League championship in British Columbia in 1913–14 with the Grand Forks AC, as a teammate of future Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Mickey MacKay. Lobsinger had also played previously in Saskatchewan, with Weyburn and the Moose Jaw Robin Hoods, and at the onset of the 1914–15 season he had a try-out with the Ottawa Senators of the NHA.[7]
Alexander Lobsinger news item from Edmonton Bulletin (April 4, 1914)
Walter Molisky continued to play a key role on the Regina Victorias up until the 1918–19 season, but the overall strength of the team was weakened by a number of other key players departing for military duty in World War I, and the team would not reclaim the Allan Cup, losing a 1916 challenge to the Winnipeg 61stBattalion by a 3-13 aggregated score over two games.
From the 1916–17 season and onwards Walter Molisky was joined on the Regina Victorias by his younger brother Willie, a right-winger, and the two brothers would accompany each other as teammates for four years on the Victorias, the Regina 77th Battery team, and the Regina Reginas.
During the 1918–19 season Molisky also coached the junior Regina Pats, an all-hearing team where his youngest brother Johnnie played as a right-winger.[8]
Walter Molisky died in his hometown of Regina, Saskatchewan on July 9, 1972, aged 84.
Sources:
[1] Victoria Daily Times, Dec. 28, 1912
[2] Victoria Daily Times, Dec. 19, 1912
[3] Toronto World, Mar. 17, 1914
[4] Regina Leader-Post, Mar. 17, 1914
[5] Regina Leader-Post, Mar. 19, 1914
[6] Edmonton Journal, Mar. 19, 1914
[7] Ottawa Journal, Dec. 9, 1914
[8] Regina Leader-Post, Mar. 8, 1919
Posted on Behind the Boards (SIHR Blog)
