SIHR Blog Walter Molisky & Jack Ulrich – Silent hockey stars out of Winnipeg

[sr edler]

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:

“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.

“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​

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.

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​

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)

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[tarheelhockey]

Fascinating story. Winning the Allan Cup and PCHA championships was no small feat, that was very competitive high-caliber competition among the very best players in Canada.

Interesting to see Ulrich pushing back against the media. Clearly he did not want to be regarded as a novelty act or a marginal player.

 

[sr edler]

Winning the Allan Cup and PCHA championships was no small feat, that was very competitive high-caliber competition among the very best players in Canada.

Yeah, that's true, and Molisky was a real centre piece (literally) on that team, as their centre forward. He had a really good Allan Cup run in 1914 as their leading scorer alongside fellow forward Fred Wilson.

Not the greatest resolution below, but still a photo of the 1914 Regina Vics.

Molisky's second from right in the middle row. Immediately at his right is goalie Fred McCulloch who played one season (1915–16) in the PCHA with the Victoria Aristocrats. Fred Wilson played briefly in the WCHL with the Regina Capitals in the early 1920s, but outside of that stayed loyal with the Vics, and star forward Lyman "Hick" Abbott died in WWI in 1918.

 

[Theokritos]

Not terribly relevant, but why did that club name itself "Regina Seconds"?

 

[sr edler]

Not terribly relevant, but why did that club name itself "Regina Seconds"?

It's Seconds as in "2nds" or "IIs" meaning the second team of the club (or franchise if you so will), not seconds as the base unit of time. Sometimes teams had a 1st and a 2nd team, playing in different leagues or groups. Ottawa Cliffsides for instance in the Ottawa City League, when they moved to the IPAHU for the 1909 season, the Ottawa Cliffsides 2nds took their place in the city league instead.

The Regina Seconds were also known as the Regina Bees, meaning not the insect but the Bs, i.e. the B team.

An example of a team being colloquially known as the Seconds were the Ottawa New Edinburghs (Ottawa Seconds). This was just a nickname though because they trained with the Ottawa Senators at their rink. They were not the same club or officially affiliated with each other.

 

[Theokritos]

It's Seconds as in "2nds" or "IIs" meaning the second team of the club (or franchise if you so will), not seconds as the base unit of time. Sometimes teams had a 1st and a 2nd team, playing in different leagues or groups. Ottawa Cliffsides for instance in the Ottawa City League, when they moved to the IPAHU for the 1909 season, the Ottawa Cliffsides 2nds took their place in the city league instead.

The Regina Seconds were also known as the Regina Bees, meaning not the insect but the Bs, i.e. the B team.

I didn't even think of the time unit. I was wondering why any club would label itself the number two instead of the number one, but what you say makes perfect sense. Of course, it's the same to this very day with many sports clubs in Europe.

 

[sr edler]

I didn't even think of the time unit. I was wondering why any club would label itself the number two instead of the number one, but what you say makes perfect sense. Of course, it's the same to this very day with many sports clubs in Europe.

To specify on a more detailed level here the Regina Seconds/Bees were affiliated with the Regina Caps/Capital Hockey Club, on which first team Molisky also played during the 1911–12 season. Photo below is of the 1911–12 Seconds/Bees, with Molisky at center in the upper row.

Regina Seconds/Bees played in Division B of the Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League this season, but interestingly enough it was they – and not the 1st team of the Capitals – who challenged for the Allan Cup in 1912, after they had defeated the champions of Division A – which was Moose Jaw – in the playoffs.

Regina Seconds/Bees lost their 1912 Allan Cup challenge to the Winnipeg Victorias 3 goals to 9 on March 14.

^ This is this era in a nutshell, i.e. teams going under different names, teams having different units, players playing for multiple teams in the same season, A & B divisions in playoffs against each other, teams challenging each other for cups, et cetera.

But on this Regina Seconds/Bees team, which challenged the Winnipeg Victorias for the Allan Cup in 1912, also played Lyman "Hick" Abbott and Frank Mastel – who would later be part of the 1914 Allan Cup winning Regina Victorias team – and for the final game against the Winnipeg Victorias they also brought in Austin Creswell and Fred Wilson from the (Capitals) A team. So basically the nucleus of the 1914 Allan Cup winning Regina Victorias team challenged for the Allan Cup already in 1912 with the Regina Capitals B team.

It's good we have these comment sections because you can't really go on these type of side dissertations in the main text.

 

[Theokritos]

It's good we have these comment sections because you can't really go on these type of side dissertations in the main text.

Seconded! I've been happy to have the option to make additions and even corrections in the threads of my articles. One can add context you don't necessarily get in the article alone.

 

[jigglysquishy]

This is a really fascinating bit of local history for me.

It's wild to think how important Regina and Saskatoon were to the hockey world in the 1905 to 1920 time period. Only recently settled, we even managed to score pro teams in the WCHL. Shame the Depression hit so hard here or else we would have one (or two!) NHL teams.

The article implies that deaf mute hockey players were common in the 1910s, but not afterwards. Is there a reason for that?

 

[sr edler]

The article implies that deaf mute hockey players were common in the 1910s, but not afterwards. Is there a reason for that?

I wouldn't say it was common per se, the wording I used was "not entirely uncommon", but it appeared a number of such players in various leagues, and mostly in the amateur ranks. Another such player with ties to the Saskatoon scene was Glen "Silent" Smith who played between 1919–1924 with various Saskatoon teams.

As for reasons, I think one reason could probably be that the game just became too fast and less north–south in general, with more quick turns in the game when the passing game developed, which made it harder for a non-hearing player to catch up, but that's just a guess.

Another plausible reason I can think of is that deafness became a bit less prevalent in general among the population, but this is again just a guess, because I haven't studied deafness in general, in the Canadian/North American population, just its ties to the early hockey scene. But hockey player Alexander Lobsinger, who is mentioned in the above article, was deafened by measles when 21 months old, so hadn't he contracted measles he would have been hearing. I don't know the timeline with vaccines, et cetera, but I guess that could be another potential reason.

 

[sr edler]

@jigglysquishy

The only legally deaf player in the NHL was defenseman Jim Kyte, a 12th overall pick in 1982 by the Winnipeg Jets. He came from an athletic family and played 598 regular season and 42 playoff games between 1982–1996, as a stay-at-home-ish defenseman.

And Steve Downie, 29th overall pick in 2005 by the Flyers, is deaf in one ear and played with a hearing aid.

 

[Sanf]

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:

“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.

“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​

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.

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​

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)

Great read once again!

I actually did not know that Ulrich was born Kursk. I believe his parents were German?

He did also win the Rossland Winter Carnival in 1912 with the Greenwood team (mostly ringer team). They were eager to even have challenge series against PCHA champion.

I had no idea that Lobsinger was deaf. Lot of new info on Molisky too.

There was one deaf player in OHA with Clinton team. Can´t remember name. Around 1905-1908. Only remember it because he was assaulted with stick in one game. His jaw was broken to pieces. Assaulter got suspension for rest of the season.

 

[Sanf]

@jigglysquishy

The only legally deaf player in the NHL was defenseman Jim Kyte, a 12th overall pick in 1982 by the Winnipeg Jets. He came from an athletic family and played 598 regular season and 42 playoff games between 1982–1996, as a stay-at-home-ish defenseman.

And Steve Downie, 29th overall pick in 2005 by the Flyers, is deaf in one ear and played with a hearing aid.

"Rabbit" McVeigh lost large part of his hearing in WWI. Sometimes called only deaf player of NHL. It was described that he needed to turn his better ear to listen and people needed to raise their voice significantly when speaking to him.

 

[sr edler]

I actually did not know that Ulrich was born Kursk. I believe his parents were German?

Kursk's in the south-western part of Russia, so his parents by all reasonable accounts seems to have been German, yes.

There was one deaf player in OHA with Clinton team. Can´t remember name. Around 1905-1908. Only remember it because he was assaulted with stick in one game. His jaw was broken to pieces. Assaulter got suspension for rest of the season.

I didn't know about this player, so I can't help you with his name, but that's interesting. The closest I have time-line wise is a player named Joe Dubois, between 1904–1907, referred to as "the dummy" in a February 18, 1905 Ottawa Citizen match report (indicating deafness), but he played in the Ottawa City League.

 

[Sanf]

I tried to refind it and here is pretty much all I could find. Complitely out of memory the player who assaulted was Alexander McIvor (or McIver), I think it may have gone even court. It was revenge attack from Cole´s rough play.

The Pittsburgh Press 7. Jan 1907
When it comes to real "rough house" tactics and inexcusable brutality, they have it in some of the Canadian hockey leagues, and even the O.H.A. is not free from the taint. Evidence this: The Clinton hockey club has asked the O.H.A to investigate the case of a player named McIver, on the Goderich team. It is claimed the in a game with Clinton team on New Year´s night, at a time when neither McIver nor his check were playing the puck McIver skated down the ice on Cole a deaf mute player on the Clinton team, striking him from behind with his stick, knocking him to the ice and fracturing his lower jaw in three places. Not knowing the extent of Cole´s injuries, the referee at once ruled McIver off the ice for ten minutes. The Clinton secretary wrote to the O.H.A., saying that feeling was running high over the affair, and that McIver would undoubtedly be prosecuted.

 

[Iain Fyffe]

Regina Seconds/Bees played in Division B of the Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League this season, but interestingly enough it was they – and not the 1st team of the Capitals – who challenged for the Allan Cup in 1912, after they had defeated the champions of Division A – which was Moose Jaw – in the playoffs.

Regina Seconds/Bees lost their 1912 Allan Cup challenge to the Winnipeg Victorias 3 goals to 9 on March 14.

^ This is this era in a nutshell, i.e. teams going under different names, teams having different units, players playing for multiple teams in the same season, A & B divisions in playoffs against each other, teams challenging each other for cups, et cetera.

But on this Regina Seconds/Bees team, which challenged the Winnipeg Victorias for the Allan Cup in 1912, also played Lyman "Hick" Abbott and Frank Mastel – who would later be part of the 1914 Allan Cup winning Regina Victorias team – and for the final game against the Winnipeg Victorias they also brought in Austin Creswell and Fred Wilson from the (Capitals) A team. So basically the nucleus of the 1914 Allan Cup winning Regina Victorias team challenged for the Allan Cup already in 1912 with the Regina Capitals B team.

It's good we have these comment sections because you can't really go on these type of side dissertations in the main text.

Apologies for the thread necromancy, but I was researching the 1911/12 Saskatchewan senior season and stumbled across this thread, so I thought I would add some additional information to this.

Typically in this era, when you see 'A' and 'B' series, they're not different levels of play, they're just different divisions. In this case, the A series was essentially southwestern, and the B series was more central-eastern. Regina, being central to southern Saskatchewan, could put a team in both series.

If they were different levels of play, they would have been called 'senior' and 'intermediate' most likely. The A/B distinction was geographical. To modern eyes, seeing this nomenclature brings to mind things like Junior A and Junior B, which do serve as a mark of the calibre of the teams. But in this era, that was not the case.

The Regina Bees were the 'B' team because they didn't exist at the start of the season. Originally the Capitals were the only Regina team that was going to play in the SSHL. But players from two Regina city teams (the Calumets and Railroaders) decided to band together to make up a second team to play in the B division. There was some cross-over between the Capitals and the Bees, to fill in for missing players, since they were ultimately affiliated with the same organization. But the Bees were not seen as being the lesser of the two teams. They just played different opponents during the season.