I don’t follow ice hockey. I’m not sure why. It seems interesting enough. I’ve been to a few games in my life, the first when I was about eight years old, to see the Dayton Gems play at Hara Arena. Most recently, a couple of years ago, I saw Miami University’s good team play and win.
To digress, momentarily. Whenever I would be getting ready to leave someplace, I used to say, “Let’s make like a hockey player and get the puck out of here.” Or, “Let’s make like a fireman and get the truck out of here.” I’d go on like that. “Let’s make like a deer and get the buck out of here.”
Back to hockey. I’m not the only one who doesn’t watch. It is the fifth most popular professional sport in America. The rankings go like this, for clarity’s sake.
1. American Football
2. Baseball
3. Basketball
4. Soccer
5. Hockey
6. Tennis
7. Golf
8. Boxing
9. Motorsports
10. Wrestling
So, on popularity alone, hockey is midstream. I’m not sure how it ranked in the past. It seems like it was more popular years ago. Same with boxing. And I know baseball used to be “America’s Pastime.” Now, the NFL rules the roost.
The Stanley Cup is the golden prize in hockey. That is what all teams hope to win when they start out each year. And in 1905, there was a contest between the Ottawa Hockey Club, who were known as “The Silver Seven” and the Dawson City Nuggets, also known as the Klondikes.
Now, Dawson City is way up in the province of Yukon, right there next to Alaska. And the Stanley Cup playoffs were being held at Ottawa, as they were the reigning champs. The distance between the two towns was 4,000 miles. And it was on this date, in 1904, that the Dawson City Nuggets set out for the contest in Ottawa.
The Nuggets/Klondikes had to get to Whitehorse first, where the nearest train station was located. They had to travel there by road, about 380 miles. Several of those guys got on their dog sleds and the rest of the team left by bicycle. They started out well enough. But then the weather turned warm enough to thaw the roads, making the sleds useless. They ended up having to walk several hundred miles, toting all their bags and gear.
Once they got to Whitehorse, the weather took another bad turn. Freezing cold and ice came along and kept the trains from running for three days. As such, the guys missed their steamer in Skagway. The next steamer could not dock for three days due to the ice buildup.
Finally, their boat came along, from Skagway to Vancouver. The waters were very rough, the sea journey treacherous, and seasickness ran rampant throughout the team. When that little ship reached Vancouver, the area was too fogged in to dock. So they had to continue on and land in Seattle. They caught a train from Seattle to Vancouver, and then on to Ottawa. They left their homes on December 18 and arrived in Ottawa on January 11. Dog sleds, bikes, foot, boats, and trains.
Ottawa gave them a warm reception. The Nuggets received a huge welcome at the train station, as well as a big, happy dinner. They were also given rooms at the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Club’s for the duration of their stay. But. And this is a big but. Despite the difficult journey, the Ottawa squad refused to change the date of the first game, which was only two days away.
So they began to play their best-of-three game series. I’d like to tell you that the story ended happily for the Dawson City Nuggets, but alas. In the first game, Ottawa defeated Dawson City 9–2. In the second game, Ottawa, again, defeated Dawson City 23–2 to win the series. The second game remains the most lopsided game in Stanley Cup playoff history.
I think it was the only time the Dawson City Nuggets made it to the playoffs. Or perhaps, if they did make it again, they decided they’d stay home, instead. Wisely.
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“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
– Lao Tzu
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“If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all.”
— Dan Rather
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“Thank you, hard taco shells, for surviving the long journey from factory, to supermarket, to my plate and then breaking the moment I put something inside you. Thank you.”
— Jimmy Fallon
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What the puck? A long way to the ice.
