The Victorian Ice Hockey Association, currently trading as Ice Hockey Victoria (IHV) is the governing body of ice hockey in Victoria, Australia. The Victorian Ice Hockey Association is a branch of Ice Hockey Australia. IHV's flagship league is its Premier League which has been contested since 1909.
History Ice Hockey Victoria is the first ice hockey association formed in Australia. 12 September 1908 is the date of the formation of the first ice hockey association in Australia. The meeting at the Melbourne Glaciarium occurred directly after an evening ice hockey game between the Brighton Ice Hockey Club and the Melburnians, which resulted in a 2–2 tie. The meeting was for the purpose of organising a club for the following season and the following committee was appointed: Lorimer, Ward, Errol Forster Woods, Walter Purbrick and Andrew Lambert Reid. Mr. Purbrick was nominated as honourable Treasurer and Mr. Reid was nominated as the Secretary.
The name of the association was the Victorian Amateur Ice Hockey Association (VAIHA). The association consisted of 4 ice hockey clubs: Beavers Brighton Glaciarium Melburnians
The Glaciarium Ice Hockey Club was formed in 1907 and was the first ice hockey club to form in Australia and they are named for the Melbourne Glaciarium as the in house representative team. The remainder of the original 3 teams were formed in 1908. The Melburnians Ice Hockey Club consisted of the Melbourne Grammar School field hockey team and the team was named the Melburnians after the school. The Brighton Ice Hockey Club team were also named after a school, Brighton Grammar School. The Beavers Ice Hockey Club were named after their sponsor, Melbourne architect, Isidor George Beaver. The games were played in two 10-minute halves.
The School Club era
The inaugural Victorian Amateur Ice Hockey Association season began with the first game being played at the Melbourne Glaciarium on the evening of 19 June 1909 between Brighton Ice Hockey Club and the Glaciarium Ice Hockey Club."Amusements" The Age 19 June 1909. Retrieved 6 August 2016. "Amusements" The Age 19 June 1909. Retrieved 6 August 2016. "Theatres and Entertainments" The Argus 19 June 1909. Retrieved 6 August 2016. "Entertainments" Weekly Times 26 June 1909. Retrieved 6 August 2016. The Glaciarium Ice Hockey Club would finish the regular season in first place and would be given the title of the minor premiers. The playoff format would then see the semi-finals have the first place Glaciarium Ice Hockey Club play the second place Melburnian Ice Hockey Club, who upset the minor premiers 3–1. The 3rd place Beavers Ice Hockey Club would be beaten by the 4th place Brighton Ice Hockey Club with a score of 5–3 and see the playoff championship be held between the Melburnian Ice Hockey Club and Brighton Ice Hockey Club. The Melburnian Ice Hockey Club would win convincingly 7–1. Due to finishing first during the regular season, which meant they were the 1909 season minor premiers, the Glaciarium Ice Hockey Club was able to issue a challenge to the Melburnian Ice Hockey Club for the Grand Challenge Championship. This championship was held on the evening of 27 September 1909 and the Glaciarium Ice Hockey Club won by a score of 3–0 and were awarded gold medals."Ice Hockey" Melbourne Punch 23 September 1909. Retrieved 6 August 2016."Ice Hockey Match" The Argus 15 September 1909. Retrieved 6 August 2016."Hockey On The Ice" The Argus 21 September 1909. Retrieved 7 August 2016."Hockey on the Ice" The Age 21 September 1909. Retrieved 7 August 2016."Ice Hockey" Melbourne Punch 7 October 1909. Retrieved 6 August 2016."Glaciarium" Table Talk 16 September 1909. Retrieved 6 August 2016."Glaciarium" The Age 22 September 1909. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
For the 2nd season, the association ran under the auspices Victorian Amateur Ice Hockey and Sports Association and from the local competition, players would be selected to represent Victoria in the annual Inter-State Series. The first game of the season began at 9:00 pm at the Melbourne Glaciarium on 22 June 1910 between Beavers Ice Hockey Club and Brighton Ice Hockey Club resulting in a 5–3 win for Brighton. The playoff champions were the Melburnian Ice Hockey Club, who are seen posed with a trophy cup.
In 1911 the Melbourne Glaciarium was leased from 30 September that year, cutting the season shorter than usual, embracing 4 Ice Hockey clubs again. An ice hockey team was formed for girls and matches would begin for them every Saturday after the afternoon public skating session.
The 1912 season saw the addition of the Ottawa Ice Hockey Club in the absence of the Glaciarium Ice Hockey Club in the competition. Due to the season being short, it was necessary to play two games per night. The association would also now go by the name Victorian Ice Hockey Association."Ice Hockey" The Argus. 1 May 1912. Retrieved 24 July 2016."Ice Hockey" Melbourne Punch. 6 June 1912. Retrieved 24 July 2016. The Association would continue for another 2 years until the Great War.
The Great War As the Great War began, plans for the abandonment of ice hockey until the end of the war were considered. The rink management would go on to organise speed contests in the absence of a hockey season. No cup was to be contested in the 1915 season
In 1916, though the season was again cancelled, the Victorian Ice Hockey Association were considering younger players to fill the void left by many players at war. There was no certainty that ice hockey would be played."The Glaciarium" Winner. 19 April 1916. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
Competition would resume in 1917 with a 2-team league consisting of the Beavers Ice Hockey Club and Ottawa Ice Hockey Club. The Melbourne Glaciarium management presented a trophy for the shortened competition."Ice Hockey" Winner. 29 August 1917. Retrieved 24 July 2016. The premiership trophy was to be presented by Melbourne Glaciarium manager, Percy Watson, at the annual dinner. The Dinner was held at the Francatelli Cafe at 7:00 pm on 14 September 1917."Ice Hockey" Winner. 12 September 1917. Retrieved 24 July 2016. The Dinner was held at the Magpie Tea Rooms, Collins Street where the premiership cup was presented to Beaver Club captain Roy Marks."Ice Hockey" Winner. 19 September 1917. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
Hockey players began to practice upon the opening of the ice skating season."The Glaciarium" Table Talk. 16 May 1918. Retrieved 24 July 2016. A match was held between a Blues and Whites team during a carnival on 27 July 1918."Glaciarium Sports Night" Table Talk. 1 August 1918. Retrieved 24 July 2016."Glaciarium" Table Talk. 18 July 1918. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
In 1920, the Melbourne Glaciarium did not operate an ice floor due to the popularity of dancing and was converted into a Palais de Dance. This meant that no ice hockey was played in Victoria, nor any ice sport played for this year."The Glaciarium" The Australasian. 14 May 1921. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
Post Great War era A cup was donated by John Edwin Goodall in 1921, not to be confused with the Goodall Cup used for the inter-state competition, this Goodall Cup was used as the premiership trophy for the Victorian Ice Hockey Association's ice hockey league.
As the ice hockey season opened for 1924, 5 men's ice hockey teams were formed and 1 women's team.
The Suburb Club era
In the year Essendon won its first Premiership, earning the right to hold the Goodall Cup, they also held the first Presidents Cup donated by the Victorian Ice Hockey Association president Mr. P Sutherland.
Inter Rink Club era
With the opening of the St. Moritz Ice Palais on 10 March 1939, a new strategy was to be made to allow the competition to make use of now having a second rink. "Ice Skating At St. Kilda. St. Moritz Opened" The Argus. 11 March 1939. Retrieved 26 December 2017. This decision resulted in the disbanding of the current ice hockey teams and the formation of an ice hockey club at each rink, who would submit teams into the Victorian Ice Hockey Association season competition. On 19 April 1939, the Victorian Ice Hockey Association held a meeting to spread the competition across a second rink, with the St. Moritz Ice Palais officially opening a month before. The result of the meeting was that the Association decided that two new ice hockey clubs would be formed, one for the Melbourne Glaciarium and the other for the new St. Moritz Ice Palais, both clubs would seek affiliation with the VIHA. Between the two new ice hockey clubs they would provide four teams for the new 1939 VIHA season which would involve an inter-rink competition played between the Melbourne Glaciarium and St. Moritz Ice Palais. The St. Moritz Ice Hockey Club teams would be named the St. Moritz Bombers and the Smokey Bombers. The 3 existing VIHA teams would disband and join the new ice hockey clubs. Those teams were Essendon, Hawthorn and Brighton."Four New Ice Hockey Teams" The Age. 20 April 1939. Retrieved 24 December 2017. The 2 new ice hockey clubs would be named the St. Moritz Bombers Ice Hockey Club and the Glaciarium Rangers Ice Hockey Club and they were coached by Mr. Fred Palmer and Mr. Hugh Lloyd. Instead of both clubs producing 2 teams for inter-rink competition as originally planned, they each submitted only 1 team into the competition. The teams to compete would be the St. Moritz Bombers and the Glaciarium Rangers.
The St. Moritz Ice Hockey Club would create its own inter-club "house league" season at St. Moritz Ice Palais by dividing into 2 teams that only played against each other . These teams were the St. Moritz Bombers and Foy's Gibsonia Flyers, who were sponsored by Foy & Gibson."Ice Hockey Match" The Sporting Globe. 24 May 1939. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
The ice hockey season was scheduled to begin on 7 May 1940 with the first game of the St. Moritz Ice Hockey Club inter-club matches. Mr. Wallace Sharland was elected president of the Victorian Ice Hockey Association. "Ice Hockey. New Canadian Player" The Age 27 April 1940. Retrieved 26 December 2017. On 29 April 1940 a meeting was held at Melbourne University and it was decided that they would form an Ice Hockey Club in hopes that inter-varsity games could be arranged with the Sydney University ice hockey club. The prospective ice hockey players would be coached by members of the Victorian Ice Hockey Association. "Ice Hockey Club For University" The Age 30 April 1940. Retrieved 26 December 2017. The St. Moritz Bombers Ice Hockey Club created a new team called Rhodes' Topliners, who were sponsored by Rhodes Motor Company PTY LTD. They were to compete against the other sponsored team, Foy's Gibsonia Flyers, for their inter-club competition. A trophy was donated to the St. Moritz Ice Hockey Club inter-club season by Mr. O.T. Dixon "Ice Hockey. Topliners v. Flyers" The Age 14 May 1940. Retrieved 26 December 2017. "Ice Hockey Games" The Sporting Globe 19 June 1940. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
World War II