Monday 21 November 2016

The MELVILLE " MILLIONAIRES" hockey club.

 Why the MILLIONAIRES?.
Melville was named after Charles Melville Hays the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway general manager who drowned in the sinking of the Titanic back in 1912. The STORY has it that Charles had gathered together a group of potential investors who were all millionaires and interested in helping the growth of the Township. Melville became a City in 1960.
The TRUTH has it that in 1914/15 local hockey pioneer Goldie Smith put together a senior team that won the coveted Allan Cup, the Championship of Canadian Senior Hockey, then a challenge trophy monopolized by the likes of Winnipeg, Ottawa and the Eastern Universities. Grumblings ensued that Melville must be some town of Millionaires to be able to lure players of such calibre. Goldie Smiths thinking was Hey
if that's what they think let them think it.
So the name "MILLIONAIRES" stuck.
Goldie Smiths team defeated the Regina Victorias in the provincial finals in 1915 to win the Allan Cup.
The 1915 cup winning side included Dougald Sinclair "Speed" Moynes (bottom row 3rd from left) who was known to be one of the fastest skaters in hockey at that time.
Here we have a photo of the old Queen street arena built in 1909 it was burned partially in 1946 and totally in 1962.
Here we have the Melville Millionaires of 1923/24 season notice the Millionaires logo.Back row: Dalton Henderson, Merv Moore, W. Heywood, C. Harris and Napoleon Champagne. Front row: C. McCloy, Eddie The "Edmonton Express" Shore, Hilt McDonald, Raymond Mark Lamoureux, Jim Scott and the mascot Owen McDonald. Although this season they were classed as the senior champions of Saskatchewan but lost the Western Allan cup semi-final against the Bellevue Bulldogs.

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