Mark Morrison interview

I had the great pleasure of interviewing former Salmon Kings head coach Mark Morrison today. It was such a treat to discuss hockey with a home-town product who had starred here with the WHL Cougars and then come back 25 years later as head coach.…

Another interview

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Bill Shvetz's son today long distance from Ottawa. He told me some stories about his father that I had never heard before. It was so much fun to talk about the 1960s hockey team and to get an insight…

This book is really going to happen

I have finally finished the manuscript and had it edited for obvious typos and errors. I have signed a contract with Friesen Press for them to do a professional layout and covers. After spending seven years on research and writing, it makes…

The end of the Cougars era

I have finally finished writing about all the teams that had the name "Cougars."  The last few years I wrote about had names familiar to me as I used to attend games in the 1950s and early 1960s, alone or with my parents. I find it much more…

I am on a roll

I have been very disciplined about writing for at least 2 hours a day. If the weather is inclement, I get a lot more writing done. I have now passed 80,000 words. I know I will have to cut a lot of material out of the narrative, but I have carefully…

Back at writing again

I am back writing again. I have now finished the first draft of the first two chapters. I have decided to get the information into a readable form then worry about where specific items should be paced. There is just so much information out there…

Taking the plunge

I have finally taken the plunge and started writing the book. I have so much material on the Senators/Aristocrats/Cougars that I felt I had to start writing while I could still remember what I had read in my research. I have written 4 pages…

Back at work transcribing

I am back to transcribing old newspaper articles for my hockey research and just had to share the report of a PCHL game between the Seattle Eskimos and the Portland Buckaroos on January 25, 1929. This sound like quite a game -- it sounds like…

Good luck wishes needed

This week I completed a nomination of the 1965-66 Victoria Maple Leafs to the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame. As I noted earlier, they are the only professional hockey team from Victoria that won a championship in their league that is…

Almost there!

I am so close to documenting the 1925 Stanley Cup win. I just started dictating information from the 1924-25 season into my database. It is exciting to read the articles even if I know what happens in the end. The Victoria Cougars were not that…

And players complain today about bad ice!

I just had to share this newspaper account of a game played in Edmonton between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Victoria Cougars on December 9, 1923. The game was played on natural ice, and from the account, it was less than acceptable. " Playing…

Things I learned today

Today while I was dictating data from old newspapers into my mega database, I found out when the penalty shot was scored. According to December 1921 newspapers, the rule was brought in to provides a free shot for an attacking team where  a…

Strange coincidence

While I was dictating material into my day-by-day database, I discovered that a distant cousin of my husband's had dropped the puck in a ceremonial face-off to start the 1919 season in Vancouver. What are the odds of that? I could not believe…

Contact made with descendants

One of my emails sent out last week has yielded results. After a Google search on "Eddie Oatman" I found a family tree that had him in it. I sent an email off to the contact person and he responded. I now have family photos of Eddie Oatman,…

Sometimes you have to take advantage of the situation

Yesterday, I was part of Five Hole for Food in Victoria. I was part of the VIP game and ended up with a really cool team. One of my team-mates was Mike Walker from CHEK-TV so I asked him how to get in contact with Ryan Wade who both played and…