Only 100 years late, the long-gone Cougars finally get the Stanley Cup celebration they deserve — but they’re not the only puck stars around here, notes Lucas Aykroyd in a feature for YAM Magazine.
When Shakespeare wrote in Twelfth Night, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” he might have been describing Victoria’s hockey history. We’ve spawned or hosted a disproportionate number of puck milestones, sometimes due to big personalities and sometimes through luck and coincidence.
“Greatness” is a much-abused term nowadays. However, the 1924-25 Victoria Cougars certainly merit it as the last non-National Hockey League team and last B.C. team — take that, Vancouver — to win the Stanley Cup. At a time when no Canadian club has captured the Cup since the 1992-93 Montreal Canadiens with Patrick Roy in net, that’s a good old-fashioned, feel-good story.
Granted, the emphasis is undeniably on “old-fashioned.” For 1925 was the same year Charlie Chaplin released The Gold Rush and F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby. Are you ready to party like your great-, maybe even great-great-grandparents?
