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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The Dinner was held at the Magpie Tea Rooms, Collins Street where the premiership cup was presented to Beaver Club captain Roy Marks. Hockey players began to practice upon the opening of the ice skating season. A match was held between a Blues and Whites team during a carnival on 27 July 1918. 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.
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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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
World War II Initial reports stated that ice hockey would be discontinued for the entirety of the 1941 season due to the activity of World War II but the
Victorian Ice Hockey Association decided to continue the inter-rink competition. Enlistments had reduced the numbers for senior players but the focus on improving the standard of junior players would be relied upon to raise the senior competition standard. Each rink was still represented by an ice hockey club with the
St. Moritz Bombers Ice Hockey Club at
St. Moritz Ice Palais and the
Glaciarium Rangers Ice Hockey Club operating in the
Melbourne Glaciarium. The combined membership between both clubs exceeded 100 players but key players would be subject to compulsory participation in World War II and enlistments. One such key player was Canadian Hugh Lloyd who became a member of the R.A.A.F. leaving a vacancy in the coaching role at the Glaciarium that veteran ice hockey player Alfred Massina would need to fill. Due to incidents that occurred in the inter-rink game between the
St. Moritz Bombers and
Glaciarium Rangers where fighting occurred between players which included involvement with spectators and 3 players being ordered off the ice, an ongoing ban continued to be in place against these 3
St. Moritz Bombers players from playing in the
Melbourne Glaciarium. Before the season would start, the
St. Moritz Bombers Ice Hockey Club held a meeting on 25 May 1941 and decided that if the
Melbourne Glaciarium management refused to lift the ban on these 3 players, the
St. Moritz Bombers would not submit a team to compete against the
Glaciarium Rangers in the inter-rink competition this year. Meanwhile, the
Glaciarium Rangers Ice Hockey Club had decided to create their own house league and formed 4 new teams that would play exclusively at the
Melbourne Glaciarium. These teams were:
Collingwood,
Hawthorn,
South Melbourne and
Essendon. The events of World War II would result in the Victorian Ice Hockey Association ceasing operations, with the last meeting being held in the
Melbourne Glaciarium 29 May 1941 with the managers of each ice rink to discuss the future plans for the inter-rink competition, while each rinks hockey club continued independently with their own house league season at their respective home rink. It was later confirmed just before the season that there would be no inter-rink competition for the 1941 season. On 13 July 1941 A campaign was started to make ice hockey a popular sport in post war years, inviting juveniles between the ages of 12–14 to put on skates and receive coaching from senior members of the
St. Moritz Bombers Ice Hockey Club. Over 30 young people attended.
Post World War II and Modern Hockey After ceasing activity as an association during the events of World War II in 1941, the first post-war meeting was held in
St. Moritz Ice Rink at 8:15pm on 6 May 1946. The meeting was attended by 45 members and prospective members and the first order of business was to elect a chairperson and Secretary for the meeting to dissolve the previous committee and elect a new one. Ted Molony, Manager of the
Melbourne Glaciarium was elected president but resigned in the following meeting 10 days later to be replaced by Syd Hiort. It was on this same day in the second meeting on the evening of 16 May 1946 that the Association would form 4 new clubs and plan the 1946 Season and new player permit cards, the first season for a few years. The 4 new clubs were
Eastern Suburbs,
Western Suburbs,
Southern Suburbs and
Northern Suburbs. ==Interstate competition==