Vintage Team Canada Cards

Over the last few months I have been picking up alot of old Olympic hockey cards, mostly from ebay. These are mainly German in origin issued either as postcards or as premiums with food or tobacco products. They really are cool looking cards and do spice up the den nicely.

The card above is a tobacco card commemorating the 1928 Olympics and pictures Canada in action. The University of Toronto Grads represented Canada in these games in St. Moritz, Switzerland and they outscored opponents 38-0 in winning the gold. The coach of the squad was none other than Conn Smythe. The back of the card loosely translates; "Ice hockey is the fastest fighting game in the world. Canada is the homeland of this game. It's crew accomplished feats, not only Olympic champion, but could not be defeated by any enemy in Europe."





This next card is the only English one I have and comes from a set entitled "Sporting Events and Stars". Issued in 1935, the rear of the card says in part; "The world's fastest game- too fast even for the camera to focus clearly. An exciting tussle showing the Winnipeg Monarchs, the Champions of the World, pressing home an attack on the Wembley Lions, the premier British team." Incidentally, within a season of touring Europe at least three of the Monarchs had returned to England to play for the same Wembley Lions team.



The next three cards were issued after the 1936 Olympics held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Canada was represented by the Port Arthur Bearcats. The first one is Canada vs. Austria which was won by Canada 5-2.
Next one pictures Canada against Latvia, won 11-0 by Canada.



The last card shows Canada vs USA battling for the Silver medal as Great Britain would win the Gold. Canada won this match 1-0.







This next card depicts a little known star of early international hockey, Dr. Blake Watson. He would play for and coach the University of Manitoba Grads to the World title in 1931. He lived and played throughout Europe from 1925 to 1933. At various times he played for teams in Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia. This card was issued in Bulgaria in 1932 and the back loosely translates; "The Canadians are the best hockey players in the world. They have proven this in numerous combat and between their Olympic victories. Tremendous speed and power are enormous in their play. As gleaming ice hockey player in the world is the canoe, Dr. Watson, the hockey-king."




I'm not sure what the "canoe" reference is, possibly a poor translation by Google Translate.









This last card is my favourite. It's from the same 1936 set as the others above. It shows simply the entire Team Canada bench during a break in play. As near as I can figure, the first three players from the left are defenceman Walter 'Pud' Kitchen, goalie Francis 'Dinty' Moore and centre Hugh Farquharson who led the tournament in scoring with 21 points.

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