THE KÜTNE READER

The Trail Smoke Eaters’ famous logo has seen far more changes in the last 90 years than you think. So have their sweaters.

Larry Kwong was the first Chinese Canadian to play senior hockey in the Kootenays. But he was not the only one.

Before Evel Knievel was a motorcycle stuntman, he was Bob Knievel, hockey player.

The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s beginnings have long been mired in confusion. The league’s own website is wrong.

Exactly when did legendary Trail Smoke Eaters goaltender start wearing a mask? And was it before or after Jacques Plante did the same thing?

From 1927 to 1934, Nelson’s senior men’s hockey team changed names four times. Why? Finding out is proving more challenging than I expected.

Sandon produced a Hall of Fame NHL goaltender. But Tiny Thompson’s relationship with his birthplace has not been explored — until now.

Did former Montreal Wanderers goalie Art Boyce (aka Boyes) play for Nelson in 1917? Spoiler: no. It’s a case of mistaken identity.

The first professional hockey player born in BC was from Nelson.

The remarkable postcard seen below sold in 2020 on eBay for $168 Cdn. It’s a previously unknown image of the Patrick Lumber Camp No. 1 near Slocan City and was mailed from Slocan to a Miss Nellie Moore of Truro, Nova Scotia on Jan. 26, 1909. The message reads, verbatim: “what do you think of a lumber jacks home in BC in a ceader swamp.” While I can’t say for certain, the fellow in the light-coloured shirt in the first row could be hockey legend Lester Patrick, whose father Jo

You heard it here last: Larry Kwong , the NHL’s first player of Asian descent and the oldest Trail Smoke Eaters alumnus, died on March 15, 2018 in Calgary, age 94. Kwong played for Trail in 1941-42 and 1945-46. I was reminded of him today when I came across the team program for 1946-47 at the Selkirk College Archives, which featured his picture and biography (seen at right and below). Though he only stood 5-foot-6, Kwong had a giant nickname: King Kwong. The Vernon native wa

I recently came across a charming anecdote about hockey legend Lester Patrick in West Kootenay that I had never seen before — and in fact found several slightly different versions of it. The first appeared in the Toronto Star Weekly of June 27, 1936 as follows: RECALLS PATRICK UNKNOWN MAESTRO Lester preceded fame to coast — Wanted by Slocans Nelson — Reputations did not travel very fast into this West Kootenay country 30 years ago. So Carl Lindow, now postmaster at Salmo, 15

From 1909 until the early 1950s, the Cornwall Cup was awarded for the men’s hockey championship of the Slocan. Officially engraved as the Slocan District Hockey Trophy, at least six towns played for it at various times: Slocan City, Silverton, New Denver, Sandon, Nakusp, and Kaslo — even though the latter two are not in the Slocan. Sandon had a head start on the other Slocan cities, icing its first team in 1897. There was no league back then — just a series of exhibition game

On Sept. 4 and 5, 1999, Trail hosted a reunion of Western International Hockey League players and officials. The senior league existed from 1946 to 1987, succeeding the West Kootenay Hockey League. The mainstays were the Trail Smoke Eaters, Nelson Maple Leafs, Spokane Spartans/Flyers/Jets/Chiefs, Kimberley Dynamiters, and Cranbrook Royals. Other teams included the Rossland Warriors, Elk Valley Blazers, Portland Buckaroos, Calgary Stampeders, Los Angeles Ramblers, and East Koo

A previous post enumerated historical finds I have made only to lose track of them or fail to document their discovery, to my everlasting chagrin. Here are a few more. WIHL reunion photos The Western International Hockey League, which existed from 1946 to 1988, included teams from Nelson, Trail, Rossland, Cranbrook, Kimberley, Spokane and Fernie — plus at various times Los Angeles , Portland, and Calgary. In 1999, former players held a gala reunion in Trail. I did impromptu

I devoted an earlier post to West Kootenay sites associated with hockey’s Patrick family, including the Crescent Valley beach, where the...

A previous post looked at surviving West Kootenay landmarks related to the Patrick family, hockey pioneers who lived in Nelson from 1907-11 before founding western Canada’s first professional league. Lester Patrick, as a member of the 1909 Nelson senior hockey club, which won a provincial championship. Their departure — after helping build the Hall Mines arena, guiding the senior men’s team to the 1909 provincial championship, and making noises about challenging for the Stan

From 1907 to 1911, members of the Patrick family lived in Nelson while operating a lumber company that owned timber limits in the Slocan Valley. The Patricks shaped hockey as we know it, introducing innovations such as the blue line, assists, penalty shot, farm system and playoff system. Brothers Lester and Frank were all-star players, coaches, and managers who led Nelson to a provincial championship in 1909 and made noises about challenging for the Stanley Cup . Sisters Dora

Here’s a gallery of photos I took on March 3, 2003 during filming in Rossland of the Kurt Russell movie Miracle . Columbia Avenue was transformed into 1980 Lake Placid, New York and Washington Street became Wabasha, Minnesota. The latter name must have been an inside joke: although US hockey coach Herb Brooks, whom Russell portrayed, was head coach of the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team in the 1970s, Wabasha (current population 2,500) had nothing to do with the Mira

The last surviving members of what was probably the strangest hockey team ever to play in the Kootenay have died. Terry Cavanagh (pictured above) passed away in Edmonton on Dec. 17, 2017 at 91 followed by Max Labovitch in Winnipeg on Jan. 14, 2018 at 93. Both skated for the Los Angeles Ramblers of the Western International Hockey League in 1946-47, a circuit that also included teams from Trail, Nelson, Kimberley, and Spokane. Whoever thought this was a good idea financially