Vic High and Ice Hockey
In 1911 two ice hockey brothers originally from Montreal, Lester and Frank Patrick, moved to the BC coast with the dream of expanding professional ice hockey to Western Canada. The moderate west-coast climate demanded the creation of artificial ice rinks. That year they built the first artificial ice arena in Canada, on Denman Street in Vancouver, a building that held 10,500 spectators. Later the same year they built the Patrick Arena in what was then the remote municipality of Oak Bay, Victoria, strategically purchasing lots adjacent to streetcar tracks.
The Patrick Arena opened in Victoria with a public skating session on Christmas Day, 1911. The first hockey game between The Royals, from New Westminster, and the Victoria Professional Ice Hockey Club, later known aswere thwarted by the hockey wars connected with the National Hockey Association, the forerunner of today’s NHL. Many well-known eastern based professionals were also heading west, deserting the financial confusion of the eastern leagues. This created a large draw of talented players and a huge demand for ice time for prospective teams. Ten teams expressed interest in joining a senior amateur league; however, the December 12, 1911 reported that owner and arena executive Lester Patrick could not accommodate ten teams “clamouring for admittance to the league and that an intermediate league should be formed to share the ice time”. This allowed two teams to practice during the allotted ice time. It was a sly business deal.
