On Remembrance Day, it’s worth noting that Canadian junior hockey players have long chased trophies honouring Canada’s soldiers.
The Memorial Cup goes to the country’s major junior hockey champions. The Memorial Cup was first presented in 1919 and it now commemorates all soldiers who died fighting for Canada. One of those was Edward “Hick” Abbott, an Ontario product who moved to Regina and became a superb all-around athlete, excelling at hockey, before becoming a war hero, earning a Military Cross and dying in the First World War.
Abbott’s name was placed on a trophy for the team that won the Western Canadian junior hockey championship. Regina Patricia, who were named after a Canadian infantry unit, won the first of the franchise’s 11 Abbott Cups in 1919. The Abbott Cup was later awarded to the junior A champs of Western Canada, before it was retired in 1999.
Among the 25 winners from Saskatchewan are the Saskatoon Wesleys, Moose Jaw Canucks, Estevan Bruins, Weyburn Red Wings, Prince Albert Raiders, Notre Dame Hounds and Melfort Mustangs. All bonded together as part of Canadian history, along with Edward “Hick” Abbott.