These eight young lasses were members of the Gore Bay girl’s hockey team on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. The squad consisted of (left to right) Jean Buchanan (Purvis), Annie Buchanan, Mae Bryan, Irene Porter, Bernice Kemp, Elva McIntosh, Jean Purvis, and goalie Jean McGregor.

Coach Melvin Lougheed helped guide the team to a winning championship in 1921. These women were by no means the first female hockey players in Canada. Lady Isabel, daughter of Governor General Lord Stanley, and her teammates were photographed playing a game of shinny back in 1890. The Montreal Gazette reported, “All the ladies are particularly fine skaters and played excellently.”

Women’s hockey had become increasingly popular by the time this photo was taken. The long skirts of earlier years had given way to baggy trousers or bloomers that were elasticized at the knees. The Gore Bay team’s uniform was completed with striped woolen leggings, matching sweaters, and toques. However, they had little protective gear and were given only a few hours of ice time per week by the men’s club.

Starting in the 1930s there was a decline in women’s hockey and momentum was not regained until the 1960s. By the 1990s, women’s hockey was again all the rage. Women’s hockey made its Olympic debut at Nagano, Japan, in 1998. However, in 1921 the ladies of Manitoulin Island were content just to play the game they loved.

Alex Purvis is the son of Jean Purvis (née Buchanan). He resides in Port Colborne, Ontario.