By Cecilia Nasmith

Canada was hockey-mad long before Hockey Night In Canada united the nation in this passion.

Local communities were united for this all-consuming pursuit by the Trent Valley Hockey League, which stretched from Fenelon Falls to Picton for more than 80 years.

The glory days of the league and its meaning for Trent Valley hockey fans is the subject of a new book local author Stewart Richardson has just completed with Dave Barry. And just to sweeten the deal, Ice And Thunder: A History of the Trent Valley Hockey League features a foreword by Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull.

In a recent interview, Stewart traced the league's genesis to

The genesis of the TVL can be traced back to 1899.

The first official hockey game in Montreal took place in 1875, he said - “official” meaning having criteria on rules, referees, number of players and an indoor rink.

“It took off like wildfire. Ten years later, it's in Ontario. Everyone's playing, but there's no organization to set the rules and regulations. The OHA was formed in 1885,” Richardson said.

They established senior centres like Toronto, Peterborough and Lindsay, but realized they needed a smaller echelon. They came up with an OHA junior league that we know as the Junior As.

The TVA came about to serve communities that were really too small for that. They kept some of the OHA rules, but also incorporated some that served their small communities better.

And they were embraced with enthusiasm in this pre-Hockey Night In Canada era.

“It was a big deal,” he said.

“It was nothing to get 1,000 people to a game.”

It was the oldest independent league in Canada, “independent” meaning not affiliated with the OHA (in part because these smaller communities did not always have arenas that met the size requirements of the OHA).

Richardson loves sharing the stories he has found, like the train trips the teams had to take to get to their “away” games and the hijinks that ensued. One of the most remarkable of these stories involves a 1930 Stirling vs. Campbellford championship that was being played in a larger centre with artificial ice. A special train was put on to pick up the team from Campbellford – unfortunately, the same train that would also pick up the team from Stirling. The two teams travelled together to the game and, more importantly, after the game. It's quite a story.

Then there's the debt the league owes to Bata Shoe Company founder Tomas Bata, who established the community of Batawa in Quite West. He brought with him from Czechoslovakia the culture of getting his workers involved in sports. He and his vice-president decided to revive the TVL, and Bata even allowed his vice-president to run the league on company time.

Dave Barry, like Richardson, grew up in Hastings. He retired from the oil-and-gas industry in 2001 and is now active with the Trent Valley archives.

Richardson lives in Cobourg and is active in such community endeavours as the new Ed's House hospice facility. He is also the author of Dit Clapper and the Rise of the Boston Bruins with Richard LeBlanc.

The authors had a lot of material to work with, and have organized it into several broad categories.

Each year gets its own chapter (1951: The Arms Race, for example) along with germane photos such as team shots to accompany the chronicle. But the individual chapters are grouped into different eras.

The Early Era (1900-1916) ended because of World War I. It was followed by The Gala Era (1921-1940) which in turn ended because of World War II. Then there was the Golden Era (1946-1955), followed by the OHA Era (1956-1983).

The TVL collapsed in the fall of 1955, Richardson explained, leaving several of the small communities to convert to fully governed OHA status with intermediate C- or D-level hockey. They continued to operate into the early 1980s and, out of a sense of pride and nostalgia, continued to use the TVA moniker.

There is a listing of all the champions in a separate section, and an honour roll, a map of the area, a story of the league's origins and (of course) more than 100 photos.

“I threw in every photo I could find to try to satisfy every community, plus posters and invitations,” he said, turning to a significant photo of the Cobourg team of 1904-1905. It was the only year they played for the TVL, and they made it to the finals.

“I reprinted a lot of the great articles, which really gives you a sense of how these communities hated each other,” he added.

There are testimonials, poems, posters and reproductions of the trash-talk cards distributed.

Though the term was not known in those days, the concept of trash talk was in full flower. There was no music playing throughout the games, and fans of one side would shout disparaging remark to fans of the other. Sometimes cards were printed up and handed out with suggested talking points.

The photos of the trophies were a special challenge, sending the authors on what Richardson calls “a mad trophy hunt” that was complicated by the fact that, if a team won three times (as Fenelon Falls did), they retired the trophy. They actually isolated one of the trophies from its place in a photograph of a 1905 championship banquet, complete with crossed hockey sticks on the wall and the trophy on someone's table.

The last two pages are blank, where Richardson hopes people will insert their own memories and photos to make the book a real keepsake to be handed down from one generation to another – a fitting idea, since they have documented proof of several instances where three generations of a family played for the TVL.

“It's a regional step back in history,” he said, serving not only as a resource for hockey historians and enthusiasts but also as a glimpse into the colourful culture and heritage of the small towns and villages of the TVL.

Over its long history, the league would be able to boast of hosting nine NHL players, four Stanley Cup winners, two NHL Hockey Hall of Fame inductees, four Olympic or World Hockey champions, one USA hockey pioneer and national coach, one Norwegian hockey pioneer and national coach, several OHA major junior or senior players, and several inductees into the Peterborough and Belleville Sports Hall of Fame, not to mention two Order of Canada recipients.

After three book launches in early November – in Campbellford, Hastings and Tweed – Richardson thinks they have hit a nerve. The authors were pleased to see a handful of former TVL players turn up at the book launches, gentlemen now closing in on their 90s but still keen about their hockey history.

The book is published by Lighthouse Press and is available at Let's TalkBooks in Cobourg.