Preston Rivulettes

The Preston Rivulettes were inducted into the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. Although there is no clear origin, speculation is that an incident occurred in 1930 at Lowther St. Arena. The Preston Rivulettes girls softball team were pondering their future and a member of the team suggested hockey. The story is that an onlooker scoffed at the idea and challenged them.

The first nine members of the team were:

The Rivulettes played teams from Ontario cities such as Toronto, Kitchener, Stratford, London, Hamilton, Guelph and Port Dover. Over the years, other players represented the Rivulettes team. These included: Violet Hall, Sheila Lahey, Gladys Hawkins, Norma Hipel, Ruth Dargel, Elvas Williams, Fay Hilborn, Winnie Makcrow and Eleanor Fairgrieves, Midge Robertson and Marie Bielstein.

Between 1930 and 1940, the team played an estimated 350 games. They lost only two and tied three. For the entire decade of the 1930s, the Rivulettes were the winners of the Bobby Rosenfeld Trophy. The trophy was given to the Ontario champions. In addition, the Rivulettes were six-time winners of the Eastern Canadian championship and the Elmer Doust Cup (the honour for winning the Eastern Canadian championship). The team also won the Lady Bessborough Trophy (given to Canadian Champions) six times.

The Rivulettes were invited to play games in 1939 in Europe, but were unable due to the start of World War II. In 1963, the club was inducted into the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Preston Rivulettes would join the Ladies Ontario Hockey Association (LOHA) in January 1931. In their first season, the Rivulettes played the Port Dover Sailorettes in the LOHA quarterfinals. The Rivulettes would beat London in the semi-finals, and proceed to beat Pembroke in the LOHA Finals.

In winter 1933, Lady Bessborough, the wife of Governor General of Canada Lord Bessborough donated a championship trophy for the Dominion Women’s Amateur Hockey Association. The trophy would be contested between the Edmonton Rustlers and the Rivulettes.

In the championship game, the Rivulettes were down by a score of 2-0. They came back to tie the game, but Hazel Case of the Rustlers scored the game-winning goal. In 1934, the Rivulettes were not able to raise the $1,800 to stage a rematch with the Rustlers.

Although their early success would promote women’s hockey, by 1938, their later success would prove to be an organization challenge to the LOHA governing body. From 1931 to 1935, the Rivulettes were undefeated and won five consecutive provincial championships.

Many ladies teams in Ontario did not want to join the LOHA because they felt they had no chance of winning. The Rivulettes success caused the number of member teams to decrease. The decision was for the LOHA to create an A League and a B League. The B League would include first year teams, and teams that were not at a high skill level. LOHA president Bobbie Rosenfeld found it to be the only way to increase the number of member teams.

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Wikipedia