1910s

1910-11 Many of the players who had first played professional hockey here in the Copper Country are in the First set of hockey cards ever printed! The first hockey card set was printed in 1910; that is, collectors accept the "C56" set issued by Imperial Tobacco as the first hockey card set, the 36-card set features a host of Hall-of-Famers, early stars, and hockey legends including many who played their first professional hockey games right here in Houghton. The cards measure 1.5 inches by 2.625 inches and are printed in full-color. The card number appears in the top left corner, just inside a white border. The player’s name and hockey club appear in small print on the bottom border. The players in the original 36 card set are, with local Portage Lake players noted:
Card number 1 Frank Patrick; 2 Percy Lesueur; 3 Gordon Roberts; 4 Barney Holden; 5 Frank "Pud" Glass; 6 Edgar Dey; 7 Marty Walsh; 8 Art Ross; 9 Angus Campbell; 10 Harry Hyland; 11 Herb Clark; 12 Art Ross (two cards for Ross in this set); 13 Ed Decary; 14 Tom Dunderdale; 15 Cyclone Taylor; 16 Joseph Cattarinich; 17 Bruce Stuart; 18 Nick Bawif; 19 Jim Jones; 20 Ernie Russell; 21 Jack Laviolette; 22 Riley Hern; 23 Didier "Pit" Pitre; 24 Skinner Poulin; 25 Art Bernier; 26 Lester Patrick; 27 Fred Lake; 28 Paddy Moran; 29 C. Toms; 30 Moose Johnson; 31 Horace Gaul; 32 Harold McNamara; 33 Jack Marshall; 34 Bruce Ridpath; 35 Jack Marshall; 36 Newsy Lalonde. The entire set of these cards in mint condition "books" for around $10,000. Some individual cards in this set can be priced at $1,000 in mint condition including local Portage Lake players Riley Hern and Cyclone Taylor.

1912 The Portage Lake team "was a powerhouse with such players as Paul Hogan, Doc Tamblyn, Bill Trathen, and Matt Sicotte and goalie Carlos "Cub" Haug who was regarded as the top goalie in the league that season." according to Paul Peterson, Daily Mining Gazette.

1912 Presidential Candidate Teddy Roosevelt spoke at the Amphidrome on October 10, 1912.

1912-13 Portage Lake won the U.S. Amateur Championship after defeating Cleveland. Members of this team were: .... If you have a picture of this team, please Contact the webmaster.

1913 The Coliseum Ice Rink was built by the Calumet Storage Company for general community use. The state bought the building in 1942 to house the local Home Guard unit after the nearby Guard facility was destroyed by fire; since then it has been called the Calumet Armory.... A skating and dancing party in the Colliseum on Christmas in 1919, following WWI, brought out 1,700 skaters and dancers. This ice rink is the oldest in the Copper Country. (The Amphidrome was built in 1902, but after being burned to the ground in 1927, it was built anew in 1928.) The Armory is currently being used and maintained jointly by the Michigan Army National Guard and the Calumet Hockey Association.

1913 James MacNaughton, then Superintendant of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, pictured here in 1901, was an avid supporter of amateur ice hockey; he funded the purchase of a cup trophy "price didn't matter" by the American Hockey Association to present to the Association's Championship team at the end of the season. The "MacNaughton Cup" as it is called, was made of pure silver, stands nearly three feet high and weighs almost 40 pounds. It's purchase price was $2,000. The Cup was first won by the Cleveland Ohio Athletic Club, and remained with the American Hockey Association from 1914 until 1932. From 1933 to 1950, the Cup was played for only by semi-pro and intermediate hockey clubs in the Copper Country (in Michigan's Western Upper Peninsula) In 1951, MacNaughton's daughter and son in law, Mr. & Mrs. Endicott R. Lovell, arranged that the Cup be donated to the newly formed Western Intercollegiate Hockey League (WIHL) by the Calumet and Hecla Company. E.R. Lovell was president of the C&H Company at the time and an avid supporter of amateur ice hockey. The WIHL, composed of Michigan Tech, Colorado College, Denver, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and North Dakota, awarded the trophy to its regular season champion until the WIHL was disbanded in March, 1958. After no league play the following season, the seven teams resumed formal competition in the 1959-60 season under the new name Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and awarded the Cup to the regular season champion from 1960 to 1982. (In 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965 the Cup went to the WCHA's playoff champion.) Michigan Tech left the WCHA for the 1981-82 season and joined the Central Collegiate Hockey Association they took the MacNaughton Cup with them and presented it to the CCHA's regular season winner. When Michigan Tech returned to the WCHA in the 1984-85 season, the Cup returned to WCHA also, as Michigan Tech is the trustee of the MacNaughton Cup, the most historic trophy in college hockey. Michigan Tech has won the MacNaughton Cup seven times.

January 1916, two women's teams played a well advertised hockey game in the Glaciadom in Mohawk. "The Calumet News" article reads: "WOMEN TO PLAY HOCKEY. Fair Sex to Chase Puck in the Glaciadom Friday Evening. A decidedly novel offering will take place in the Glaciadom at Mohawk Friday evening of this week when a team of married women will meet a septet of young ladies in a hockey game. The introduction of the fair sex in the Canadian game is a radical departure in copper country sporting circles, but the Mohawk ladies modestly claim they are as adept at puck chasing as the stronger sex. The unmarried team will line-up as follows: Goal, Lillian Aho; point, Nina Nordstrom; cover point, Carrie Prisk; rover, Elizabeth Probsfelt; center, Edith Kinsel; left wing, Marie Dawd; right wing, Francis Diring."
Note adjacent articles in the newspaper are announcing that Ottawa will bring their men's hockey team here and that cement is being considered for use in road making.

January 1916
The Calumet News

On March 17, 1916, the Portland, Oregon PCHL team made up of 9 players including Calumet born Charles Eksila, stopped off here to play an exhibition game in the Amphidrome against a team of Northern Michigan players. (The local season had ended some time before, so players from across the UP had to be gathered for the game.) The game ended in a 7-6 win for Portland. The Portland team left that night for Canada where they played a series of games against Montreal for the Stanley Cup; making Charles Uksila the first American born hockey player to participate in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The UP All Star team included Jack Adams, who later became the coach of the Detroit Red Wings; Adams had played the 1915-16 season with the Calumet team. The 18 March 1916 Calumet News says: "The game was witnessed by the biggest crowd of the season and for a time, the fans anticipated a victory for the All-Star seven who piled up four scores before the visitors succeeded in making their first tally. Handicapped by a lack of combination work and somewhat confused by the fifteen minute period rule, the All Star team put up an excellent exhibition. ...The Oregonian team is composed of professional players ...., furthermore, the visitors have been playing together through the season while the Upper Peninsula team has had the advantage of only 2 nights of training, and the players have relaxed since the Western league season ended. The Portland team left last night for Montreal where they will play the Canadians for possession of the Stanley Cup, the first of the series taking place Monday night."