Winnipeg Falcons, who became 1st Olympic hockey champs 100 years ago, to be celebrated at Gimli's Ice Fest
Falcons team, mostly Icelandic players, swept the 1920 Olympics in Belgium
The Winnipeg players who became the first Olympic hockey championship team a century ago are being celebrated in Gimli, Man., this weekend.
The Winnipeg Falcons — a hockey team mostly made up of Icelandic players — went to the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, where they won every game they played.
"Like any Icelander over the last number of years, [I feel] very proud of what the team was able to accomplish," said Steve Perkins, grandson of the Falcons' Haldor (Slim) Halderson.
"Going from playing in an outlaw league, where nobody would allow them to play, to the point where they won the Allan Cup, and then proceeding to Belgium to win the first hockey competition in Olympic history, is really something that we're proud of — and it leaves a mark."
The town of Gimli — about 85 kilometres north of Winnipeg — is hosting its annual Ice Festival this weekend, and one of the events will pay homage to the Winnipeg Falcons.
The festival, which features a range of family activities, will include two hours of pond hockey Saturday afternoon, dedicated to the Falcons. The first hour will be a men's game and the second will be mixed, said organizer Kim Malchuk.
Perkins, who now owns his grandfather's Olympic gold medal, will do a ceremonial puck drop at the game.
Discriminated against for their immigrant background, the Falcons formed a few years before the First World War broke out, because nobody else would let them play.
The men who played for the team went overseas to fight, and two of them didn't come home. But the Falcons reassembled for the 1919-20 season.
After winning their division in the Winnipeg league, the squad won the provincial championship, then the Western Hockey League title.
Then the Falcons defeated the University of Toronto 11-5, winning the Allan Cup — for Canada's top men's amateur team — and earning the right to represent Canada at the 1920 Olympics.
The Falcons continued their winning ways in Belgium, beating Czechoslovakia 15-0, the United States 2-0, then Sweden 12-1 to take home the title.
When the eight players returned to Winnipeg, they were met with a huge parade and people were given a half-day holiday so they could attend.
But after that, the story of the Falcons was largely forgotten until the early 2000s, when Hockey Canada recognized them as the first Canadian team to win an Olympic hockey tournament.
The team was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Committee Hall of Fame in 2006, and is also in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In 2014, a Heritage Minute, starring Jared Keeso, was devoted to the team.
"Up until recently, I didn't really know the story myself," said Peter Holfeuer, one of the Gimli Ice Festival organizers.
"Once you really dig into it and find out some of the historical significance and what these individuals back in 1920 really did — what an amazing feat in hockey … for Canada."
Malchuk says when Holfeuer mentioned the centennial to her, her response was "whatever you want to do for the Winnipeg Falcons, I'm in."
"I'm a sucker for underdogs, and this was an underdog story that ended up being a momentous world story that should be told, and people should know."
Perkins wishes he learned about his family ties to the team before his grandfather, Haldor Halderson, died.
By the time Perkins got to know his grandfather, "he didn't say a lot, he didn't do a lot. He wasn't very mobile."
When he died, Perkins was given Halderson's Olympic medal — and that was when he started studying his grandfather's hockey career, which also included a Stanley Cup.
Perkins describes his grandfather as "a very large man" who, in 1920, stood at six feet, four inches, and probably weighed close to 200 pounds.
"He was quite a prolific scorer and his name is on the Stanley Cup — 1925 — and he had quite an illustrious career in professional hockey."
Halderson played for the Western Canada Hockey League's Victoria Cougars, and they beat the Montreal Canadiens in a best-of-five Stanley Cup series in 1925.
It was the last time a team outside the NHL won the Cup.
Watch the 'underdog story' of the Winnipeg Falcons:
The win also made Halderson, and his teammate Frank Fredrickson, the first players to win an Olympic gold medal and a Stanley Cup.
When Halderson retired from pro hockey in 1937, he had played 656 professional hockey games — the most in history at that time.
Even though his grandfather's team is still not well-known, Perkins believes the story of the Winnipeg Falcons will never die.
"Every time these things come up and they're just sort of mentioned in conversation, people look at you and say, 'Well, how do you know about this?'" he said.
"Now you start going through the story all over again, and it's like a mushroom — it spreads and just never ends."
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With files from Cameron MacIntosh