PrimumHockeyist
Registered User
March 20, 2022
Below please find a screen grab of Joe Cope's FULL letter to a Halifax newspaper from the 1940s, taken from The Game of Hockey – A Mi’kmaw Story, a video by April and Cheryl Maloney.
Joe Cope’s full letter
I stretched the image to make it more readable. If it isn't, my apologies. Consider downloading the image and making your own adjustments. With their approval, I added the green text overlay to make it known that the Maloney sisters are living relatives of 'The Great Great One'. My hope is that others will reach out to April and Cheryl, should they have other important information that relates to the Mi'kmaws' legacy. The Maloney sisters are to be applauded for introducing what may be first serious attempt to gather what we know about the Mi'kmaws' contribution to early ice hockey. An earlier free version of their video can be viewed near the end my HHOF nomination essay. Just look for the split image of a wooden puck and a passage from the Nova Scotia archivist, Dr. Charles Bruce Fergusson's 1965 essay, 'Early Hockey at Halifax'.
"Old Joe Cope's" full statement certainly changed my perception of how what I'd thought he said fits or does not fit in the prevailing views of early hockey history. More generally, I see it as a reminder that our historical paradigms will remain inherently inadequate until we give Mi'kmaq evidence the same level of consideration that we have of contemporary colonial and post-colonial mainstream sources.
Some of this information clearly calls for a reconsideration of long-held tenets regarding the evolution of ice hockey. For example, Cope's letter raises the strong possibility that the Mi'kmaq introduced the 'idea' of face-offs to ice hockey before 1877. To some it may now seem the more likely explanation since James Creighton introduced Montrealers to a Nova Scotia game after he moved to Montreal in 1872. More importantly, I would say that this 'discovery' calls for a group discussion or a 'pow wow', as Joe put it in his letter.
So, please enjoy. And if anyone can provide the date of Joe's letter I would be grateful, as the end of his letter reads (to me) like a possible response to Byron Weston's elucidation of Halifax ice hockey rules with James Power from around the same time. Thank you in advance then, to anyone who may be able to share the date of the Weston-Powers piece.
Below please find a screen grab of Joe Cope's FULL letter to a Halifax newspaper from the 1940s, taken from The Game of Hockey – A Mi’kmaw Story, a video by April and Cheryl Maloney.
Joe Cope’s full letter
I stretched the image to make it more readable. If it isn't, my apologies. Consider downloading the image and making your own adjustments. With their approval, I added the green text overlay to make it known that the Maloney sisters are living relatives of 'The Great Great One'. My hope is that others will reach out to April and Cheryl, should they have other important information that relates to the Mi'kmaws' legacy. The Maloney sisters are to be applauded for introducing what may be first serious attempt to gather what we know about the Mi'kmaws' contribution to early ice hockey. An earlier free version of their video can be viewed near the end my HHOF nomination essay. Just look for the split image of a wooden puck and a passage from the Nova Scotia archivist, Dr. Charles Bruce Fergusson's 1965 essay, 'Early Hockey at Halifax'.
"Old Joe Cope's" full statement certainly changed my perception of how what I'd thought he said fits or does not fit in the prevailing views of early hockey history. More generally, I see it as a reminder that our historical paradigms will remain inherently inadequate until we give Mi'kmaq evidence the same level of consideration that we have of contemporary colonial and post-colonial mainstream sources.
Some of this information clearly calls for a reconsideration of long-held tenets regarding the evolution of ice hockey. For example, Cope's letter raises the strong possibility that the Mi'kmaq introduced the 'idea' of face-offs to ice hockey before 1877. To some it may now seem the more likely explanation since James Creighton introduced Montrealers to a Nova Scotia game after he moved to Montreal in 1872. More importantly, I would say that this 'discovery' calls for a group discussion or a 'pow wow', as Joe put it in his letter.
So, please enjoy. And if anyone can provide the date of Joe's letter I would be grateful, as the end of his letter reads (to me) like a possible response to Byron Weston's elucidation of Halifax ice hockey rules with James Power from around the same time. Thank you in advance then, to anyone who may be able to share the date of the Weston-Powers piece.
