Winnipeg Falcons Hockey Club National Historic Event

Winnipeg, Manitoba
The world's first Olympic hockey champions. This portrait, taken by the team's right defenceman, shows the players aboard the R.M.S. Melita during their nine-day voyage by ship to the Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. (© Johannesson, Konnie / Library and Archives Canada | Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / PA-111330)
Winnipeg Falcons aboard the R.M.S. Melita, 1920
(© Johannesson, Konnie / Library and Archives Canada | Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / PA-111330)
Address : 300 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 2019-07-26
Dates:
  • 1909 to 1923 (Significant)
  • 1932 to 1938 (Significant)

Other Name(s):
  • Winnipeg Falcons Hockey Club  (Designation Name)
Research Report Number: 2018-15

Importance: Hockey team made almost entirely of Icelandic-Canadian players who won the Allan Cup and the first Olympic gold medal for hockey in 1920.

Plaque(s)


The Winnipeg Falcons Hockey Club, founded through the merger of two Icelandic Canadian teams in 1909, rose from a community organization in the West End to become Canadian and Olympic champions. In 1920, the Falcons won the Allan Cup after beating a strong University of Toronto team in Canada’s senior amateur championship. That same year, they represented Canada in Antwerp, Belgium, where they won the first Olympic gold medal for hockey. The skill and sportsmanship of the Icelandic Canadians who dominated this club, named for Iceland’s national bird, have been a source of pride for people of Icelandic descent across the country.