Mutchmor Rink hosts 15th Capital Ward Cup
The Glebe Goal-Getters (in black) play the OOE Hosers (in green), Miles Krauter officiating.
Capital Ward Cup players in green are the OOE Hosers and those in blue are the OOS Moose.
Front row /kneeling (from left): Erika Ehrenberg, Bridget Moore, Andy Moore, Andrew Matsukubo, Randy Boswell. Rear: Noah Killeen, Yasir Naqvi, Ryan Morrison, Brad Scott, Shawn Veinot, Ross Anderson, Mackenzie Tobin, Mathew Pearson, Maya Launiere, Louis Denis, Ian White, Mark Dance, Shawn Menard, Miles Krauter.
Photos: John Dance
Mutchmor Rink hosts 15th Capital Ward Cup
By David Wylynko
The patchwork Mutchmor Rink in the Glebe hosted the raucous Capital Ward Cup community shinny tournament on February 8 before a boisterous standing-room-only crowd – the only option, given that the venue lacks bleachers!
The Glebe Goal-Getters team mounted a spirited campaign for the 15th rendition of the event that former Capital Ward councillor Clive Doucet founded in 2008 but fell in successive games to the Old Ottawa East Hosers and the Old Ottawa South Moose. The game consists of four-on-four hockey with no goalies and no equipment other than helmets, gloves, sticks and skates.
Glebe, unfortunately, was eliminated from contention at the outset of the tournament, when Capital Ward Councillor Shawn Menard acknowledged that the team lacked the requisite female skaters. At all times, the rules require that each team put at least one female on the ice.
“Most females who play hockey are already committed all weekend,” lamented one disgruntled player, recognizing that beyond the confines of the Capital Ward Cup, women’s hockey is thriving nationwide. Later that same evening, in fact, the annual Rivalry Series saw Canada’s women’s national team cap off a third consecutive win in its annual competition against the United States, matching a feat the Hosers achieved at the Capital Ward Cup earlier in the day.
This year, the four-team tournament was rounded out by the Heron Park Hackers, who mounted a team for the first time since the tournament was last hosted at this same venue in 2020, just before the COVID pandemic shut down the world. The Hackers, however, also lacked the requisite females.
As astute hockey observers will discern, the Cup is the prototype for the 4 Nations Face-Off which Canada won with a breathtaking 3-2 overtime win in the tournament final against the U.S. The debt that the 4 Nations Face-Off owes to the Capital Ward Cup for borrowing its format has, sadly, thus far gone unacknowledged.
Admittedly, the Face-Off boasted somewhat more talented rosters, consisting of many of the best NHL players. But the Capital Ward Cup prides itself on being equally competitive and historically just as engaged in what some sports commentators called a “fierce” battle in the round-robin game between Canada and the U.S., when three fights broke out in the first nine seconds.
In years past, the Cup has featured no shortage of tussles, broken sticks, bone-crunching illegal bodychecks, trips that send players Bobby-Orr-style airborne and all-out brawls – though the latter usually occur in the warming hut as players jostle for the free coffee and donuts.
The Cup circulates among rinks in each of the four neighbourhoods. The 2020 event took place mere months after the historic Mutchmor Rink was restored – sort of – after having been dismantled in 2013 to accommodate this or that requirement related to the Mutchmor Public School expansion.
Unfortunately, the City of Ottawa and an impressive roster of acronyms, including the GCA, GNAG and the OCDSB, were unable to agree to restore a full-size ice surface. Rather, in classic political style, the powers that be agreed to meet halfway, the result being a rink roughly half the usual size. For the Cup, the result was a lot of close checking and tight play. Absent were the usual stretch passes and high-energy, end-to-end rushes typical of Cup events played elsewhere.
But true to its historic roots – the original Mutchmor Rink having hosted enthusiastic shinny hockey since the 1930s – the location with its makeshift plywood boards is reminiscent of hockey’s origins, resembling the 1884 McGill University rink where the first known photo of outdoor hockey in Canada was taken. That makes the Mutchmor Rink an enduring symbol of the greatness of one of Canada’s most beloved outdoor winter pastimes. Just be careful on that rough ice.
For the record: the OOE Hosers defeated Heron Park 9-5 and the Glebe Goal-Getters 11-3, to go to the final, and the OOS Moose defeated Glebe 9-6 and Heron Park 6-5 to go to the final, which was won by the OOE Hosers 7-3.
Writer David Wylynko is the manager of the Old Ottawa South Moose. His hockey novel Puck Luck and latest non-fiction book The True Canadians are available at Black Squirrel Books.