02/22/2026
While the Victorian era (ending in 1901) predates the official Winter Olympic Games, which began in 1924, Canada was already establishing itself as a premier winter sport nation during this period. The foundation for Canada's later Olympic dominance was laid through the development of hockey, skating, and snow sports in the late 19th century.
Winter Sports in Canada (Victorian Era: 1837–1901)
• Ice Hockey: Invented in Canada in the 1800s, by the 1880s, organized teams existed in cities like Montreal, Halifax, and Ottawa.
• Figure Skating: Louis Rubenstein, a prominent Canadian, won an unofficial world championship in figure skating in 1890, paving the way for Canada's future in the sport.
• Winter Culture: By the 1880s, winter sports clubs were flourishing in major Canadian cities, though these were often exclusive to affluent, white men.
• Indigenous Influence: Indigenous technologies—such as snowshoes and toboggans—were adopted by settlers, sadly though, Indigenous peoples were largely excluded from these new, organized sport organizations.
On this day in 1924, Canada won Gold in hockey at the first Winter Olympics.
After winning hockey gold at the Summer Olympics in 1920, Canada won every single game and outscored their opponents 132 to 3 in 1924.
Let's learn more about when Canada won Gold!
In 1920, the Winnipeg Falcons won the first Olympic gold in hockey.
In 1924, the Toronto Granites, who won the 1923 Allan Cup, were chosen to represent Canada at the Olympics in Chamonix, France.
Learn more about the Falcons 👇
https://canadaehx.com/2025/01/23/the-winnipeg-falcons/
Rather than playing in an indoor arena as they were used to, the Toronto Granites would play outdoors.
Canada's nine players would take on seven other nations: Belgium, Sweden, the United States, Switzerland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and France.
Canada was in Group A. In their first game they beat Czechoslovakia 30-0. In their next game they defeated Sweden 22-0 and then Switzerland 33-0.
Over the course of that first round in Group A, Canada won every game and outscored their opponents 85-0.
Canada advanced to the final round with the United States, Great Britain and Sweden. The United States were also undefeated and outscored their opponents 52-0.
Referees were selected by drawing names out of a hat.
At this point, the Final Round began.
On Feb. 1, 1924, Canada defeated Great Britain 19-2. The USA defeated Sweden 20-0, which led to the matchup of Canada vs the United States in the gold medal game.
Great Britain defeated Sweden 4-3 to win the bronze medal at the Games.
In the Gold Medal Game on Feb. 3, 1924, Canada and the USA had a close first period. Canada led 2-1 at the end of the period.
At that point, Canada took over and scored four goals in the next two periods to win the game 6-1 and capture Canada's second hockey gold.
In the tournament, Harry Watson led all other players in scoring. In five games he had an astounding 37 goals and nine assists for 46 points.
Watson accounted for over one-quarter of all the goals scored by Canada during the Olympic tournament.
Of the nine players on the Toronto Granites that won gold in 1924, four players played in the NHL (Bert McCaffrey, Dunc Munro, Beattie Ramsay and Hooley Smith), winning four Stanley Cups.
Hooley Smith and Harry Watson were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
I hope you enjoyed that look at Canada and hockey gold in 1924.
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