October 12, 2011
Pucks From The Past
A Review Of Black Ice, Part 2

by Iain Fyffe

Displaying pretext

Last time, we began our look at George and Darril Fosty's Black Ice, a book which presents the history of the Nova Scotia-based Colored Hockey League. We noted that although not nearly as bad as the authors' previous work, Splendid is the Sun, there are still a number of questionable claims made in the book.

Probably the biggest baseless assertion in Black Ice is the claim that the black teams of the Colored Hockey League were not only on par with white Nova Scotia teams, but the equal of any team across the country. In discussing a letter written by a black writer in response to a newspaper report of the black hockey game, the authors assert (p.69):

[T]he letter had stated that the Stanley and Jubiless [teams] were on par with the best White hockey clubs in Halifax…teams that had often played on the common behind the Wanderers Clubhouse at Egg Point. Teams comprised of the regions [sic] best White players, who, only a few years later, would vie for Lord Stanley's Challenge Cup. (emphasis added)

If you read the letter they're referring to, you might be surprised by their interpretation of what it said. The assertion in bold is presumably inferred by the authors from this passage from the letter, which they reprint in full—this is only passage they could possibly be inferring this from (p.68):