Tufford Sisters Were Tough Competitors In The 1930s

Eleanor Tufford and Rosemary Tufford were two of the top women's hockey players of the 1930s. Eleanor Tufford, it could be said, was the top defender in Canada at the time.

As the Edmonton Journal wrote in 1931, the sisters had "a good knowledge of the winter pastime and applied it to advantage." There has perhaps been no more dominant sibling pair in the women's game, rivalled only by Preston Rivulettes sisters Helen Schmuck and Marm Schmuck at the time.

Eleanor Tufford was a defender, who could rush the puck and score at will. She was touted for much of the 1930s by the Edmonton Journal and other Canadian papers as the best in the game.

In 1932 following a win over the rival Edmonton Monarchs, Tufford was described as "the outstanding player on the ice" who "gave a fine exhibition of stickhandling and checking."

As the Journal wrote in 1933 during the Dominion Cup final against the Preston Rivulettes, Eleanor Tufford almost single handedly took down Preston, considered the best team in the world, and perhaps the most dominant women's hockey team ever to play.

"Eleanor Tufford, Rustler defence ace, was probably the individual sensation, although she did not break into the scoring. Her powerful, swinging rushes brought the fans up roaring time after time."

The following year in the 1934 Western Canada finals against the Winnipeg Eatons, it was again the defender who shone. "While it was the team play and finish of the Rustlers that was largely responsible for their victory, it was the brilliant individual work of Eleanor Tufford, defence ace, that actually accounted for more of the scoring," the Edmonton Journal wrote of Edmonton's 4-1 win over Winnipeg. "Singlehanded she scored three goals on end to end rushes, executed with impressive coolness and skill. Each time she wound her way carefully through the defence lines until she got a clear shot and then drilled the rubber home with a shot like a boy's."

By 1938, the powerful defender was still in Edmonton, but now playing for another iteration of Edmonton's women's hockey scene in the Edmonton Blizzards. The following year Tufford moved to Calgary, where in 1939 Harry Scott of The Calgary Albertan called her "the best all-around defence player in the game."

Her sister Rosemary was a high scoring centre playing on the Edmonton Rustlers top line in the 1930s alongside another star named Hazel Case, and her other winger Marian Walker.

"Rosemary Tufford, first string centre for the Rustlers, took the lion's share of the spotlight along with Hazel Case" wrote the Edmonton Journal in 1933 while describing a 3-2 Rustlers win over the Preston Rivulettes in the Dominion Cup final. Tufford scored twice, while Case scored the other in Edmonton's win.

Edmonton's top line of Tufford, Case and Walker, were described as a "fast-skating, hard-checking" trio. Tufford herself was well known in all corners of Canada being called a "shining star" by The Montreal Star.

Originally formed as the Jasper Place Rustlers in 1929, the Edmonton Rustlers developed into one of the most dominant teams in women's hockey. They won the Alpine Cup at the Banff Winter Carnival in 1933, the same year they defeated the Preston Rivulettes in a two game series for the Lady Bessborough Cup as Dominion champions.

If not for the Tufford sisters, this Western Canadian force may not have been what it was. Eleanor and Rosemary Tufford have long been overlooked in the game, but their impact as stars of their era should not be forgotten.

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