Opened in 1916, San Francisco’s Techau Tavern Ice Palace ushered in a new era of sport in California. It also ushered in the first game of women’s hockey in San Francisco.
With the rink opening May 10, just over two weeks later on May 26, 1916, the first recorded game of ice hockey took place in the city. That day, the first game of women’s hockey in California was also recorded.
“An ice-hockey match between two teams composed of of women proved a sensation,” the San Francisco Bulletin wrote. “All the players exhibited marked facility in handling the difficult plays of the game, and shot the puck around the rink with the skill of veterans.”
The following week, the Techau Tavern Ice Palace hosted the first official game of women’s hockey on Saturday, June 3, 1916.
“Twenty minutes of thrill served to introduce women’s ice hockey to San Francisco,” The San Francisco Examiner wrote following the game. 1,200 fans attended the game between the Minerva Hockey Club of Oakland and San Francisco’s Diana Club women’s team. Oakland won the inaugural game 4-1, “a game that never lost its tense interest for a moment.”
Carol George scored the lone goal for San Francisco before leaving the game with an injury. Sisters Helen Uksila and Lena Uksila were stars for Oakland, with Lena Uksila scoring a hat trick in the win. Edith Brooks scored the other Oakland goal in their win. The referee for this first game was Pete Muldoon, who would win a Stanley Cup with the Seattle Metropolitans the following season, and who in 1926-1927, became the first coach in Chicago Black Hawks history.
Lena Uksila was an integral early builder for women in skating and hockey. Uksila, born in Michigan, travelled across the country to perform skating demonstrations, including a residence in New York at the Hippodrome alongside her brother Charles Uksila, a former professional hockey player who competed with the Vancouver Millionaires, and in the 1916 Stanley Cup final with the Portland Rosebuds against the Montreal Canadiens, where Uksila, believed to be the first American to play for the Stanley Cup, scored a game winner in the series against George Vezina, namesake for the NHL's goaltender of the year award. While in New York, Lena Uksila also performed at the Ice Palace alongside Robert Jackson, who would become the team captain for Australia's Victoria ice hockey team. Following their time in San Francisco and New York, the Uksila's would travel to Australia where Lena helped introduce the game to women in 1923 . Uksila would marry in Australia, but later returned to live in California.
The Uksila sisters played for the Minerva Club and the Diana Club, with Helen Uksila earning accolades in local papers. As the San Francisco Bulletin wrote, "Miss Helen Uksila, point player for the Minerva Ladies' Hockey Club, will astonish the spectators...by her wonderful play. She runs the puck down the sideboards better than the average male player."
By the time winter rolled around again in 1916, ice hockey and San Francisco women were becoming well acquainted.
“San Francisco women skaters are fast becoming adept at ice hockey and the sight of some of the city’s fairest daughters wielding long sticks in thrilling combat will soon be a familiar one at the ice rinks,” The San Francisco Examiner wrote in December of 1916. By this time, the city had opened a second rink, the Winter Garden, where women’s ice hockey also became a regular occurrence.
The article claimed that after the sport’s initial trial earlier in the year, it took time for enough women to gain experience on the ice to field regular games. “Now that the women have become proficient in the art of keeping their balance as they speed and swerve about the rink the sport promises to come back for good.”
A prominent name for the San Francisco squad was Hazel Manson, a Canadian visiting from British Columbia, who helped guide the 1916 squad and show the “finer points of hockey” to her teammates. The San Francisco Examiner proclaimed Sarina Phillips as one of the “most proficient of San Francisco’s own daughters.” Phillips was said to be a player who “yields little to any woman skater in ability” and who “displays unerring instinct in guiding the puck.” The trend would continue into the 1917 season as many members of the city’s two new teams, the Princess Pats and Wanderers originated and played hockey in Canada. Those women included Princess Pats’ captain Florence Trehurne and Adreodine Davis, and Wanderers players, who would become the stars of the league, Catherine Sudden and Rose Schak.
In the spring of 1917, the Princess Pats and Wanderers opened their series to decide who the champions of San Francisco would be. In the opening game of their series played on April 16, 1917, the Wanderers beat the Princess Pats 2-0, with Catherine Sudden and Rose Schak scoring the goals. The Examiner called the game “every bit as thrilling as the contests between Seattle and Les Canadiens” who faced off for the 1917 Stanley Cup with the Seattle Metropolitans winning the Cup that year. The Wanderers took game two as well shutting out the Princess Pats 1-0 with Schak again scoring, assisted by Sudden. The third game of their series saw a 1-1 tie with Schak tallying for the Wanderers, and Clare Pinchuck recording the Princess Pats’ only goal. With the Wanderers winning the opening two games and tying the third, they were named league champions.
The teams again returned to the ice in 1918 with Sudden captaining the Wanderers, and Trehurne again guiding the Pats. The two teams looked to rekindle their rivalry, with the promise of a third team from the University of California to compete against the winner. But the promises of that season seemed to have fallen flat, at least in terms of media, as none of San Francisco’s papers reported on a game actually happening. On multiple occasions the papers stated games would occur soon, but no date was given, and no results recorded. It's believed the season never got underway.
Although it was brief, the fascination for women's ice hockey in San Francisco in 1916 and 1917 was fervid. It would be many years before regular women's hockey would be played in the Bay Area, but today, women's hockey is vibrant in the region.
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