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1913 Off-Season -Part 6 : New Glasgow Team in trouble, New Players for Sydney

  • Posted on: 29 December 2014
  • By: lrigby

News came from New Glasgow that the Cub's franchise was in serious trouble and it was possible that they would not have a team for the 1914 season.  The Cubs management decided to demand a hundred dollars per game from the Halifax Arena whenever they played in that city.  In 1913 they were granted the sum of sixty dollars to play each game in Halifax but when they arrived in Halifax for the first game of the 1913 season they refused to go on the ice unless they were granted $80 dollars a game to match what Moncton was getting from the Halifax Arena Company.  During the previous year's negotiations, Cubs manager Chester Greggory, promised the Halifax contingent that the payment would be only for the 1913 season.  News from Halifax was that the arena management were not planning to budge.  The worry for New Glasgow fans was that Glace Bay was interested in a team and that the league may drop the Cubs in favor of a new team from Cape Breton.

On November 24th, Sydney began to announce the names of players signed for the 1914 season.  The first two additions were from the Montreal City League, Joe Kirlin and F. W. (Teddy) Turner.  Both men played for the  Montreal Garnets, which had won the Montreal City league two years previous.  Teddy Turner was also the leagues scoring champ.  Joe Kirlin, a hockey veteran was named as Sydney's captain for the upcoming season to replace Cap Macdonald. Sydney also signed a local boy Jimmy Fraser, of Glace Bay, not to be confused with last years player Jack Fraser who did not return to the Millionaires from Brandon, Manitoba.  Players that were coming back to the team included Gordon Trenouthe, Ken Randall, Harvey Richardson, Billy Dunphy, Jimmy Wilkie and Hector MacKenzie.  One glowing absence was Toby McDonald who had decided to retire from hockey.  This left the Millionaires with a gaping whole to fill in nets.  To fill this position they acquired George Minnock from Ontario and also signed a contract with local boy Robin Foote to back up Minnock in nets.  This was welcome news to the Sydney fans who remembered that Sydney was at quite a disadvantage against the Quebec Bulldogs when Toby MacDonald was injured and Cap McDonald had to play goal.

The Sydney executive used a different tactic to try and secure talent from other parts of Canada for the upcoming season.  They acquired the services of former player Cap McDonald as a scout to offer contracts to some of the desired players from Upper Canada.   Cap made an offer to Ottawa Senators star Eddie Gerard, among others in the Senators line up.