Ice Hockey, Men

The 1935 Allan Cup winners were the Halifax Wolves but several of them turned professional before the Olympics. Thus the runners-up, the Port Arthur Bear Cats, were chosen as the basis for the Olympic team but several players from Montreal were added to the team. Canada was expected to win another ice hockey gold medal but it was not to be. In the semi-final pools, Great Britain defeated Canada, 2-1, and that result carried over to the final pool. When Britain did not lose a game, they won the gold medal, with Canada second. But the victory was not without controversy.

Bunny Ahearne, general secretary of the British Ice Hockey Federation in 1933, had obtained a complete list of all Canadian players who had been born in Britain. He was able to convince several of these to compete for Britain and these British-Canadians led Great Britain to the upset victory. The British-Canadians were: Gordon Dailley from Winnipeg; Jimmy Chappell from Whitby, Ontario; Sandy Archer from Winnipeg; John “Gerry” Davey from Port Arthur, Ontario; Edgar “Chirp” Brenchley from Niagara Falls; and Archie Stinchcombe from Windsor.

Germany entered a team but failed to advance to the medal pool. Their best player was Rudi Ball, a Jew who had recently fled Germany because of the Anti-Semitic policies enacted by the Third Reich. He was convinced to return and compete for Germany in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and was the only Jewish member of the 1936 German Winter Olympic team.