The Vancouver Canucks couldn’t do it this year, but a Victoria group has its own plans for a Stanley Cup parade.
The goal is to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Victoria Cougars winning the 1925 Stanley Cup.
The centennial celebration is being planned by the Victoria Hockey Legacy Society, which hosted the nationally broadcast Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada in January at the Inner Harbour.
The society hopes to secure funding for the celebration — and convince the powers that be to hand over the Stanley Cup for a special appearance.
“We went right to the top and have asked NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and we hope to hear back in a couple of weeks,” said John Wilson, president of the Victoria Hockey Legacy Society.
Wilson said he expects the budget for the celebration events to be in the range of $300,000 to $400,000 and has met with Victoria and Oak Bay municipal officials.
He said he has not yet officially approached the provincial government but has “had conversations” with Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sports Minister Lana Popham.
“We have just started the planning process and are putting together a budget now,” said Wilson. “It’s hard to ask for funding from local governments, the province and business sponsors until you have a budget and we will have that soon.”
The society announced Thursday it is looking at hosting activities in Oak Bay, site of the old Patrick Arena at Epworth and Cadboro Bay roads, where the Cougars defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in the best-of-five 1925 Stanley Cup final.
Other events are being planned across the region for March 28-30, 2025, including raising a 1925 Stanley Cup championship banner at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Those dates were chosen because the Stanley Cup was presented to the Cougars after the fourth game of the final on March 30. The team celebrated in the dressing room by drinking French champagne ordered from the Empress Hotel.
Organizers said they are working to facilitate an appearance by the Stanley Cup for public viewing pending confirmation by the NHL. The Stanley Cup travels widely throughout the year and organizers are confident the Victoria request will be granted.
Asked why the society released its plans before everything is confirmed, Wilson said: “We wanted to get it out there before hockey got out of people’s minds and they got into summer mode.”
To qualify for the Stanley Cup finals, the 1925 Cougars beat Calgary and Saskatoon in the Western Canada playoffs, led by forward Frank Fredrickson, who the Cougars paid a then-princely sum of $3,000 for the season.
Fredrickson played in Victoria from 1920 to 1926, starting with the Aristocrats, which became the Cougars in 1923. Fredrickson and Cougars teammate Haldor Halderson became the first players to win the Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal.
A replica of the Cup is presented each year to the Stanley Cup champion — the Cup that would make an appearance in Victoria — while the original remains in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, with the Victoria Cougars’ 1925 inscription prominent on the top bowl in elegant script. It’s the last inscription on the original bowl before additional base rings were added to the Cup.
Victoria was the second and last team from B.C. to win the Cup after the Vancouver Millionaires in 1915. The Cougars were also the last team from west of the Great Lakes to win the trophy until the Edmonton Oilers in 1984.
Victoria, the last non-NHL team to win the trophy, made the Stanley Cup final again in 1926 but lost 3-1 to the Maroons at the Montreal Forum. The Cougars were sold when the NHL was formed in 1926-27 and became what is now the Detroit Red Wings.
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