Event celebrates Victoria Cougars 1925 Stanley Cup — the last time a team outside the NHL won the iconic trophy
Victoria local Helen Edwards, who wrote a definitive history of professional hockey in Victoria between 1911 to 2011, spoke at the event announcement at the Penny Farthing Pub.
1 / 1 Victoria local Helen Edwards, who wrote a definitive history of professional hockey in Victoria between 1911 to 2011, spoke at the event announcement at the Penny Farthing Pub. Advertisement
Next year, lovers of Canada’s national pastime will parade the Stanley Cup down Oak Bay Avenue to celebrate the storied history of a now-defunct Island hockey team.
100 years ago, the Victoria Cougars battled a hockey powerhouse for the Stanley Cup – and won.
“Of all the many great sports moments that hockey has enjoyed on Vancouver Island, the Victoria Cougars victory over the Montreal Canadiens is the greatest,” said Victoria Hockey Legacy Society (VHLS) co-chair John Wilson, who announced the 2025 event at the Penny Farthing Pub on Dec. 10.
Organized by the VHLS, the parade, slated for March 30, will allow the Victoria team to bask in the public spotlight again.
Founded in 1911, the Cougars played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association – a league that included Western Canadian and American teams – until 1924. Over the years, the Victoria squad played under a variety of names – including the Senators, Aristocrats and Canaries – and joined the Western Hockey League in 1925, after the Pacific Coast Hockey Association merged with the Western Canada Hockey League.
Until 1926, teams from several leagues competed against their NHL counterparts, which made the Cougars the last non-NHL team to win the prestigious trophy. A century later, no other B.C. has hoisted hockey’s holy grail.