World Champions

 As the current NHL season winds its way to a slow and some would say painful close (I mean c'mon hockey in June), it's perhaps a good time to reflect upon the first world champions of hockey - the CCM Canadas.

By 1930 there were sufficient countries playing hockey for the International Ice Hockey federation to stage its first world championship tournament independent of the Olympics. The games were to take place in Chamonix, France and for the first time ever in a major competition, a team from outside North America or Europe would take part with Japan entering a team in the competition.

Canada's entry at the tournament was to be an industrial league team belonging to the Canada Cycle & Motor Co. of Weston, Ontario. In 1929 the CCM team had not only won the Toronto Mercantile title, but had also defeated the winner of the city's Mining and Brokers League.

That fall when company official George Braden travelled to Europe, he decided that overseas hockey players would benefit from increased exposure to Canadian hockey, not to mention Canadian hockey equipment. As export manager for CCM, Braden, no doubt, saw before him a lucrative new market for the company's merchandise. 

When Braden obtained permission from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to send the CCM team on a European tour, it was decided that the company team would also represent the country at the newly-formed world championships in Chamonix.

So it was that on Dec. 5, 1929, the CCM team, along with Braden and coach Les Grant, gathered at Toronto’s Union Station to catch the train to Saint John, New Brunswick. From here they set sail the following day eventually arriving in London on Dec.14th. Wearing red sweaters with a large white maple leaf and the name "Canadas" prominently displayed across them, the team averaged a game every second night, scoring victory after victory en route to the world championships scheduled to begin on Jan. 27, 1930.

 Unfortunately when warm weather at the outdoor venue in Chamonix pushed the start of the final games back four days, the round-robin system was abandoned for a knock-out format and the Canadian team was given a bye directly into the finals.

To stay in shape while awaiting the final game the Canadas scheduled games in Vienna, Austria. During a stretch of three games in three nights, the team dropped a 1-0 decision to the Austrian national team. It was the first Canadian loss in twenty-five games, with the game being played in a heavy downpour of rain. The Canadas bounced back the next night with a 6-0 win over the Vienna Skating Club.

By now the weather had forced the final games of the tournament to be moved to Berlin where the Canadas were scheduled to play the European champion team from Germany in the final game. Spurred on by the hometown crowd, the German team took an early lead, but the Canadas stormed back for a decisive 6-1 victory with Gordie Grant and Alec Park each scoring a pair of goals.

Having won the world championship, the CCM team arrived back in Toronto on the evening of Feb. 25, 1930. Since leaving town the CCM squad had travelled 22,500 kilometres, won thirty-one games and outscored their opponents 304 – 26.