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28-748: In the time period around 1900, leagues in Canada fought against the professionalization of athletics. John Ross Robertson was quoted in the newspapers of the day as saying "for self preservation, the stand of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) against the professionalism of Pittsburgh, Houghton, Calumet and the Soo must be uncompromisingly antagonistic ... Any player who figures on any of these teams must be banished from Ontario Hockey." Leagues in Canada had been accused of paying individual players for several years and, in fact, Doc Gibson played on

56-480: A cartload of beds and bedding and began a new career that would dominate the rest of his life. In 1883, Robertson, at his own expense, build The Lakeside Home for Little Children, on Toronto Island. The Lakeside Home was a convalescent hospital usually occupied from June 1 to September 30. The Lakeside Home was demolished in a fire in 1915 and temporary buildings were used until 1928. In 1921, John Ross Robertson Public School donated $ 100 to Lakeside Home to maintain

84-607: A cot. It was common practice for schools to donate money to maintain the cots on an annual basis. Realizing the desperate need for a larger hospital for children in the city, Robertson embarked on an extensive tour of children's hospitals in Europe and the United States. He wanted the hospital for sick children in Toronto to become one of the finest institutions of its kind in the world. Finally, Mr. Robertson saw his ideal -

112-522: A flat surface. In 1902, Robertson was appointed Grand Junior Warden of England. He also became president of the inaugural Canadian Copyright Association. A few years later, he refused Knighthood honour and chose to remain a companion. Robertson became Chairman of the Hospital in 1891 and remained Chairman until he died in 1918. In 1951, the hospital moved to its present building on University Avenue. He bequeathed his considerable book collection to

140-406: A result, the two teams had nowhere to go but to the proposed professional league. A meeting was held on November 5, 1904 which included prominent business leaders from Pittsburgh, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and Northern Michigan. A number of cities were considered for this new professional league including Montreal, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, and Duluth. However,

168-844: A team expelled from the Ontario Hockey Association in 1898 for paying some of its players. However, it was not until the Portage Lakes Hockey Club and the formation of the IPHL in 1904 that any hockey league achieved full-fledged professional status. In the early 20th century, the mining industry was making huge investments in Northern Michigan. In the fall of 1903, James R. Dee of Houghton started discussions with Western Pennsylvania Hockey League (WPHL) representatives in Pittsburgh regarding

196-632: The Toronto Evening Telegram . In the Toronto Evening Telegram he wrote a recurring column on Toronto landmarks. The Evening Telegram was a success from the start and Robertson was soon a wealthy man. Eventually these columns were published in a book called Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto which consists of six volumes. He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the electoral district of Toronto East in

224-410: The 1896 federal election defeating the incumbent Conservative MP, Emerson Coatsworth . An Independent Conservative, he did not run for re-election in 1900. The world of sports was also a focus for Robertson’s public-spiritedness. A fervent advocate of amateur sport, he served as president of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) from 1899 to 1905, which was a critical time period in the history of

252-758: The Pittsburgh Pros , and dissolved. The Houghton Portage Lakes team played at what was a new facility at the time called the Amphidrome on Portage Lake. The Calumet-Laurium Miners, a nearby rival of the Houghton team, played at the new Palestra arena in Laurium . By contrast, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan made the Ridge Street Ice-A-Torium, the local curling club, its home rink. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario team, or Canadian Soo as it

280-675: The Toronto Public Library , founded a children's home, and left a large annuity to the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children . The John Ross Robertson Public School , an elementary school of the Toronto District School Board is named after Robertson, and is located at 130 Glengrove Avenue West in Toronto. . Construction of the school started shortly after his death. General Specific 1906%E2%80%9307 IPHL season From Misplaced Pages,

308-649: The IPHL folded. The Pittsburgh team would be dissolved and the WPHL was restarted. Some of the high profile players who played in the IPHL: The following players are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame : John Ross Robertson John Ross Robertson (December 28, 1841 – May 31, 1918) was a Canadian newspaper publisher , politician, and philanthropist in Toronto , Ontario. Born in 1841, in Toronto,

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336-466: The death of Goldie and as soon as Mrs. Robertson recovered from her grief she began working as a volunteer at a new hospital which had been started by Elizabeth McMaster and a group of ladies. One day, Maria persuaded her husband to visit the hospital. Robertson was appalled at what he saw. Because the hospital had little money, the children were sleeping on torn mattresses in rooms so dilapidated they couldn't be scrubbed clean. The next day, Robertson sent

364-586: The establishment of a national hockey association. Houghton's team had played against Pittsburgh's for a de facto United States national championship in ice hockey. In 1903–04, the professional Houghton team, without a league of its own, played exhibition games against teams from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and Michigan prompting the OHA to ban both the American Soo Indians and Canadian Sault Hockey Club from competing against Canadian amateur teams. As

392-419: The first J. Ross Robertson Cup for the senior division, the second J. Ross Robertson Cup for the intermediate division, and the third J. Ross Robertson Cup for the junior division. His donation of silver trophies to hockey, cricket, and bowling further encouraged amateur competition. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947. Robertson was also one of Toronto's great historians and his home

420-768: The 💕 The 1906–07 IPHL season was played by teams of the International Professional Hockey League . Final standings [ edit ] Team GP W L T GF GA Pts Ave Houghton-Portage Lakes 24 16 8 0 102 102 32 .666 Canadian Soo 24 13 11 0 124 123 26 .542 Pittsburgh Pros 24 12 12 1 94 82 25 .500 Michigan Soo Indians 24 11 13 0 103 88 22 .458 Calumet Wanderers 24 8 26 1 96 124 17 .340 References [ edit ] Is Pittsburgh

448-543: The league accepted teams from Houghton, Pittsburgh, the two Soos, and Calumet. The representatives of the Canadian Soo suggested a revenue sharing plan that would divide gate receipts in a 60–40 home-visitor split. This revenue sharing plan would make the long journey to Pittsburgh possible, considering that team played at the 5,000-seat capacity Duquesne Gardens . The WPHL, which had been paying players to play ice hockey since 1901, put its best professionals into one team,

476-522: The recently opened hospital for sick children in Glasgow, Scotland. He asked the Scottish architect who had drawn up the plans of the hospital to draft blueprints for the proposed hospital in Toronto and placed these plans in the hands of Toronto Architects Darling and Curry. The new building became a reality and on June 10, 1889, Mr. Robertson's seven-year-old son turned over the first sod. The building

504-410: The son of John Robertson, a Scottish wholesale merchant, and Margaret Sinclair, Robertson was educated at Upper Canada College , a private high school in Toronto. As a young man, he started a newspaper at UCC called Young Canada and a satirical weekly magazine, The Grumbler . The Grumbler was published in 1864 in a building on the corner of King Street and Toronto Street in Toronto. The Grumbler

532-496: The sport. His battle to protect hockey from the influence of professionalism caused him to be called the "father of Amateur Hockey in Ontario." During his term as president, the OHA was able to set rules defining professionalism in hockey. He worked especially hard to rid hockey of increasing violence both on and off the ice. Robertson donated three similarly named trophies to the OHA for its annual playoffs champions, which included

560-430: The title went to Houghton-Portage Lakes. After the 1906–07 season , Canada finally established individual professional teams and, soon after, leagues were formed drawing back many players to play for their home crowds. In addition, it was apparent that, while the league was talking about expanding to larger centres such as Toronto, Cleveland and Duluth, there were problems among the existing clubs. The Pittsburgh franchise

588-427: Was a marvellous maturing process." With the hockey season only lasting a couple of months a year because teams played on natural ice, most of the players went home to their families and regular jobs in Canada at the end of each season. In many cases, this meant that IPHL managers would have to organize completely new teams each season. The Calumet Miners won the first league championship in 1905 . In 1906 and 1907 ,

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616-487: Was called, also played at its local curling rink. The IPHL attracted some of the best players from established Canadian amateur leagues. Every player received a minimum salary of at least $ 15 to $ 40 a week, with many also getting lucrative jobs in the community. Ottawa's Hod Stuart , was paid $ 1,800 by the Calumet Miners to play for the team and manage their rink for the 1904–05 season . Frederick "Cyclone" Taylor

644-448: Was enticed into the league with a salary offer of $ 400 plus expenses. Taylor would later hail the league as helping him developing into a better hockey player: "[the] league was a wonderful testing and training ground, and I was a far better player for my experience there. It was good, scientific hockey, but robust enough to teach a young player how to take care of himself. . . . After that league, I knew I could handle anybody, anywhere. It

672-411: Was filled with thousands of books and pictures of early Toronto. In his will, Mr. Robertson left to the citizens of Toronto his extensive collection of historical maps and paintings. He also helped fund The Hospital for Sick Children. In 1881, Robertson’s daughter Helen and niece Gracie died of scarlet fever on the same day. As a result, his wife Maria Robertson and his wife were profoundly affected by

700-412: Was on College Street between LaPlante Avenue and Elizabeth Street. Robertson raised money for the new hospital through publicity in his newspaper by gaining support of influential citizens in the city and with the aid of a $ 20,000 grant from Toronto Council. When Robertson first heard of pasteurized milk in the early 1900s, he sent his sister off to New York City to learn the new process. The hospital

728-489: Was one of Robertson's more well known publications. He was hired as a reporter and then city editor at The Globe in Toronto, but left The Globe to found The Toronto Daily Telegraph in 1866. That paper lasted five years, and Robertson went to England as a reporter for The Globe . He returned to Toronto in 1876 and convinced his friend and former colleague, Goldwin Smith, to loan him $ 10,000 to enable him to launch

756-409: Was provided with a fully equipped plant to provide pasteurized milk for the babies in the in and outpatient departments with the goal of reducing the infantile death rate. If the families were unable to afford the milk, it would be provided for them. To make sure the bottles would be returned and not kept for flower vases or any other purposes, they made rounded bottom bottles, which could not stand, on

784-410: Was seeking a league closer to home to play in and the champion Houghton-Portage Lakes club wasn't interested in another season. The other teams were still making plans for another season in 1907–08. Canadian Soo re-signed Ambrose Degray, Hugh Lehman , Newsy Lalonde , Edwin "Dutch" Schaefer and Jack Marks . However, on November 4, 1907, Michigan Soo pulled out of the league citing a lack of players and

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