Hard-Checking Hockey Played
Writing in the Acadia Bulletin in 1993, Marie Sexton described her experiences with hockey at the Acadia Ladies Seminary. “My own initiation to organized ice hockey began at Acadia Ladies Seminary in Wolfville where I entered at the age of 18....Three years of playing field hockey...combined with after school skating in Windsor and Falmouth was the perfect background for hockey.” Sexton described the uniform as “pleated black serge (a rough wool with a penchant for itching the wearer) bloomers,” thick socks, shoe skates and no pads or protection. The girls of the Seminary practised regularly at the Wolfville rink; on Saturday afternoons they played women’s teams from nearby towns, including Kentville, Bridgetown and Windsor. “Checking was encouraged and the young lady who skated into the corners without keeping her head up soon found herself being slammed into the boards.” Coach Alden Clark was a star of the Acadia University hockey team. Marie Sexton was captain of the team for the 1923-24 season.
(Purnell, Marie Sexton. “Hockey Women did Acadia Proud” Acadia Bulletin, Winter 1993, 10)
Edson Graham, Wolfville. 1923. ECW APC 1871.
