Bernard "Barney" Holden (March 21, 1881 – October 27, 1948) was a Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

who played 146 games in various professional and amateur leagues, including the

National Hockey Association The National Hockey Association (NHA), officially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey Lea ...

and

International Professional Hockey League The International Professional Hockey League (IPHL) was the first fully professional ice hockey, professional ice hockey leagues, ice hockey league, operating from 1904 to 1907. It was formed by Jack Gibson (ice hockey born 1880), Jack "Doc" Gi ...

. Amongst the teams he played with were the

Montreal Shamrocks The Montreal Shamrocks were an amateur, later professional, and then amateur again men's ice hockey club in existence from 1886 to 1924, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They were spun off from the Montreal Shamrocks lacrosse club. Starting off ...

and

Quebec Bulldogs The Quebec Bulldogs (french: Bulldogs de Québec) were a men's senior-level ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The team was officially known as the Quebec Hockey Club (french: Club de hockey de Québec), and later as the Quebec Athletic Club ...

. He was born in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Career

Barney Holden started out his amateur ice hockey career in his hometown of Winnipeg, playing for the CPR and Shamrocks teams in the local amateur leagues between 1901–1903."Hockey Star of Old Days Settles Here"
''Vancouver Sun''. Dec. 24, 1922 (pg. 11). Retrieved 2021-06-02. In 1904 he became one of the first professional ice hockey players in history, playing with the

Portage Lakes Hockey Club The Portage Lakes Hockey Club was one of the first professional ice hockey clubs. Based in Houghton, Michigan, the club played at the Amphidrome from 1904 until 1906. While members of the International Professional Hockey League, the team won th ...

Houghton, Michigan Houghton (; ) is the largest city and seat of government of Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the Keweenaw Peninsula, Houghton is the largest city in the Copper Country region. It is the fifth-largest city in the Uppe ...

, in the IPHL. He scored the first goal in the first game of the first professional hockey league game on December 9, 1904 in the

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Duquesne Gardens The Duquesne Gardens (officially Duquesne Garden until 1940 and The Gardens afterward) was the main sports arena located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the first half of the 20th century. Built in 1890, the building originally served as a tr ...

. Holden won two IPHL championships with the Portage Lakes Hockey Club, in 1905–06 and 1906–07. The 1905–06 team included four future

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

members in

Riley Hern William Milton "Riley" Hern (December 5, 1878 – June 24, 1929) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He was the first professional goaltender to play on a Stanley Cup-winning team. Biography Hern began playing ice hockey at an earl ...

Joe Hall Joseph Hall may refer to: Sports * Joe Hall (American football) (born 1979), American football player * Joe Hall (baseball) (born 1966), American baseball player * Joe Hall (ice hockey) (1881–1919), Canadian ice hockey player * Joe B. Hall (192 ...

Bruce Stuart Charles Bruce Stuart (November 30, 1881 – October 28, 1961) was a Canadian amateur and professional ice hockey forward who played for the Quebec Bulldogs, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Wanderers, Portage Lakes Hockey Club, Pittsburgh Victorias ...

and

Cyclone Taylor Frederick Wellington "Cyclone" Taylor, MBE (June 23, 1884 – June 9, 1979) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and civil servant. A cover-point and rover, he played professionally from 1906 to 1922 for several teams, and is most well ...

. In 1907 Holden moved back to Winnipeg to play for the

Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

aggregation, and in March 1908 the team challenged the

Montreal Wanderers The Montreal Wanderers were an amateur, and later professional, ice hockey team based in Montreal. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the National Hockey Association ...

for the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

, losing 8-20 (5-11, 3-9) over two games on March 10 and 12.Stanley Cup Annual Record 1908 (Mar)
NHL.com. Retrieved 2021-06-02. For the 1909–1910 season he moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

to play for the

in the CHA and the NHA. During the 1910–11 season Holden was a member of the

in the NHA, and in 1911–12 he moved to

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

to play for the Wholesalers in the Saskatchewan Professional Hockey League.

Playing style

Holden was a big-sized player for his era, standing at 6 feet and weighing 200 pounds, and while he did not have a reputation as one of the dirtiest players of his era, he could still handle himself physically with a punishing playing style. While Holden was a member of the Winnipeg Maple Leafs the team played in an infamous qualifying game against the

Winnipeg Hockey Club The Winnipeg Hockey Club (also known as the Winnipeg Winnipegs) were a former amateur senior-level men's amateur ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba founded in 1890. After the Winnipegs won the 1931 Allan Cup, they represented the Canada men's ...

on December 19, 1907 where the Winnipeg Hockey Club players walked off the ice in protest of the Maple Leafs rough-house antics. Holden himself described the contest as the roughest game he was ever in, and his two teammates Harry Smith and

were later expelled from the league for their rough-house antics in the game."Maple Leaf club excluded – Harry Smith and Joe Hall expelled from the league"
''Montreal Gazette''. Dec. 23, 1907 (pg. 12). Retrieved 2021-06-02.

Personal life

After his playing career Holden settled in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia, where he worked for the Rat Portage Lumber Company. He died in

Burnaby, British Columbia Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard Inl ...

and is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in

Statistics

References

Bibliography

Notes

External links

Barney Holden
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JustSportsStatsBarney Holden
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EliteProspects.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, Barney 1881 births 1948 deaths Canadian ice hockey defencemen Montreal Shamrocks players Portage Lakes Hockey Club players Quebec Bulldogs (NHA) players Winnipeg Maple Leafs players Ice hockey people from Winnipeg