Maximilian Roland Hornfeck (January 13, 1874 – October 25, 1968) was an

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amateur

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 ...

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and

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hornfeck played ice hockey for the Montclair Athletic Club,

New York Athletic Club The New York Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Park South in Manhattan, and Travers ...

New York Wanderers The New York Wanderers were an amateur ice hockey team from Manhattan, New York City. The New York Wanderers played seven seasons in the American Amateur Hockey League between 1903 and 1914 and won the championship title in 1903–04. 1896 Sta ...

and

New York Hockey Club The New York Hockey Club, also known as the Hockey Club of New York, was an amateur ice hockey team from Manhattan in New York City. The New York Hockey Club played in the American Amateur Hockey League between 1897 and 1917 and won one championshi ...

in the

American Amateur Hockey League The American Amateur Hockey League was an amateur ice hockey league in the United States. The league was founded in 1896, and was based in New York City and New Jersey, until 1914, when the Boston AA joined the league. In the 1900–01 season a te ...

between 1897 and 1908. As a speed skater Hornfeck competed both in local and national events against prominent amateur skaters such as LeRoy See (of Berkeley School) and Charles McClave (of the New York Athletic Club).

Family

Max Hornfeck was born in

Verona, New Jersey Verona is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 14,572, an increase of 1,240 (+9.3%) from the 2010 census count of 13,332, which in turn reflected a decl ...

on January 13, 1874, to Hermann Heinrich Hornfeck, a manufacturer, and Anna Kathrine Cimiotti. Hermann Heinrich was born in

Gera Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...

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on February 5, 1839, and immigrated to the

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in 1860. He married Anna Kathrine Cimiotti, a native of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, on February 5, 1866.

Ice hockey career

During the 1896–97 season Max Hornfeck played exhibition games with the Montclair Athletic Club ice hockey team against opponents from

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and

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, as well as against Queen's University (of

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) and an All-Baltimore aggregation. His younger brothers Henry (b. 1876) and Gus (b. 1878) were also members of the team. All three of the Hornfeck brothers were of diminutive stature in an ice hockey playing context. Hornfeck played two seasons with the Montclair AC in the AAHL before he joined the New York Athletic Club for the 1899–1900 season. On the New York Athletic Club forward line he teamed up with newly acquired Canadian

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Tom Howard, a former

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 ...

champion with the

Winnipeg Victorias The Winnipeg Victorias were a former amateur senior-level men's amateur ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba, organized in 1889. They played in the Manitoba Hockey Association (MHA) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Victorias wo ...

(in 1896). Hornfeck played four seasons with the New York AC without being able to win the AAHL championship. Before the 1903–04 AAHL season Hornfeck, Howard, Charlie Clarke and John Carruthers of the New York AC jumped ship, and along with forward Kenneth "Kay" Gordon and goaltender Harold "Buster" Hayward of the

St. Nicholas Hockey Club The St. Nicholas Hockey Club is an ice hockey club from Manhattan, New York City. St. Nicholas Hockey Club played in the American Amateur Hockey League between 1896–1903 and 1905–1918 and won three championship titles, in 1907, 1914 and 1915. ...

they formed a new team called the New York Wanderers which took the place of the St. Nicholas HC in the AAHL for the 1903–04 season. The new club was successful at its first try at the championship title as the Wanderers finished at the top of the league table in 1903–04 after having defeated the

Brooklyn Crescents The Brooklyn Crescents, affiliated with the Crescent Athletic Club, were an American amateur ice hockey team from Brooklyn in New York City. History The Brooklyn Crescents played in the American Amateur Hockey League in 1896–97 (the inaugural s ...

3 goals to 1 on March 4, 1904. Hornfeck played four more seasons in the AAHL (two with the Wanderers and two with the New York Hockey Club) before he retired at the end of the 1907–08 season.

Playing style

Max Hornfeck relied much upon his speed to create scoring chances, and he also used his fast feet on the defensive side of the puck breaking up scoring chances for the opponents by overtaking them and lifting their sticks. He did not have a big shot significative of a stand-out goal scorer, but he could nonetheless score a fair number of goals on account of his rushing and dodging abilities."McGill beaten at hockey"
''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'', Dec. 30 1899, pg. 13

Career statistics

Exh. = Exhibition games

Regular season

Statistics from ''Society for International Hockey Research'' (sihrhockey.org)

References

* ''Society for International Hockey Research''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornfeck, Max 1874 births 1968 deaths Ice hockey players from New Jersey People from Verona, New Jersey American men's ice hockey centers American people of German descent American people of Austrian descent