B. Moore’s secret identity

On Jan. 20, 1913, two hockey players stepped off a train in the copper mining town of Phoenix, British Columbia. One was a goaltender from Winnipeg, Ivan (Mike) Mitchell. The other was a winger from Moose Jaw, who called himself B. Moore. [1]

Mitchell was immediately in action, guiding his new team to a 5-4 win over Greenwood in the Boundary Hockey League. Moore for some reason didn’t debut until Feb. 1 against Grand Forks, whereupon he collected one assist. But a week later, Moore stood revealed as a player a cut above the rest.

He scored four goals against Greenwood. A week later, he added three against Grand Forks — and three more the week after that. Ten goals and an assist in four games! For good measure, he scored twice in an exhibition game against Fernie. Who was this guy?

Phoenix, BC, was a thriving copper mining town in the 1910s. (Greg Nesteroff collection)

Whoever he was, Moore was causing a big stir in the Boundary, and not just because of his goal scoring. The Grand Forks Gazette declared him an unregistered player “whose presence has shattered the Boundary league rules” and “created endless dissatisfaction.” [2]

Any team playing an ineligible player must forfeit the game and pay a $50 fine, the newspaper insisted. Moore was ineligible because he had been brought in “after the stipulated date,” whenever that was. The paper added Phoenix was indeed fined for playing him, and four of the six league executives had agreed the wins should be forfeited. But now that agreement seemed to have evaporated and Grand Forks decided to accept it was tied with Phoenix for the regular season title. Moore had still yet to be accepted as a legal player. [3] What about Mike Mitchell? He arrived on the same day, but no one seemed to complain about him.

In any case, things seemed cleared up once Phoenix and Grand Forks opened an exciting two-game, total-goals series for the Boundary Cup, of which Phoenix was the two-time defending champion. The first game was a 3-3 tie. Moore scored twice despite suffering an eye injury when he was jabbed with a stick. In the second game, Moore scored a goal and assisted on the overtime winner as Phoenix won 4-3.

Next, Phoenix faced Nelson in another two-game, total-goals series for the Daily News Cup (championship of the Kootenay-Boundary) and McBride Cup (championship of the interior). The Daily News Cup had previously been a trophy in a Nelson city league but was now for regional competition. BC premier Richard McBride donated the McBride Cup, which would be presented for the first time.

Moore had two goals and an assist in the opener, a 4-3 win, and added another assist in the second game, which Phoenix won 5-2 to secure both titles. Moore’s playoff totals: five goals and three assists in four games.

All the while, B. Moore’s true identity remained a secret. Sort of. In fact, when the Grand Forks Gazette complained about him, they described him as “Morse, alias Moore.” [4] They misspelled his real name, but in fact he was Bernie Morris, and he was a big deal. The previous year he’d played professionally for Moose Jaw and scored 21 goals in eight games.

The only possible explanation for his use of an alias in Phoenix (and a flimsy one at that) is that he didn’t want to jeopardize his amateur status. But considering how much attention he was drawing to himself on the ice, he wasn’t likely to stay under the radar for long. And indeed, teams were soon fighting for his services under his real name.

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The Boundary league has often been called a quasi-farm league for the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. While there may not have been a formal agreement between the two organizations, several players moved up from the former to the latter. Most of the Boundary league’s players were from elsewhere: in 1912-13, Grand Forks recruited from Calgary, Cranbrook, BC, and Swift Current, Sask. Only one player was form Grand Forks. Another had come from Edmonton three years earlier.

Of the Phoenix squad, in addition to Mike Mitchell and Bernie Morris, three players were from Quebec and one was from Vancouver. Only one player was homegrown. [5]

The Phoenix hockey team of 1913-14. Bernie Morris is back row, far right. The others pictured are (back row), Ralph Sayers, Dan O’Connell, team official James Walsh, and (front row), Howie (first name unknown), Charley Davidson, Mike Mitchell, Connie Benson, and Ralph Bassett. (Greenwood Museum GREE-03-Granby-01-p55a)

The Phoenix team of 1913-14. From left, Ralph Sayers, Mike Mitchell, Dan O’Connell, Ralph Bassett, Bernie Morris, James Walsh, Connie Benson, Charley Davidson, and Howie. (Image H-03201 courtesy Royal BC Museum and Archives)

What happened to Morris during the 1913 off-season made him “probably the most talked of hockey player in Canada,” and is discussed in Kevin Ticen’s book, When It Mattered Most: The Forgotten Story of America’s First Stanley Cup Champions, and the War to End All Wars. [6]

The short version is that four teams in three leagues wanted a piece of him: Victoria and Vancouver of the PCHA, Quebec of the NHA, and Regina and Moose Jaw of the Saskatchewan league. The PCHA ended up suspending him after he signed, but wouldn’t report. Instead he went back to Saskatchewan and played one game for Regina before the league ruled he belonged to Moose Jaw. Morris didn’t want to play for Moose Jaw.

In January 1914, he married Minnia Bellecowan and then caught a train back to Phoenix, to play again for the local team and defend their championship. His wife joined him a few weeks later. [7] 

The Boundary still claimed to be an amateur league, but few people were buying it. “Morris has refused fabulous pro offers,” the Grand Forks Gazette wrote, “because he can get more playing ‘amateur.’” [8] Morris was described variously as “the highest salaried player in the Boundary or Kootenay”; “the highest priced man in the interior (stipend $100 per week)”; and “the highest salaried hockey player in BC.” [9] By contrast, teammate Mike Mitchell was paid $50 per week. [10]

Sportswriters at the time portrayed Morris as mercurial and mercenary, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say he had a superior sense of self-worth. His hockey income allowed him to buy an interest in the Phoenix Club billiard parlor, which he ran in partnership with Ted Deichert. [11]

Phoenix Pioneer, Sept. 12, 1914

But Morris’ second season in Phoenix wasn’t nearly as successful as the first. He scored six goals in 10 games and the team finished second in the league, well behind Grand Forks. In the two-game, total-goals playoff to decide the league champion, Phoenix fell 2-0 and 7-2 to Grand Forks. Morris scored twice.

Morris stayed in Phoenix for several months, then sold his stake in the pool hall in September 1914 and returned to Moose Jaw. [12] According to the Phoenix Pioneer, the following season Phoenix decided to stick to homegrown players, “eliminating entirely the professional side of our great winter sport.” [13]

Curling bonspiel inside the Phoenix rink, circa 1915. (Boundary Museum and Archives 1991-055-006-02)

The Phoenix rink, seen on a July 1912 fire insurance plan.

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When Morris petitioned for US naturalization in 1928, he stated that he “Came originally from Phoenix, Canada, Nov. 1915, entering at Marcus [Washington]. Went back to Canada 1918.” [14] But he was a bit off on his dates, for after going home to Moose Jaw, he signed with the Victoria Capitals for the 1914-15 season.

The following year, 1915-16, he joined the Seattle Metropolitans and led the PCHA in scoring. But then he did return triumphantly to Phoenix as a member of the PCHA All-Stars, who played an exhibition series in the area in March 1916. In 1917, he led Seattle to the Stanley Cup championship, the first by an American-based team.

Bernie Morris as a member of the Seattle Metropolitans. (David Eskenazi collection)

But Bernie Morris is one of the most tragic figures in PCHA history, for reasons I won’t go into here, because others have already done so. His difficult early years are described in Ticen’s book, as are the unfortunate events he experienced in 1918-19 (a more fulsome discussion of the latter appears in the book’s much-expanded second edition). This part of Morris’ story was first recounted in “Searching for Bernie Morris,” by Eric Zweig, published in the 2001 edition of the Hockey Research Journal.

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Phoenix no longer exists. After the First World War, the city quickly became a ghost town. Its hockey rink was demolished for salvage, with the proceeds going toward a cenotaph to remember local soldiers killed during the First World War. Whatever buildings remained at Phoenix were destroyed by open-pit mining operations that began in the 1950s. Today all that’s left are the cenotaph (pictured below) and an historic cemetery.

NOTES

[1] Phoenix (BC) Pioneer, Jan. 25, 1913

[2] “Referee represents game to Phoenix,” and “The league mix-up,” Grand Forks Gazette, Feb. 22, 1913

[3] Ibid.

[4] “Referee represents game to Phoenix,” Grand Forks Gazette, Feb. 22, 1913

[5] “Good hockey down in Boundary league,” The Calgary Daily Herald, March 12, 1913

[6] When It Mattered Most: The Forgotten Story of America’s First Stanley Cup Champions, and the War to End All Wars, Kevin Ticen, 2019, p. 24-25

[7] “Bernie Morris a married man,” Phoenix Pioneer, Jan. 17, 1914 and Grand Forks Gazette, Jan. 31, 1914

[8] “Prairie ‘amateur’ hockey,” Grand Forks Gazette, Jan. 3, 1914

[9] “Bernie Morris a married man,” Phoenix Pioneer, Jan. 17, 1914; Trail (BC) News, March 14, 1914 and Grand Forks Gazette, Jan. 31, 1914

[10] “Boundary players in limelight,” Similkameen (BC) Star, Dec. 8, 1914

[11] “Club changes hands,” Phoenix Pioneer, March 21, 1914

[12] Phoenix Pioneer, Sept. 26, 1914

[13] Phoenix Pioneer, Dec. 19, 1914

[14] Bernard Morris petition for naturalization, viewed at ancestry.com

The Phoenix cenotaph was built with proceeds from the sale of the local arena.