The Toronto Varsity Grads represented Canada at the
1928 Olympics after winning the 1927 Allan Cup
The 1928 Olympics were the third Olympic hockey championship and also served as the third World Championship and 13th European Championships, with the previous two Olympic gold medals having been won by Canada.
11 nations took part in the competition, with the Canadians being given a bye directly into the medal round based on having outscored their competition in the previous two tournaments by a margin of 132-3. No, that is not a typo.
The dominating Canadians were given a bye to the Final Round
The remaining ten teams were divided into three groups for First Round play from February 11th to the 16th, with the winners of each group advancing to the Medal Round.
The beautiful setting for the hockey venue in St. Moritz
In Group A, Great Britain advanced with a 2-1 record thanks to a +4 goal differential over France (2-1, +1) and Belgium (2-1 , -1) and Hungary at 0-3.
Group B saw Sweden win with a record of 1-0-1 over Czechoslovakia (1-1) and Poland (0-1-1).
In the final Group C, hosts Switzerland prevailed with a 1-0-1 record over Austria (0-0-2) and Germany (0-1-1).
Thus, the Final Round consisted of a group of four teams, Canada, Great Britain, Sweden and Switzerland, who would play a round robin format with the top three teams earning the medals.
After sitting on the sidelines for nearly a week,
the Canadian team was ready to play
Play began on February 17th with Canada picking up where they left off with an 11-0 win over Sweden.
The Swedes and Canadians line up prior to their game
Meanwhile, Switzerland shut out Great Britain 4-0 later the same day.
On February 18th, Canada again dominated, defeating Great Britain 14-0 after starting off with 6 first period goals. The second game went in the Canadian's favor as well when Sweden blanked Switzerland 4-0 to leave Canada as the only undefeated team after just two games played, as if they needed the help.
Then, on this date in 1928, Sweden beat Great Britain 3-1 to lay a claim on the silver medal, while the Canadians romped to a 13-0 win over the Swiss to claim their third consecutive gold medal, having out scored their competition 38-0 in their three games played.
Canada battles Swizterland in the final game
The top scorer for Canada was Dave Trottier, who scored 12 goals and 3 assists for 15 points in three games, averaging 4 goals and an assist per game.
Other members of the Canadian gold medalists were Charles Delahaye, Franklyn Fisher, Louis Hudson, who would also win gold in 1928, Herbert Plaxton, Hugh Plaxton, who would play for the Montreal Maroons of the NHL in 1932-33, Roger Plaxton, John Primeau, Frank Sullivan, who also won a Grey Cup in Canadian Football with the Toronto Argonauts in 1921, his brother and goaltender Joseph Sullivan and Ross Taylor.
Joe Sullivan
Trottier would have by far the most accomplished hockey career, playing ten seasons with the Maroons, including leading the Maroons in scoring in 1932 and winning a Stanley Cup in 1935, followed by a final season divided between the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL and the Pittsburgh Hornets of the International-American Hockey League. He totaled 446 NHL games with 121 goals and 113 assists for 234 career points.
Dave Trottier
Today's featured jersey is a 1928 Canada National Team Dave Trottier jersey as worn during the 1928 Olympics where Trottier led all players in scoring with 15 points in 3 games. Trottier went on to an 11 season NHL career, which included a Stanley Cup championship with the Montreal Maroons.
For the 1928 Olympics, the Canadians wore plain white sweaters with a classic maple leaf logo on the front with single color numbers on the back.
In today's video section, extended highlights of Canada's win over Switzerland to confirm their gold medal at the 1928 Olympics.
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