A Brief History

.. urprisingly enough, Seattle has been a rough-and-tumble hockey town for half a century, even though much of the local populace may hardly have heard of the game. In point of fact, Seattle was the first American city to win the famed Stanley Cup playoffs, the World Series of pro hockey, in which only National League teams may presently compete. That was in 1917, when the playoff matched the Montreal Canadiens against a Seattle team known as the Metropolitans. In those days, the Mets played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. It had originally been formed in 1911 as a three-team circuit representing Victoria, Vancouver, and New Westminster. Then Portland joined up in 1914, and Seattle followed in 1915.

A repeat Stanley Cup match between the Mets and the Canadiens was cancelled in 1919 because of an influenza epidemic that accounted for the death of a Montreal player (That player was defenceman Joe Hall).

In 1928, the Civic Ice Arena, which is now the Seattle Center Arena, was officially opened. Its pro tenants were the Seattle Eskimos, who were later dubbed the Seahawks [and who were later dubbed the Olympics]. Meanwhile, a mild-mannered and unassuming Canadian named Al Leader had settled in Seattle, and he soon formed the City League, which was to revitalize hockey in Seattle.

This self-styled amateur loop attracted gung-ho hockey buffs who played just for the joy of it, but all through the 30's it drew large, boisterous crowds to Sunday night doubleheaders in the Arena. In that era, the admission fee was 25 cents, and the players divied up the proceeds. ("Amateur" has always been a flexible term as applied to hockey. During World War II, the price of tickets soared to $1.50, and a good night could mean as much as $45 for each "amateur" player.)

After the war ended, Leader formed the Pacific Coast Hockey League, a circuit of "amateurs" which turned pro in 1948 and which, in 1951, evolved into the Western Hockey League. Its alignment has been shuffled and re-shuffled over the years; its past members include Tacoma, Hollywood, Fresno, Oakland, Spokane and Denver. (As well as Portland, Vancouver, New Westminster, Edmonton, Calgary, San Francisco, Brandon, St. Paul, Saskatoon, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Regina, San Diego, Winnipeg, Victoria, and Phoenix)

Seattle's team was successively known as the Ironmen, the Bombers, and the Americans. Then Hy Zimmerman, a blunt-spoken Runyanesque character who covers hockey for the [Seattle] Times, decreed that the name should be "Totems" and management dutifully complied.

For more information on the Ironmen, Bombers and Americans, check out Jeff Obermeyer's, Seattle Hockey Homepage.

When, in 1956, the Totems' receipts plummeted, Leader again came to the rescue by rounding up 14 sports-minded investors to buy out the faltering Seattle franchise.

Headed by a sportswear manufacturer named Marvin Burke, the syndicate still owns the club, but, as yet, it hasn't realized much profit. This is a decided anomaly because, next to Husky football and horse racing, hockey is the strongest sports draw in town. (Last season, the Totems played before 142,810 fans in 36 home games, while the Rainiers [Seattle's AAA baseball club] drew 136,525 spectators in 64 appearances, and the basketball-playing Huskies attracted only 58,562 to 12 games.)

...Here, the hockey boom is in full swing. Until three years ago, the Civic Ice Arena was the only big-scale rink in the area, but now the Seattle Center Coliseum has supplanted it as the mecca for hockey buffs, and new arenas have opened in Burien, Woodinville, Shoreline and Bellevue, which now boasts two rinks. During this same period, the number of amateur players hereabouts, who range in age anywhere from 8 to 50, has tripled to about 1,000.

Because of the Coliseum's large seating capacity [12,300], attendance at pro games is expected to double this season, and Seattle's Totems are all but assured of major-league status within the next few years. ...

...The loyalty and enthusiasm of Totem fans has a direct bearing on the team's fortunes, for hockey is the most emotion-charged of all team sports, and the morale of players is all-important. Says Bill MacFarland, the articulate Totem wing who recently passed the Washington State Bar examination: "When team spirit fails in hockey, you haven't got anything."

...Nourishing this spirit is among the chief responsibilities of Keith Allen, who is now in his ninth season as Totem coach. Many of his counterparts are tough-talking and iron-fisted but Allen - one of the most esteemed coaches in hockey - favors a low-keyed, gentlemanly approach. While supervising practice, he skates around in slacks, shirt, tie and jacket - except for his footwear, he looks like a casual stroller in the park - and he almost always addresses his players by their first names.

Allen's skills as a personnel manager are proven by his success in handling the league's super-star, Guyle Abner Fielder, who is otherwise known as Tom. Fielder is a genius in handling the puck - he is the league's top scorer almost every year - but he is also a finicky prima donna who has a tendency to sulk. This partially explains why Fielder has been unable to retain a spot on a National League team and has always drifted back to the Western League.

If this be so, he must have been wielding a fancy cue, for Fielder is one of the few Western League players who earn up to $12,000 a year. Most of his league-mates are paid from $4,000 to $7,000 annually - this compares to the National League average of $14,000 - plus bonuses from League playoffs that, in the majority of cases, vary from $150 to $2,000.

To learn more about the Seattle Totems and Seattle hockey history, Jeff Obermeyer's Seattle Hockey Homepage is a must visit.