Herder Memorial Trophy

History

The Herder trophy was the brainchild of Ralph Herder, then president of The Evening Telegram, in honour of his five hockey-playing brothers. The trophy was donated in 1935 by the Evening Telegram newspaper and was to be awarded to Newfoundland's best ice hockey team. Having been published by a member of the Herder family since the founding of the paper in 1879, until the retirement of Stephen in 1993, has meant that the Telegram has played an integral role in the promotion and sponsorship of the Herder, which continues to this day.

Originally donated by Ralph Herder in memory of his five brothers, it now honors the memory of eight Herders. The “original five” Herders were Arthur, William, Douglas, Augustus and Hubert and they were later joined by brothers Ralph and James. In 2009, the name of Ralph's son Stephen was added to the trophy. The seven brothers were fine hockey players and often played together, with four of them sometimes playing together on championship teams. James Herder coached the 1935 Guards team that lost the inaugural Herder championship to Corner Brook in March 1935.

The St. John's Guards had earned the right to compete for the inaugural Herder Memorial Trophy in 1935 by first defeating St. Bon's in a 2-game series to become St. John's city champions, and later toppling the Bay Roberts Rovers in a 2-game, total goal series to become the Avalon Peninsula champions. The championship match-up was then set - the Guards of St. John's would play host to the Corner Brook All-Star Team. Fans in St. John's eagerly awaited the arrival of the Corner Brook Royals; tickets to the 2 games were sold out quickly. The Royals edged the Guards 1-0 in Game 1, and were victorious in Game 2 by a 4-2 margin to become the island's top team, and Herder Trophy Champions.

Today, fan interest and competition is as keen as it was in the glory days of senior hockey. The Herder Memorial Trophy will live forever in the minds and hearts of the people of Newfoundland.

The Herder family

The trophy was originally donated by Ralph Herder on behalf of the Herder Family as a memorial to five Herder brothers who had all been prominent hockey players (Douglas, Arthur, Hubert, Hebert Augustus 'Gus' and William Jr.). Later the names of Ralph (d.1955), his brother James (d.1970) and Ralph's son Stephen (d.1993) were added to the trophy.

The Herder is now a memorial to the following Herder family members:

1. Arthur, a lawyer, was a Captain in the First World War, He died of his wounds in 1917.

2. Hubert was a lieutenant when he was killed at Beaumont Hamel July 1, 1916.

3. William was a vice-president of the Evening Telegram when he died in 1934. (see William James Herder (1849–1922), publisher, born Old Perlican, Newfoundland, Canada, founder of Newfoundland's first daily newspaper, The Evening Telegram).

4. Douglas died from illness in 1908.

5. Augustus was a vice-president of the Evening Telegram when he died in 1934.

6. Ralph, also a lieutenant, was seriously wounded July 1, 1916. He survived the war. He became Publisher on the deaths of his brothers in 1934, and was the driving force behind the creation of the Herder Memorial Trophy in memory of his five brothers who predeceased him. Ralph was the father of Rendell [Rex] and Stephen and he died in 1955.

7. James was the youngest of the seven brothers. He was vice President and General Manager of The Evening Telegram when his brother Ralph died in 1955. Jim, as he was known, took over as Publisher and piloted The Evening Telegram Ltd through a period of tremendous growth and prosperity during the late 1950s and through the 1960s. He died in 1970.

8. Stephen succeeded his uncle Jim and was the longtime publisher of The Telegram. An environmentalist long before his time he was known for saving Rennies River, and a bridge over that river is dedicated to his efforts. Steve was a proud proponent of the Herder memorial Trophy. He and died in 1993, at the age of 65.

The trophy

The Herder Trophy donated in 1935 was retired and replaced by a replica. Over the years additional tiers were added to the original base, filled with shields bearing the names and years of championship teams.

St. Bon’s star Edward “Key” Kennedy (1911-1955) was the model for the hockey player that stands atop the original trophy. It is well-known that trophy-donor Ralph Herder took a photo of Kennedy, in playing pose, to New York where he had a model made and then had the figure cast in silver.

The original trophy was retired. A replica was made and is currently presented to championship teams.

Conditions placed by the trophy donor

The Herder family attached eight conditions to the donation of the Herder Memorial Trophy:

1. Trophy is to be known as The Herder Memorial Trophy presented by The Evening Telegram in memory of Arthur, Douglas, William, Augustus and Hubert Herder.
2. Trophy is to be emblematic of the All-Newfoundland Amateur Hockey championship, and must be competed for each year in St. John's.
3. All matches held for the Trophy to be held under the rules of the body governing hockey in Newfoundland.
4. The Trophy cannot be won outright but to be competed for each year.
5. The winner shall hold the Trophy until the start of the hockey season the following year and then it must be returned to the donors.
6. Arrangements for the playing of the All-Newfoundland championship are to be made by the main body governing hockey, the management of the rink, and the donors.
7. No names of teams or players winning the trophy to be engraved on the trophy or base.
8. If an All-Newfoundland championship is impossible in any year, the Trophy shall be held by the team winning the championship of the Avalon Peninsula or other Inter-Sectional championship.

Changes to the original conditions

From 1935 though 1941 the All-Newfoundland finals were played at the former Prince's Rink in St. John's (renamed The Arena in 1937). The Herder championships were cancelled for 1942 and 1943 after the Arena was destroyed by fire on November 28, 1941 and due to depleted rosters of senior hockey teams with men serving overseas during the Second World War. After the Arena burned down in November 1941, St. John's did not have a suitable venue until the opening of Memorial Stadium in December 1954. In 1944, the Herder finals were held outside St. John's for the first time when Bell Island and Corner Brook played the all-Newfoundland final series at the Corner Brook rink. The NAHA was granted permission by Ralph Herder to hold the Herder finals outside the capital city for the first time.

In 1947, the Herder championship was held in Gander. Grand Falls and St. Bon's faced off in the finals at the first Gander Gardens which was located in an old RCAF hangar at the airport. The Gardens had a natural sheet of ice which, at the time, was the largest ice surface on the island. The 1948 the finals were held at the Grand Falls Stadium that opened just two months prior. The state-of-the-art arena had Newfoundland's first 'regulation size' artificial ice surface and, for the next few years, was the only arena on the island with an ice plant.

In recent years, the Herder finals series was held at Mile One Centre (and before it was built, at Memorial Stadium) in St. John's and frequently sold out the 6,000 seat building. Games were also held in the Pepsi Centre in the city of Corner Brook, on the west coast of the island, when teams from that area were playing for the cup.

Since 2013. the Herder finalists have the right to decide the location of their home games.

Series format

Since the original series of eastern champions versus western champions was organized over a short period, the NAHA has dictated a number of series formats that included the winners of divisional, local league or island-wide league playoffs.

On February 25, 2015, Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador approved a request by the Central West Senior Hockey League in which they asked to play for the historic Herder Trophy because it was the only operating Senior A hockey league registered in the province.

Series format history

This is a list of Herder championship series formats since 1935.

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Summary of Herder finals results and locations

Note: TG = Two games total goals series

Broadcasting

The first island-wide live broadcast of a Herder championship game was on the VONF radio station on Saturday night March 23, 1935. Jack Tobin provided the play-by-play of the second and final game of the first all-Newfoundland hockey championships between Corner Brook vs. the Guards of St. John's live from the Prince's Rink in St. John's. The final score was 4-2 for Corner Brook.

In 2007 and 2008, Rogers Television broadcast the Herder finals and province-wide using the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly Channel). In 2009, games 3 to 5 of the finals were streamed online at thesportspage.ca.

The 2015 Herder finals games were webcast by George Scott who provided the play-by-play with Robert Goulding and Barry Manuel.