In the winter of 1917, the Pittsburgh Polar Maids and Pittsburgh Arctic Girls were playing for the title in the city’s Winter Garden League. The winner would have the distinct opportunity to make history playing the visiting Ottawa Alerts.
It would be the first time in history, a women’s hockey team from Canada would face a women’s hockey team from the United States.
The sport had grown rapidly among women in Pittsburgh that winter. Since the introduction of girls hockey, considerable interest has been aroused among the local followers of the winter sport and each succeeding game finds a larger crowd, The Pittsburgh Post wrote prior to a February 1917 game between the Polar Maids and Arctic Girls.
The series between the Pittsburgh Polar Maids and Ottawa Alerts was breaking down international borders. The first game of their three game series took place on February 26, 1917. “Ottawa easily defeated the Polar Maids” the Ottawa Citizen wrote the next morning of the 4-0 decision. Hazel Quinney scored twice for the Alerta, while Edith Anderson and Beatrice Hagan had the others.
Game two had a similar outcome as “Ottawa proved tonight that their victory over the Pittsburgh Polar Maids last night was no fluke, as they again demonstrated their superiority on the ice…” the Citizen wrote of the February 27 game which ended in a 5-1 win for Ottawa. Hazel Quinney was again a standout for the Alerts scoring two more. Eva Ault, Edith Anderson, and Beatrice Hagan rounded out the scoring for Ottawa, while Pittsburgh captain Margaret Hanney got the Polar Maids’ first of the series.
The final game saw the gap close. Ottawa jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes of the game on goals from Lillian McCarthey, Edith Anderson and Miss Loashy. Pittsburgh closed the gap however, and shut down Ottawa’s attack with Miss Demuth scoring for the home team just past the midway point in the game. The game would end in a 3-1 decision, with Ottawa sweeping the series.
Today, games between Canadian and American teams are a regular occurrence, part of the PWHL and NHL, but in 1917, it was not common, nor had it ever been done before in women’s hockey until the Ottawa Alerts traveled to Pittsburgh for a three game series against the Pittsburgh Polar Maids.
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