The Renfrew "Millionaires"

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted July, 2005

Plaque Location

The County of Renfrew
The Town of Renfrew
On the outside wall of the community centre in
Ma-Te-Way Recreational Park, at the south end of
Ma-Te-Way Park Drive, south of Lisgar Avenue (Road 132)

Coordinates: N 45 27.952 W 76 41.690

Plaque Text

Local tycoon M.J. O'Brien launched a bid to bring the Stanley Cup to Renfrew in 1910 by offering hockey stars like Lester and Frank Patrick and "Cyclone" Taylor extravagant salaries to play for the Renfrew Creamery Kings. The team was quickly nicknamed the "Millionaires". That season they played thrilling games against Cobalt, Haileybury, Ottawa and Montreal teams, but Renfrew's hopes were dashed when the Montreal Wanderers took the cup. After the First World War, the emergence of the National Hockey League signalled an end to small-town participation in big-league hockey.

Related Ontario plaque
"Cyclone" Taylor 1885-1979

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Here are the visitors' comments for this page.

Posted April 27, 2012
I first became associated with the name Lennox Irving in 1975 when Pembroke was celebrating its sesquicentennial.
At a hockey dinner one of the speakers was an official from the Hockey Hall of Fame. During his remarks he said the person credited with the scoring the only goal in what considered the first official hockey game in Canada was from Pembroke.
Before he finished his comment local hockey legend David Behan shouted out the name Lennox Irving. The speaker confirmed.
I was working for the Pembroke Observer back then and I asked David a few questions. He said Lennox Irving grew up in Pembroke and the family home was near what is now the Mary Street bridge. There was no structure back then; in fact Pembroke's residential and business section ended at that point.
As for the other part of your query I do know McAllister is a fairly well known name in Pembroke. I remember meeting Ray McAllister a few times at sporting events but I am not sure if he is still living. There is a street in Pembroke that bears the family name.
Wayne Lavigne

Posted February 24, 2010
Does anyone have any information on Lennox Irving, the Barnet family or McAllister family in this area. I recall my father, Charles B. McAllister having some connection to Cyclone Taylor and hockey in New Westminster. Lennox Irving attended Queen's University in Kingston and was involved in the first hockey game there; the McAllister family later moved to New Westminster. The Barnet 'girls' moved to Victoria. Any help or direction for enquiries would be most helpful...thank you so much. Grace Hall (nee Barnet/McAllister.

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