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Oxford University Ice Hockey Club

Through the formation of the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club (OUIHC), Canadian students at the University of Oxford helped bring Canadian hockey rules to prominence in Europe, thus influencing the development of British and European ice hockey.


Through the formation of the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club (OUIHC), Canadian students at the University of Oxford helped bring Canadian hockey rules to prominence in Europe, thus influencing the development of British and European ice hockey. The OUIHC boasts many distinguished Canadian alumni in politics, finance and academia, including Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, Governor General Roland Michener, the designer of the Maple Leaf Flag (George F.G. Stanley, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick) and two governors of the Bank of Canada (James Coyne and Mark Carney).

Oldest Hockey Club in Europe

The Oxford University Ice Hockey Club (OUIHC) has claim, together with the Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club (CUIHC), to be the oldest ice hockey club in Europe and second oldest in the world, behind Montréal’s McGill University Club, which was founded in 1877. Oxford’s claim stems from a match held against Cambridge in the Swiss Alps in the winter of 1885. Little is known about this match and there is a discrepancy over the score, but it is agreed that Oxford was the clear victor.

The International Ice Hockey Federation recognizes the 1885 match as a hockey game, though it was more likely a game of bandy, which was then commonly known as “hockey on the ice” and featured 11-player teams competing to direct a ball into the opponent’s net using short, curved sticks. In Great Britain, “hockey on the ice” evolved slowly into the modern sport of hockey through the influence of the growing number of Canadians in England.

Canadian Influence

In 1900, J.J. Cawthra, a Canadian undergraduate at Cambridge University, revived the winter Varsity Match, the historic sporting fixture between Oxford University and Cambridge University — the last match having been played in 1895. The 1900 match was scrappy, and (like earlier matches) was played with bandy sticks and a lacrosse ball. However, due to Cawthra’s influence, it was played according to the rules of Canadian hockey. The same was true for the match held in 1901.

By 1902 Cawthra had finished his degree and the Varsity Match reverted back to bandy rules. The Oxford team folded soon after. Although this early experiment with ice hockey failed, the growing numbers of Canadians coming to Britain in the early 20th century would change the way the sport was played in Europe. In 1902, Cecil Rhodes established the Rhodes Scholarship to bring the brightest students from throughout the British Empire and the United States to Oxford University. The scholarship ensured a steady flow of North American students to the university.

The Oxford Canadians

In 1906, a group of Rhodes Scholars from Canada and the Dominion of Newfoundland formed the Oxford Canadians, a hockey team that played using the longer Canadian stick and according to Canadian rules that closely resembled the modern sport. While this team was not a university team and did not play Cambridge (their main rival was the Prince’s Club of London), the Oxford Canadians had an important role in the development of the European sport into what is now recognized as the modern game of hockey.

The differences between Canadian and British styles of play gained significant attention in the press of both countries. Canadians used longer sticks than the British and, at the time, did not allow forward passing. Oxford Canadians matches were regularly reported in The Times of London, one of Britain’s most widely circulated papers, and commonly appeared in Canadian papers. In 1908, the Montréal Gazette attributed an Oxford Canadians loss to their inability to “accustom themselves to the forward passing allowed” in Britain. The British Columbia Daily Colonist similarly described the "handicaps" the Oxford Canadians faced: “in England, hockey is played under off-side rules somewhat similar to that of association football. Forward passing is perfectly legitimate and most freely resorted to.” In 1910, The Times of London reported that an Oxford Canadians match provided “an excellent exhibition of Canadian methods not often seen in this country.”

The Oxford Canadians also drew attention in continental Europe, where they toured on a number of occasions. This included an appearance at the 1910 European Ice Hockey Championships in Les Avants, Switzerland. When France withdrew from the 1910 championship games the day before the competition began, the organizers invited the Oxford Canadians — who were already on tour in Switzerland — to participate in the contest without competing for prize or title. The Times of London reported that “[t]he chief objective in admitting them” to the competition “was to give the spectators an opportunity of observing their method and style of play.” The Canadian style of play was exotic to an audience accustomed to the bandy-like European form, and this appearance at the European Championship helped bring Canadian hockey to a wider audience.

Oxford University Team Re-Founded

In 1909, the Oxford University team was re-founded and the Varsity Match with Cambridge resumed.The team included several Americans, including the captain in 1913, but the sport, as they played it, was still not the modern game of hockey. Although the Oxford Canadians remained separate from the university ice hockey team, they influenced the university team’s style of play, which was a hybrid mix of bandy, British ice hockey and elements of the Canadian game. A photograph of the 1910 Varsity Match shows the players of Oxford and Cambridge holding both short, curved bandy sticks as well as longer Canadian hockey sticks resembling the modern stick.

The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 forced both Oxford teams (the Oxford Canadians and the university team) to fold. However, in the post-war era Canadian students at Oxford would resurrect the university ice hockey team (although not the Oxford Canadians), bringing modern hockey to the forefront.

The Oxford University Ice Hockey Club

In 1920, Kenneth Taylor, a Rhodes Scholar from Ontario, revived Oxford’s university ice hockey team and held tryouts — which, because Oxford had no rink of its own, had to be held in Manchester, nearly 225 km away. Despite these difficulties, the first Varsity Match since the start of the First World War was held in Mürren, Switzerland, on 30 December with Taylor as captain. The match ended in a draw, but Oxford hockey was headed for a bright future.

The following year, the team was officially reconstituted as the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club (OUIHC), the name which men’s hockey at Oxford has competed under ever since. The first season under the OUIHC banner, the team had an unbeaten record and defeated Cambridge in the 1921 Varsity Match with a resounding 27–0 victory.

Dominating European Hockey: 1920s and 1930s

In the 1920s and 1930s, the OUIHC — which included many notable Canadians — dominated the European hockey scene. Future Prime Minister and Nobel Peace laureate Lester B. Pearson was recruited by future Governor General Roland Michener to join the OUIHC in 1921. Pearson later recalled that “[o]ur matches with the European clubs were also easy victories, so we thought, naturally, that we were better than we actually were by Canadian standards.” Michener echoed Pearson’s sentiment and remarked that “[w]e were not beaten, but that was largely because we were playing against good skaters who knew little about hockey.”

In the 1920s the OUIHC played remarkably well. In 1923 The Guardian declared that “the Oxford University Ice Hockey team […] has earned the reputation of being the best ice hockey team which has yet visited Europe, with the exception of the Canadian and American side which took part in the Olympic Games.” In the 1920s the team went on a series of European tours and played the Olympic hockey teams of several countries. In the winter of 1923–24 the OUIHC toured Europe as part of the journey to the Varsity Match in Mürren. While on tour the club beat both the Belgian Olympic hockey team (4–3) and the British Olympic team hopefuls (7–2). Following these victories, OUIHC captain Edward Pitblado was selected for the British Olympic team and would go on to win bronze at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France.

In 1923, the OUIHC travelled to Davos, Switzerland, to play in the inaugural Spengler Cup tournament, beating Berliner Schlittschuhclub to become the first team to win the tournament. The club won the Spengler Cup three more times, winning outright in 1925 and 1931, and shared the title in 1932 with LTC Prague after a scoreless final match. (Originally a European fixture, the Spengler has gone on to become an international tournament.)

Throughout the 1920s the OUIHC was predominantly Canadian, supported by the occasional player from the United States or Newfoundland, which was not yet part of Canada. As a result, Canadian rules and style of play became familiar in Europe, no longer the curiosity of the previous decade. In 1928, a British sports magazine wrote that, aside from the tours of North American teams, “the chief ice hockey event in Europe is the intervarsity match. After being played for several years at Mürren, this fixture was transferred three years ago to the Canadian rink at the magnificent ice stadium at St Moritz.” It was “[t]hanks to the Rhodes Scholars of Oxford” that “the real game has been known for several years in some of the winter-resorts of Switzerland.”

Oxford ended the 1920s on a high, winning the 1929 Varsity Match under the leadership of team captain Clarence S. Campbell, who would later serve as president of the National Hockey League from 1946 to 1977.

In 1930, the city of Oxford built an ice rink and the national teams of France, Germany and several other countries travelled to Oxford to play the OUIHC. In addition to the travelling teams of Europe, the OUIHC played touring Canadian teams including the Edmonton Superiors, the Ottawa Shamrocks and Team Canada.

Oxford University vs Czech National Team, 1931
The Oxford University Ice Hockey Team played the Czech National Team in December 1931 in Davos, Switzerland, during the European championships. The Oxford team included many Canadians. Canadian players from left to right: David Turnbull, George F.G. Stanley, O.A. Gratias, L.C. Bonnycastle.\r\n
Members of the Oxford University and Czech National Team, 1931
The Oxford University Ice Hockey team played the Czech national team in Davos, Switzerland as part of the European championships. The Oxford team was dominated by Canadians, including George F.G. Stanley (left), O.A. Gratias (second from left) and Ronald Martland (right).

After the last match of the 1931–32 season, the mayor of Oxford presented the players of the OUIHC with gold medals in recognition of their outstanding skill. The following year, captain Charles H. Little petitioned the University Blues Committee for ice hockey to be given Blues Status. Blues are awarded by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in recognition of athletic prowess and are the highest sporting accolade for their students. The first Oxford Blues in ice hockey were awarded to nine OUIHC players after a shutout victory against Cambridge on 21 January 1933. Since this date, with the exception of a brief loss of Blues Status between 2013 and 2014, the most skilled OUIHC players who compete in the Varsity Match against Cambridge have earned Blues.


Second World War and Re-Emergence of OUIHC

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Oxford University decided to remain open for the remainder of the academic year to allow returning students to finish their degrees. The Oxford University Ice Hockey Club clung to life, playing a final Varsity Match in early 1940. Many Canadian airmen were stationed in Britain in the early stages of the Second World War and in the final 1939–40 season, the OUIHC played teams “made up of Canadians from Northern Ontario and Manitoba who were stationed at a nearby RAF posting.”

With victory declared in Europe, Britain and the university began to return to normal. In 1946 the OUIHC was brought out of dormancy by two Canadian Rhodes Scholars and Second World War veterans, John Coyne and Gordon Blair. Blair would later be elected to the House of Commons and serve as a justice on the Ontario Court of Appeal, and president of the Royal Canadian Legion. Many of the players who joined the OUIHC in the immediate post-war years had served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Notably, in 1956, the team travelled to Zweibrücken, West Germany, to play the Royal Canadian Air ForceFlyers (the RCAF Flyers won 6–2). There remain strong ties between the RAF and the OUIHC, featuring matches and joint practices.

In the winter of 1946–47, the OUIHC returned to its tradition of touring Europe and travelled to Lausanne, Zürich, Davos and Milan. The following year the team went on a more limited winter tour due to international politics and club finances. Although not as extensive as previous winter European tours, the OUIHC had the distinction of playing before Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

The 1955 Varsity Match ended with the highest scoring Oxford victory at 29–0, beating the previous record set by the Club in 1921. H. Ian MacDonald scored nine of Oxford’s 29 goals in the 1955 match and remains the OUIHC’s highest scoring player with over 100 goals scored during his tenure on the team. MacDonald would later serve as the third president of York University and chairman of the Commonwealth of Learning.

Canadians and the OUIHC Since 1970

In the 1980s and 1990s the club again included many notable Canadians. In the 1981–82 season the OUIHC was co-captained by John H. McCall MacBain, who later founded the McCall MacBain Foundation, an organization that supports initiatives in education, health and the environment. In the 1990s the team was co-captained by Mark Carney, who became governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and David Lametti, who became a noted legal scholar, McGill University professor and, since the 2015 general election, a Member of Parliament. Lametti described his co-captain as someone who “took charge…He wore number one and didn’t hesitate to call out teammates who were not playing hard enough…When it was time to play he put on his game face and he was a serious player.”

The alumni of the OUIHC have supported and generously given back to the club. When the OUIHC fell on hard times in the 1970s and was unable to afford much needed new equipment, Clarence Campbell rallied the Old Blues to support their team. Those who answered Campbell’s call included Governor GeneralRoland Michener, Saskatchewan PremierAllan Blakeney, Supreme Court Justice Ronald Martland and Attorney General Otto Lang. The club has also benefited from the generous support of OUIHC alumnus and noted philanthropist John H. McCall MacBain.

An Overdue Introduction: Women’s Hockey

Women’s ice hockey was a relatively late creation at the University of Oxford, due in part to the small number of women’s colleges and the fact that many of the men’s colleges did not become co-educational until fairly late (e.g., Christ Church in 1980). Women’s hockey was further hindered by the fact that women were not awarded the Rhodes Scholarship until 1977, which inadvertently kept the number of North American women at Oxford low.

In the early winter of 1981, frustrated by the lack of opportunity for women’s hockey, Deborah Coyne, a Commonwealth Scholar, founded the Oxford University Women’s Ice Hockey Club (OUWIHC). Deborah Coyne was the daughter of John Coyne, who had resuscitated the OUIHC following the Second World War. Her uncle, James Coyne, had also played for Oxford in the 1930s and later became the second governor of the Bank of Canada. Deborah Coyne contacted several women’s clubs and organized the first British women’s ice hockey league. In the fall of 1981, Coyne persuaded Cambridge to form a women’s ice hockey club of their own with the intention of establishing a women’s Varsity Match.

The inaugural Women’s Varsity Match was held in Bristol in the early spring of 1982. Both clubs had to borrow equipment from the men’s teams and the newspapers commented on the “unusual mixture of figure and hire skates as well as hockey skates,” but reported that this “did nothing to impair the enthusiasm and courage” of both teams. The inaugural women’s Varsity Match ended with a Cambridge victory 3–1. Coyne scored Oxford’s single goal. The OUWIHC, like their male counterparts, went on to develop a distinguished sporting reputation. In 1985, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, attended the women’s ice hockey Varsity Match and witnessed the OUWIHC defeat Cambridge 5–2.

In addition to Deborah Coyne, prominent alumnae of the Oxford women’s team include Diana Fox Carney, the director of Strategy and Engagement at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in London, Shona Brown, formerly senior vice president of Google, and Englishwoman Joy Tottman Johnston, the first woman in Britain to referee a men’s match and the referee of the women’s gold medal match at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

The men’s and women’s hockey clubs have maintained a close relationship since the 1980s and merged under an umbrella organization in 2005. They remain separate teams but are part of a single club using the historic Oxford University Ice Hockey Club banner. In 2015, the Hockey Hall of Fame accepted and displayed an OUIHC jersey worn by a former women’s captain and club president.

Significance

Through the formation of the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club, Canadian students at the University of Oxford helped bring Canadian hockey rules to Europe, thus influencing the development of British and European ice hockey.

The OUIHC has perhaps the most distinguished alumni of any hockey program in the world. Many noted Canadians have driven the OUIHC to success, and the camaraderie formed during the Oxford years has influenced the course of Canadian history. None is perhaps as important as the relationship between Roland Michener and Lester B. Pearson, whose friendship forged through the OUIHC transcended political differences and resulted in Michener’s appointment as governor general under Pearson’s tenure as prime minister. The alumni and current players of the OUIHC continue to contribute to the success of Oxford University ice hockey and many have established prominent careers in the fields of finance, politics and academia in Canada and abroad.

Notes on Individual Players

The Rev. Kenneth Elder Taylor, OBE, awarded the Rhodes Scholarship in 1918, but deferred until 1920.Taylor, a goaltender, was instrumental in reviving ice hockey at Oxford University in the wake of the First World War. He captained the 1920 team and was responsible for the reconstitution of the team as the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club in 1921. Taylor served in the Canadian Chaplain Service during the Second World War and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1945 for his wartime service. In 1947, Taylor became the principal of the Anglican Theological College at the University of British Columbia. He was made a Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 1949 by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands in recognition of his wartime services in the Netherlands.

Edward Pitblado, 1920 Rhodes Scholar from Manitoba. Pitblado was captain of the OUIHC for the 1923–24 season. As part of the 1923–24 European tour, the OUIHC played several Olympic ice hockey teams, including the British Olympic hopefuls. Following the OUIHC’s victory over the British team, Pitblado was selected to play as a forward on the British Olympic ice hockey team. Pitblado and the British Olympic team won the bronze medal at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France. He was instrumental in the founding of Ducks Unlimited and was president of the Manitoba Law Society from 1965 to 1966.

Clarence S. Campbell, MBE, QC, 1926 Rhodes Scholar from Alberta. Campbell captained the OUIHC during the 1928–29 season. After graduating from Oxford, he worked as a lawyer and was an NHL referee in the 1930s. Campbell enlisted in the Canadian Infantry Corps Armoured Division during the Second World War, and held the rank of lieutenant colonel and subsequently major. He was a skilled lawyer and prosecuted former Nazi officials for crimes against humanity in the immediate post-war years. In 1945, he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire and was appointed King’s Counsel in 1948. He served as the third president of the NHL from 1946 to 1977, and was honorary chairman of the NHL from 1977 until his death in 1984. In 1967, the NHL trophy for the Western Conference playoff championship was named the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl in his honour. Campbell remained a strong supporter of the OUIHC and rallied the alumni to donate funds when the Club was struggling in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Hon. Ronald Martland, CC, AOE, QC, 1928 Rhodes Scholar from Alberta. Martland studied law while at the university and became the first Canadian to receive Oxford University’s Vinerian Prize for the best performance in the bachelor of civil law examination in 1931. He captained the OUIHC in the 1930–31 season. Martland returned to Canada after finishing his degree, and was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1958 by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.

Commander Charles Herbert Little, Royal Canadian Navy, CD, FRCGS, 1930 Rhodes Scholar from Ontario. Little, a goaltender, captained the OUIHC in the 1932–33 season and was one of the most committed of the club’s leaders since Ken Taylor. When he left Oxford University he donated a silver cup for an intercollegiate ice hockey competition in the hopes of strengthening the sport at the university and ensuring the longevity of the club. The first competition for the Little Cup was held in 1933, but with the closure of the Oxford ice rink in 1934, the competition failed and the cup was returned to Little. Little returned to Canada after completing his degree and served as the director of the Naval Intelligence Service of Canada during the Second World War. He was an accomplished historian and was appointed to the Order of Isabella the Catholic by the Government of Spain for his research on the Spanish exploration of British Columbia in the 18th century.

James Elliot Coyne, OM, 1931 Rhodes Scholar from Manitoba. He was captain of the OUIHC during the 1933–34 season. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. Coyne was the second governor of the Bank of Canada, a position he held from 1955 to 1961. His younger brother, John, would also play for the OUIHC and was responsible for its revival following the Second World War. His niece, Deborah Coyne, founded the OUWIHC in the 1980s.

The Hon. Robert Aaron Gordon Robertson, PC, CC, FRSC, 1938 Rhodes Scholar from Saskatchewan. Robertson served as the seventh commissioner of the Northwest Territories, a post he held from 1953 until 1963, when he was appointed clerk of the Privy Council and secretary of the Cabinet on Prime Minister Pearson’s recommendation. In 1975, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed Robertson secretary to the Cabinet for Federal-Provincial Relations. From 1980 to 1990, he served as chancellor of Carleton University.

John McCreary Coyne, DFC, CStJ, QC, Coyne was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship in 1940, but deferred to join the Royal Canadian Air Force in which he served for the majority of the Second World War. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1945. When Coyne came to Oxford in 1946, he, together with Gordon Blair, re-established the OUIHC. He was made a Commander of the Most Venerable Order of St. John in 1978 and served as legal counsel for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Coyne was the younger brother of Bank of Canada Governor and OUIHC alumnus James Coyne. His daughter, Deborah, came to Oxford in the 1980s and was the founder of Oxford women’s ice hockey. His daughter, Barbara, went to Cambridge and was a member of the Cambridge University Women’s Ice Hockey Club (CUWIHC).

Justice Duncan Gordon Blair, CM, QC, Blair was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship in 1941, but did not attend until after the conclusion of the Second World War. He enlisted in the Irish Regiment of Canada and was wounded in Italy. After arriving at the university in 1946, he and fellow Rhodes Scholar John Coyne revived the OUIHC. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1968 for the Grenville-Carlton riding in Ontario and held that seat until 1972. He was appointed a justice of the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1978. He later served as president of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Dr. William Howard Feindel, OC, GOQ, FRSC, 1939 Rhodes Scholar from Nova Scotia. He completed a doctorate in clinical medicine at the University of Oxford, focusing on neuroanatomy. Feindel developed the PET technique of brain imagery and became the director of the Montréal Neurological Institute in 1972. Dr. Feindel was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1982 in recognition of his work in neurosurgery. From 1991 until his retirement in 1996, Feindel was the chancellor of Acadia University. He was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2003.

Dr. Ramsay Gunton, CM, FRCPC, 1946 Rhodes Scholar from Ontario. Gunton was part of the early post-war OUIHC and served as president of the club in 1947, and was team captain in 1948. Dr. Gunton was one of the first cardiologists to develop the cardiac catheterization technique in Canada. He served as the president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada from 1986 to 1988. He headed the Toronto General Hospital’s Department of Therapeutics and was chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario. The Western Ontario research chair in cardiology is named in his honour.

H. Ian MacDonald, OC, KLJ, 1952 Rhodes Scholar from Ontario. With his record of over 100 goals, MacDonald remains the leading scorer of the OUIHC. He served as the president of York University from 1974–84. From1994–2003, he was chair of the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth of Learning, an organization dedicated to improving the quality and access of education within the Commonwealth of Nations.

The Hon. Otto Lang, PC, OC, QC, 1953 Rhodes Scholar from Saskatchewan. He served as a Member of Parliament for the riding of Saskatoon from 1968 until 1979. He twice served as the minister for Justice and attorney general of Canada under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, first from 1972 to 1975 and again in 1978.

John H. McCall MacBain, 1980 Rhodes Scholar from Québec. MacBain played as a forward for the OUIHC and was co-captain with Gary Lawrence in the 1981–82 season. He is noted for his philanthropy, especially the work of the McCall MacBain Foundation. MacBain has been dubbed the “Second Century Founder of the Rhodes Scholarship” for his £75 million donation to the Rhodes Trust. As an alumnus he has generously supported the OUIHC.

Deborah Coyne, came to the University of Oxford in 1980 as a Commonwealth Scholar to study for the master of philosophy in International Relations. In early 1981, Deborah Coyne founded the OUWIHC and was its first captain. Deborah Coyne is the daughter of John Coyne, who re-established the OUIHC after the Second World War. Her uncle, James Coyne, also played for Oxford in the 1930s and later became the second governor of the Bank of Canada. Deborah Coyne contacted several women’s clubs and organized the first British women’s ice hockey league. Coyne also persuaded Cambridge to form a women’s ice hockey club of their own so that a women’s Varsity Match fixture could be established. Deborah’s younger sister, Barbara Coyne, attended the University of Cambridge, and was the goaltender for the CUWIHC in the 1985–86 season. Deborah Coyne was a prominent figure in the Liberal Party and took a leading role in the opposition to the Meech Lake Accords. From 1989 to 1991 she served as an advisor to Newfoundland PremierClyde Wells. In 2015, Coyne became the senior policy adviser to Green Party leader Elizabeth May.

David Lametti, co-captain of the OUIHC with Mark Carney. From 1989–90 Lametti was clerk to Justice Peter Cory of the Supreme Court of Canada. He was a law professor at McGill University and served as director of the McGill Institute of Comparative Law from 2002 to 2006. He is a founding member of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy (CIPP) and served as its director from 2009 to 2012. He was elected to the House of Commons in 2015 for the Lasalle-Émard-Verdun riding in Québec.

Mark Carney, OC, born in the Northwest Territories, completed his bachelor’s in economics at Harvard University before coming to Oxford where he received a master of philosophy and doctorate (PhD) in economics. Carney was goalkeeper while a member of the OUIHC and was co-captain with David Lametti. Carney has served as the governor of the Bank of England since 2013 and was governor of the Bank of Canada (2008–13). Mr. Carney is a member of the international advisory board of Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. Mr. Carney married OUWIHC alumna Diana Fox, whom he met through hockey.

Diana Carney née Fox, As a member of the OUWIHC, Diana Fox was known for her ability to literally skate rings around her opponents and move effortlessly through the opposing defensive line. Following her marriage to Mark Carney, an alumnus of the OUIHC, she moved to Canada where she served as the vice president of Canada 2020, a think-tank focused on the issues of climate and energy as well as social mobility and inequality. As part of Canada 2020, Carney coordinated the federal government strategy project, The Canada We Want in 2020. Since her husband’s appointment as governor of the Bank of England, she has been the director of Strategy and Engagement at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in London.

Sources

This article is based on original research by the authors. Sources include Canadian newspapers (e.g., Montreal Gazette, the Ottawa Journal, the Winnipeg Tribune, the Daily Colonist, [Victoria, BC], and the Vancouver Daily World), British newspapers (e.g., The Times and the Manchester Guardian) and magazines (e.g., Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News), and manuscripts at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England.

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