The Icelandic Canadian - 01.05.2008, Qupperneq 45

Vol. 61 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
135
Book Reviews
When Falcons Fly
by David Square
Reviewed by Cathie Eliasson &
Shirley McCreedy
Many Canadians, and certainly most
Icelanders, are aware of the Falcons hockey
team that won the first Olympic gold
medal. In 2002 their story came to promi-
nence when a public hue and cry went out
as a team from Toronto was publicly given
that honour and was to be recognized with
an emblem on the jerseys of the 2002
Olympic men’s hockey team. This was
loudly corrected and the Falcons place in
history was secured.
But what do we really know about the
players and the team that accomplished this
incredible feat in 1920? David Square in his
historical fiction about the team, When
Falcon’s Fly, gives us a close, personal look
at the lives and times of these young men,
and the discrimination and financial hard-
ship they overcame to achieve their almost
impossible dream.
We meet the players in 1909, playing
hockey on the frozen Assiniboine River
against the Anglophones or Wasps. The
game was important because the loser not
only had to clear the rink of snow for the
rest of the winter, but a Wasp win would
prove their superiority over the Icelanders
in “ all matters including sports”; while an
Icelandic win would “boost their image” in
their own eyes and that of the entire settle-
ment of Little Iceland.
The Wasps were made up of the city’s
elite, doctors, lawyers, and businessmen,
from the south side of the river. They lived
in luxurious homes on River Avenue,
Roslyn Road, and Wellington Crescent.
The immigrant Icelanders resided in
small, modest dwellings and duplexes on
the north side of the Assiniboine, in the
west end around Victor and Sargent, home
of the First Lutheran Church a mainstay in
their community.
The game was tied 7-7 as the sun was
setting. Neither team wanted a tie. A nasty
slash to Slim Halldorson’s throat had the
Icelanders calling for a penalty shot The
Anglophones replied with racial taunts and
called down the “goolies” for not being
able to take the rough stuff.
Frank Frederickson stood up and
called them out to settle it with their fists.
The fight ended with Huck Woodman,
who had trained as a boxer, leaving a bleed-
ing Frank on the ice. ’’You Goolies don’t
know how to quit, do you?” said fiuck.
Frank replied “quit is not in our Goolie
vocabulary.” The game ended in a tie.