Gunners battle for Kingston Cup bragging rights

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This article was published 01/12/2023 (711 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

By Jules Xavier

Following a few years when games were not held due to a COVID-19 pandemic and soldiers deployed on Op Reassurance, the Kingston Cup is being dusted off for the annual 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery game.

1RCHA’s A “The Queen’s” and B Batteries will hit the ice at Gunner Arena on Dec. 4 to play for the historic trophy currently on display at the RCA Museum. Puck drop is 8 a.m.

“I haven’t skated since elementary school, like fourth grade, but I’ll go out on the ice for the tradition to do the official faceoff,” said A “The Queen’s” Battery commander, Major Chris Lewington. “Then you’ll find me on the bench where I can be a cheerleader for those who know how to skate and play hockey.”

Lewington will be joined for the puck being dropped by 1RCHA commanding officer Lt-Col. Joe O’Donnell by fellow B Battery Commander Major Craig Kelsey, who admits NHL scouts won’t be monitoring his hockey prowess wearing a B Battery jersey.

“I play on the third, or fourth lines when I’m playing intersection hockey,” he said. “I’m just learning the game myself after playing my first game as a young captain in 2016 when I arrived at CFB Shilo.”

He added, “I won’t scare opposing defencemen or goalies because I just know how to stand up on my skates, and can move, but not fast.”

1RCHA was unable to have its traditional Kingston Cup game at Gunner Arena in December 2022 because of the absence of the two batteries, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2021 due to Op Reassurance.

However, for 1RCHA’s 124th birthday, the regiment celebrated with a ball hockey game where the Hugsweier Cup went to the headquarters battery, which defeated a combined Z and C batteries team.

One of the traditions to start the Kingston Cup will see the two majors drop their gloves for a friendly dust-up, which usually awakens the artillery soldiers packed into Gunner Arena’s stands.

Growing up in Nanaimo, B.C., on Vancouver Island, Lewington did not spend his winter months playing hockey. Instead, he played competitive rugby and football.

What about hockey equipment so he can be part of the game?

“I went on Marketplace to purchase a used pair of skates,” he said, adding the rest of the gear will be borrowed from the fellow Gunners or signed out at the arena.

Battery commander since this past June, Lewington knows he has plenty of hockey talent on the A “The Queen’s” Battery bench, with Lt. Nash McLean, Lt. Laura Turner and warrant officer Tyler Perry providing potential offence, while former B Battery goalie Sgt. Tyler Paynton now faces a team he played for in past Kingston Cups he was involved in.

“I’m not going to make a prediction on what team is going to win,” said Lewington. “I can’t come out with a bold prediction because I don’t know the players.”

This is one of the longest continuously awarded hockey trophies in the world, with only A “The Queens” and B Batteries competing each year for the coveted crown. The game is normally the centrepiece of 1RCHA’s St Barbara celebrations each year.

The Kingston Cup is the oldest sport competition in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Often described as “the only hockey game that really matters,” the record is unclear on the exact year the annual game started.

Some claim it began in 1871, when the A “The Queen’s” Battery and B Battery were first formed, while military historians claim it actually began a couple of years later in 1873. Still others claim 1885, and some simply say the game is a rivalry which pre-dates the 20th Century.

The hockey rivalry between the two batteries is nearly as old as the batteries themselves, and predates both the Stanley Cup and the creation of organized hockey leagues, including the NHL. The first game occurred when A “The Queen’s” Battery stationed in Kingston, Ont., invited Quebec City-based B Battery for a friendly game of hockey on Lake Ontario.

This game resulted in a victory for the host team, and thus the tradition of hockey rivalry between Canada’s first regular artillery units began.

Kingston, Ont., businessman Wallie Cusick commissioned the trophy in 1927. The presentation of the Kingston Cup is a Canadian artillery tradition which originates from the 1930s.

A “The Queen’s” Battery and B Battery play in early December every year, when not deployed, in honour of St. Barbara, the patron Saint of Gunners.

After the founding of A Battery in 1871, the garrison troops played an early form of the game once Lake Ontario froze over. The Gunners would play games on it, as well as the icy barrack square.

Without a doubt, the Kingston Cup represents part of this uniquely Canadian story when it comes to Gunners being pioneers of hockey in Canada. To think, hockey teams started competing for the Stanley Cup in 1893. The NHL started in 1917.

Kelsey recalled there was a chance the Kingston Cup might have been played when the two Batteries crossed paths during deployment in Latvia in December 2022.

“Guys brought their hockey gear with them to Latvia,” he said, “but the two batteries were only on the ground together for about 12 hours, for the handover, before one group flew back home.”

From Scarborough, Ont., Kelsey became B Battery Commander in June 2022. While he plays with most of his teammates during intersection hockey league action every Monday and Thursday night, like Lewington, he won’t predict which team captain will hoist the Kingston Cup presented afterward by O’Donnell.

“We have a rag-tag team with lots of junior officers on it,” he explained. “I have a number of officers who usually are goaltenders, but for this game, they will be playing out.

“I’m determined our team will give A “The Queen’s” Battery a run for their money, and bragging rights.”

Kelsey does have a few snipers who could give goalie Payton fits at the other end of the ice, with Bdr. Daniel Zanatta expected to contribute offensively. He’s hoping master warrant officer J.C. Houle is back from an injury, with his net being protected by goalie Capt. Mitch Cain.

RCA Museum director Andrew Oakden had the trophy brought out of its display case, polished, and placed in a special toolbox for the drive to Gunner Arena prior to the game.

Glancing at the trophy’s listed winners, no one team has totally dominated each year because artillery soldiers are continually being posted to the five different 1RCHA Batteries as part of military training.

There have been stretches where one team dominated: B Battery won 2004 to 2008, followed by A “The Queen’s” Battery being triumphant from 2009 to 2012. B Battery raised the trophy from 2015 to 2017, then gave it back to A “The Queen’s Battery” for the next two years prior to the game being cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. B Battery won again in 2021 prior to the major deployment of 1RCHA’s main Batteries to Latvia in 2022.

While the Kingston Cup was donated in 1927 for the annual game now played out of CFB Shilo’s Gunner Arena, like the Stanley Cup, it has been battered and lost, but it remains an important symbol and source of pride for Gunners.

Former B Battery commander Major John McNair still follows the games long after his retirement from 1RCHA, especially when B Battery prevails on the scoresheet.

“I am pleased the Kingston Cup itself resurfaced after its arduous journey from Germany to Shilo in 1993,” he said. “… having been found, I believe, in someone’s basement in (CFB) Gagetown along the way. And I’m pleased the Regiment is able to carry on traditions such as this, in these times.

“In 1995, when I was BC Battery, sadly we lost. Being useless on skates I freely admit I contributed absolutely nothing to the game except my presence.”

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