OLI MOOSE, a short story written by Emil T.Sigvaldason

Oli Moose 

             Some people have told me this is just a story, others have told me it's a tall tale, but in my heart and in my imagination, it is true. It's a story about the greatest game in Canada, hockey, and the most magnificent sights seen in Canada, the Northern Lights. This is a story that my dad first told me as we sat outside one cold clear Manitoba night. I must have been five or six years old at the time. I remember sitting quietly on a log with my dad at my side watching the Northern Lights dance across the Northern Sky.  In the quiet of the night we could hear the Northern Lights crackling as the magnificent colors danced across the sky. "Dad," I asked "What are the Northern Lights?"

            Dad said, "Why, they're the reflection of Oli Moose playing hockey way up north in the Arctic".

            "Who is Oli Moose?" I asked.

            Oli Moose was one of the best in the area to ever play the game of hockey.  Oli grew up on the banks of the Icelandic River just south of Riverton. When Oli was about ten years old he was walking along the river and came face to face with a cow moose with a calf. The moose gave chase,  but Oli was able to outrun the moose. The moose chased him close to five miles before she gave up.  Since that day, everyone has called him Oli Moose.  O1i Moose loved to play hockey. Every chance he got he was out on the ice playing hockey. Oli was as fast and graceful on skates as the World War I flying ace Billy Bishop flying in the skies over France. When Oli skated you could hear his skates cut into the ice and it looked like sparks were shooting out from the skate blades. Oli was also very skilled at stick handling the puck. He made it look as if the puck was dancing on the end of his stick. Although Oli did not have a particularly hard shot, he had the accuracy of an infantry sniper.

            Many people felt that Oli would make it to the big leagues. He had the skill and the desire,  but Oli had one flaw.  He was very excitable. Oli would get so caught up in the game that he could not think straight. Oli had tried out for the Winnipeg Falcons,  the team that won a gold metal at the 1920 Olympic Games. He played in one exhibition game with the Falcons. Oli did well until the third period.  Oli got the puck and he stickhandled the puck around his opponent. He was closing in on the defenceman when another player clipped him from behind. Oli spun around a couple of times but never lost control of the puck. He dashed up the ice full bore, his skates cutting into the ice. Oli saw the open top right corner of the goal and he let the shot fly. Oli Moose had scored. The only trouble was, he had scored on his own goal. That was the last that Oli played for the Falcons.

            In the winter of 1927 or it may have been 1928, winter fishing was in full swing on Lake Winnipeg. Men had been working hard pulling nets and freighting fish to market. These men that fished the lake were strong, rugged, hard working men and they enjoyed a hard fought game of hockey. It was decided to play a game of hockey between Gimli and Riverton. Gimli is located on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg. This is where the Icelanders first settled when they immigrated to Canada in the 1870s. Riverton is located about 30 miles farther north and up the Icelandic River. Because there were no indoor ice rinks in either of the communities,  it was decided that the game would be played on Lake Winnipeg just off the shore at Hnausa, which is about midway between the two communities.

            A hockey rink was made on Lake Winnipeg. First the snow was cleared off, and then fish crates were stacked three high to form the boards to make a hockey rink. Lines were painted on the ice, one red line and two blue lines. This was followed by flooding the rink three or four times.

            The game was played on the first Sunday in March. Word of the hockey game had spread and fisherman came from all the fish camps on the south end of Lake Winnipeg. All the freighting outfits in the area had stopped to watch the game. Farmers and merchants from the inland communities gathered on Lake Winnipeg just off the shore at Hnausa to watch this game. The weather was perfect for the game. The temperature was -2 degrees, the sun shining bright in the clear Manitoba sky, and the wind, next to nil.The fans gathered on both sides of the rink. Men mingling around rekindling old acquaintances. Much of the talk was about the winter fish season and farming, but the conversations always returned to the game. Who would win? Who had put together the better team?  It seemed that the fans were fairly split, about half for Gimli and half for Riverton.

            The Gimli team set up a caboose just south of the rink, which they used as a dressing room. Gimli dressed seven players for the game.  Baldur Johnston was on defence with Marino Hanson. Thor Jacobson played right wing. Oskar Johnston, Baldur's brother,  was center.  Mike Danielson was left wing and Billy Hudson was in goal. Victor Jones was the extra man and he would relieve at any position as needed.  Mundi Bjornson was coach of the team. The Gimli team had yellow and blue sweaters that were hand knitted and suitable for playing hockey in the Manitoba outdoors.

            Riverton set up their caboose on the north end of the rink. They also dressed seven men. On defence they had Gunnar Kristinnson and Jonas Einarson, left wing was Keith Erlendson, center was Joe Magnusson and Oli Moose was right wing. In goal for Riverton was Benny Neeha and the extra player was Ingvar Sigurdson. Riverton's coach was Harold Oddleifson The team wore the same type of heavy wool sweaters that Gimli wore, except Riverton's sweaters were red and black.

            In the first period Gimli had the south end of the rink. It was a hard fought period that ended with Gimli taking the lead by a score of 1 to O.  The second period ended with the score 2 to O. Both teams were evenly matched. The difference was Gimli's goalie. He had made some spectacular saves. The third period was hard fought, the play going back and forth. Gimli had a breakaway  but was unable to score. Then Oli Moose got a loose puck from in front of his own net. With the grace and speed of a fighter pilot Oli moved in on the Gimli goal. With a quick flip of the wrist the puck flew into the goal. Riverton was on the scoreboard. Riverton was fired up. From the face-off Riverton worked their way toward the Gimli goal.  Joe Magnusson rifled a shot at the Gimli goalie. The puck bounced off his chest and Keith Erlendson picked up the rebound and fired the low shot into the net. A 2-2 tie with a little over ten minutes left to play. Both teams were fired up now, the fans cheering and yelling. Thor Jacobson got a break away for Gimli but before he got a shot away,  Riverton's defenceman Gunnar Kristinnson poked the puck lose.  Keith Erlendson passed the puck to Jonas Einarson who took a hard shot from the blue line, which ricocheted off the defenceman' s stick into the goal. Riverton took the lead for the first time in the game. Gimli was not about to go down in defeat. They fought harder than ever. Riverton was determined to keep the lead. Both teams fighting as if everything was riding on the game. Back and forth both teams fought. As Gunnar Kristinnson went after a lost puck along the boards he got his stick hooked in one of the fish boxes that formed the rink and snapped his hockey stick in two. Mike Danielson took advantage of Kristinnson' s bad luck. He got the puck and raced toward the Riverton net firing a low shot into the net. A tie game with less then three minutes left to play.  Neither team was ready to let up. Back and forth the play went until the bell sounded to end the period.

            The game would go to sudden death overtime. There would be a 15  minute break. Both teams were in their dressing rooms setting up a strategy that would help them win the game. As Riverton plotted their strategy,  Oli Moose grew increasingly excited. For him there was nothing better than an overtime game,  winner take all..

            At the start of the sudden death overtime period Riverton lined up on the south end of the rink, Gimli on the north end.  At center ice Oli turned to Joe Magnusson, with fire in his eyes he said,  "just get the puck to me and I'll put an end to this right quick." The referee dropped the puck and Joe Magnusson flipped the puck to Oli. Oli got the puck on his stick and took off like lightning.  It looked like a streak of light coming from his skates as he deeked pass the Gimli left wing and headed full speed towards the Gimli goalie. Ten feet from the net Oli rifled a shot.  The goalie got his stick up and deflected the puck over the fish crates. With one leap Oli was over the boards.  He got the puck and  gracefully stickhandling the puck,  he headed north. In all the excitement Oli Moose forgot the game and continued stickhanding the puck,  his skates raising a blue flame as he continued skating harder and faster then ever.

            Gunnar Kristinnson and Joe Magnusson skated after Oli, but soon gave up the chase  as Oli left them behind.  They figured Oli would return when he had played himself out.  But Oli Moose never returned. Two days later a freighting crew stopped in Riverton. They reported that they had seen Oli Moose north of Grind Stone Point,  the puck dancing at the end of his stick and flames shooting up from his skates as he skated  north. They said that they thought Oli never even noticed them.

            For months after the game men where reporting sightings of a hockey player skating full speed with a puck dancing at the end of his stick. All reports said the same, that this man never seemed to notice anyone around.  Reports came from Norway House on the Nelson River.  A trapper that everyone said was insane reported seeing a man on skates north of York Factory on Hudson's Bay. The same story has been reported from as far north as Baffin Island.

            From all the stories reported,  people started to piece together what had happened to Oli Moose. The best they could come up with is that Oli had gotten so excited with the game that he snapped. They figure that Oli skated to the north end of Lake Winnipeg, and then  he went north on the Nelson River to Hudson's Bay where he continued north to the Arctic.

            Many people claim that the Northern Lights have never been the same following that hockey game played on Lake Winnipeg.  If you look closely at the Northern Lights, you can see Oli Moose playing hockey. On a clear cold Manitoba night you can hear Oli Moose's skates cutting into the ice.

Emil T. Sigvaldason 
Lethbridge, Alberta                                             

A Mother's Day message from OLOF SIGURDSON (SIGVALDASON)

My Mother led an extraordinary life.

She had 16 children and she was able to cope through her management skills. From her we learned honesty and integrity and to be honest with others as well as ourselves.