110 Facts About Fred Page

Frederick Page was a Canadian ice hockey administrator and ice hockey referee.

Fred Page originated from Port Arthur, Ontario, where he played junior ice hockey, refereed locally and later at the Memorial Cup and Allan Cup competitions.

Fred Page was a league executive in Fort William, then served as president of the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association from 1958 to 1962.

Fred Page was elected second vice president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1962, and rose up the ranks to be its president from 1966 to 1968.

Fred Page was instrumental in negotiating the revised agreement for the NHL Amateur Draft in 1967, and later served as co-chairman of the resulting joint player development committee.

Fred Page served as vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation from 1966 to 1972, where he helped organize the Ice Hockey World Championships, and served as a director of ice hockey at the Olympic Games.

Fred Page assisted in negotiating international hockey participation on behalf of Canada, and was one of the four signatories of the agreement to play the 1972 Summit Series between the Canadian and the Soviet Union national teams.

Fred Page later became a founding member of the Pacific Coast Junior Hockey League and the Canadian Junior A Hockey League, and presided over the British Columbia Junior Hockey League.

Fred Page was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, the Hockey Hall of Fame, the BC Hockey Hall of Fame, and the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

Fred Page received the Canadian Centennial Medal, and was made the namesake of the Fred Page Cup.

Fred Page was born on September 29,1915, in Port Arthur, Ontario.

Fred Page won the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association championship with the Port Arthur Juniors that season.

From 1940 to 1948, Fred Page was an ice hockey referee and a coach in Fort William minor hockey.

Fred Page was promoted to officiating for the TBAHA from 1948 to 1954.

Fred Page refereed the first game played at the Fort William Gardens when it opened on March 6,1951.

Fred Page was recognized for his refereeing abilities, and was selected to officiate in playoffs for the Memorial Cup and the Allan Cup.

Fred Page later officiated in the 1958 Memorial Cup playoffs, and at 1958 Allan Cup tournament.

Fred Page became involved as an executive with the Fort William Minor Hockey Association in 1948, and was elected to be the organization's president in 1951.

Fred Page later served on the TBAHA executive committee starting in 1954, and was its president from 1959 to 1964.

Fred Page urged for residents in Port Arthur to push for a replacement to the lost Port Arthur Arena.

Fred Page participated on the CAHA committee in his role as the TBAHA president.

Fred Page was the CAHA executive who oversaw the Western half of the 1960 Memorial Cup playoffs.

Fred Page ordered the final match of a series to be stopped due to on-ice violence, and awarded the series to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

At the 1961 general meeting of the CAHA, Fred Page made a motion to provide greater compensation for the visiting team in senior ice hockey playoffs to cover travel expenses.

Fred Page was elected the second vice-president of the CAHA on May 25,1962, and served in the role under president Art Potter until 1964.

Fred Page chaired the Western Canada junior hockey committee that examined the reduced calibre of play in the Memorial Cup, brought on by rapid expansion which included 17 new teams in the British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association within two years.

Fred Page acted as a chaperone for the Soviet Union national ice hockey team on tour in Canada in December 1962.

Fred Page was elected the first vice-president of the CAHA on May 23,1964, and served in the role under president Lionel Fleury until 1966.

Fred Page served on the CAHA committee to oversee the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team, and the committee to examine the existing professional amateur draft agreement, and the financial reliance of the CAHA on the NHL.

Fred Page was placed in charge of the Lacombe Rockets tour of Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Sweden, during December 1964.

Fred Page admitted a mistake in the Western junior playoffs structure, and agreed to revisit the issue as proposed by Jimmy Dunn and the MJHL.

Fred Page was in charge of the Western junior playoffs for the 1964 Memorial Cup, and stated it was too late to change the playoffs when the SAHA did not meet its deadline to determine a league winner to face the BCAHA champion.

Fred Page decided that the SJHL should give financial compensation to the BCAHA team, as per the CAHA regulations.

Fred Page was later in charge of the contentious 1965 Memorial Cup, which included many penalties between the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Niagara Falls Flyers.

Fred Page was re-elected as first vice-president on May 28,1965.

Fred Page announced that the CAHA would choose the site of the 1966 Memorial Cup based on recommendations from the Ontario Hockey Association champion, despite the desire of the OHA to host games in Maple Leaf Gardens for the biggest profit, and that no set rule was in place for determining the location of the games.

Fred Page attended exploratory meetings in May 1966, between the CAHA and potential team owners in Western Canada.

Fred Page chaired the CAHA general meeting while Fleury was absent due to a heart condition.

Fred Page said that he expected to enter talks with the NHL regarding a new professional-amateur pact being proposed by the CAHA, and that the old agreement would end in June 1967.

Fred Page was elected president of the CAHA on May 28,1966, and served in the role for two years until 1968.

Fred Page wanted the CAHA to gain more control over its affairs, become more independent from the NHL, a move away from junior-aged players being bound by contracts to professional teams.

Fred Page set about to replace the existing system of NHL clubs directly sponsoring junior teams with a universal draft instead.

Fred Page recognized that a new system might cost more money to operate, but give the CAHA more control over its junior players in the future.

Fred Page entered into negotiations for a new player development agreement between the CAHA, the NHL, and the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States.

Fred Page succeeded in getting junior-aged players to be eligible for the NHL Amateur Draft once they graduate from junior hockey, or to be signed as a free agent in the year the player reaches his 20th birthday.

Fred Page suspended those persons involved with the CMJHL, and the CAHA amended its internal rules to revoke the suspensions if the players or the league returned to CAHA jurisdiction.

Fred Page instructed the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association and SAHA branches to inform of the suspensions from the CAHA, and was forced to call an emergency meeting of the CAHA, when the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association joined the AAHA, and the SAHA in opposition to the suspensions.

Fred Page did not take the threat seriously, since he believed that profits from hockey actually kept the Olympics going.

Fred Page confirmed that the CAHA considered withdrawing from the International Ice Hockey Federation in March 1967, if Canada was not given hosting duties for either the 1969 or 1970 World Ice Hockey Championships.

The 1967 CAHA general meeting saw Fred Page re-elected as president, and ratification of the new 5-year professional-amateur agreement.

The agreement set up a joint player development committee to grow the talent pool and skill level, and Fred Page served as its co-chairman.

Fred Page replied to the Russian protests of professionals by saying that "it was decided upon by a majority vote, and there was little that the Russians could do to change it".

Fred Page felt that the Canadian national team was typically restricted by the exclusion of professionals at the Olympics.

Fred Page felt that professional contracts were more lucrative to Canada's best younger players than the $2,500 scholarship which the CAHA offered to cover tuition and living expenses.

The Winnipeg Free Press speculated that Vancouver and the Pacific Coliseum had a good chance of hosting, due to Fred Page residing in the area.

Fred Page later announced that the first 15 games of the championships were to be played at the Montreal Forum, with the final 15 games at the Winnipeg Arena.

Fred Page felt that the success of the proposal depended on Soviet participation.

Fred Page later stated that suggestions by IIHF president Bunny Ahearne to include the top senior club teams from each country, would not be as appealing to Canadian spectators as opposed to national teams.

In other CAHA business, Fred Page announced that the Spokane Jets would host the 1968 Allan Cup quarterfinals, which marked the first time that Allan Cup games were played outside of Canada.

Fred Page became the past president of the CAHA in May 1968, and was succeeded by Lloyd Pollock as president.

Fred Page later assisted in negotiations to unify amateur hockey in Quebec.

Fred Page said that changes would be made to the QAHA constitution to "give a greater voice and representation to all categories", and thereby appease the breakaway Quebec Amateur Hockey Federation.

On October 22,1968, Fred Page confirmed he received the resignation of Pollock as president of the CAHA with "deep regret", and that no changes in positions would be made until the executive meeting in January.

Fred Page was later put in charge of the western 1969 Allan Cup playoffs, and acted as co-chairman of the 1969 CAHA general meeting at the Palliser Hotel in Calgary, along with Joe Kryczka the AAHA president.

Fred Page served as chairman of the CAHA junior hockey committee which upheld the NHL's junior age limit of 20, but agreed to ask the NHL for age 21.

Fred Page continued to attend CAHA meetings as a life member, and was appointed a director-at-large of the CAHA in September 1971.

Fred Page attended the 1966 summer congress of the IIHF in Portschach am Worthersee, Austria, and was elected second vice-president of the IIHF for a three-year term.

Fred Page was later elected for a three-year term first-vice president of the IIHF, at the 1969 summer congress in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

Fred Page continued to assist facilitating teams who wished to travel between North America and Europe, helped organize the Ice Hockey World Championships, and served as a director at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, and the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo.

Fred Page confirmed that if the Soviets did not play, the United States would take their place in Pool A Fred Page said that Sweden was protesting since Canada withdrew from the annual Ahearne Cup hosted in Sweden, when Canada received poor press coverage in Sweden.

Fred Page didn't understand the fuss caused by Brundage's statement, and further stated that Canada had played exhibition games using professionals against other countries without any opposition raised by Brundage.

Fred Page attempted to work out a compromise by suggesting that Canada host an exhibition tournament instead of an official World Championship, and attended an emergency meeting of the IIHF to discuss the Olympic eligibility concerns along with Gordon Juckes and Dawson from the CAHA.

Fred Page said that Europeans had suggested a Christmas tournament with the senior ice hockey champions from Canada and the United States, playing against the Ahearne Cup champions.

Fred Page expected talks to continue during the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo.

Fred Page had begun negotiating with Anatoly Tarasov in 1971, but both sides played the waiting game for a year.

Fred Page stated that negotiating hockey agreements in Canada was increasingly difficult, due to the complexity of the CAHA, Hockey Canada, and the NHL.

Fred Page was one of the four signatories who approved the agreement on April 18,1972, at the Hotel International Prague, giving his approval as vice-president of the IIHF.

Alan Eagleson was the first Canadian to phone the press and take credit for the event, but Fred Page said that Eagleson was never invited to the Canada-Soviet series negotiations.

Fred Page attended the 1972 IIHF summer congress was held in Mamaia, Romania.

Fred Page was nominated to replace Ahearne as president, and was expected by the CAHA to be acclaimed since the president's position had alternated every three years between Europe and North America.

Fred Page assisted in the formation of the Pacific Junior A Hockey League in 1971, and became its executive director.

In 1976, Fred Page announced that the Chilliwack Bruins were transferring from the rival BCJHL to the PCJHL.

Fred Page served as the executive director of the BCJHL from 1979 to 1982, as its president from 1982 to 1983, and as its chairman of the board from 1980 until 1996.

Fred Page spoke out against the Western Hockey League when its teams began drafting players below age 15, with the rationale that it was necessary to compete with the NHL, which was signing younger players.

Fred Page fought for BCJHL teams who had players drafted by NHL teams, but were did not receive compensation payments.

Fred Page was in favour of mandatory neck protection at the junior level, in response to a player's death by a skate blade slash in the neck in 1985.

Fred Page was one of the BCJHL delegates with attended the founding meeting of the Canadian Junior A Hockey League in November 1993, and was nominated as that league's inaugural chairman of the board.

Fred Page retired from his various positions in 1996, after serving 23 years as a hockey executive in British Columbia.

Fred Page worked as a land surveyor for the Ontario Department of Highways from 1935 to 1939.

Fred Page then worked for the Canadian Car and Foundry in Fort William from 1940 to 1947.

Fred Page began in Can Car's planning department, and was later promoted to the manager of its subcontracts.

Fred Page oversaw the acquiring of parts to construct Hawker Hurricanes for the Royal Canadian Air Force, and Curtiss SB2C Helldivers for the Royal Navy.

Fred Page was later promoted to full-time supervisor of the aircraft division at PASC, working there until 1965.

Fred Page oversaw manufacturing of components for the Harvard as an RCAF trainer aircraft, the Grumman S-2 Tracker for the Royal Canadian Navy, and components for the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow.

Fred Page later supervised the design and manufacturing of glass-reinforced plastic used in pulp and paper mills in Northern Ontario.

Fred Page moved westward in 1966, and began working for Industrial Coatings Limited in Richmond, British Columbia, as a sales manager and assistant plant manager.

Fred Page was elected to its board of directors in 1969, where he continued in the same role until his retirement.

Fred Page and his brother were raised by their single father William Fred Page, who was a custodian at the Port Arthur Court House.

Fred Page attended Hillcrest High School in Port Arthur, then began a working career without attending postsecondary school.

Fred Page married Ethel Hylda Willianen on October 6,1937, at the Finnish Lutheran Church in Port Arthur.

Fred Page established the Coral Bay cottages from 1956 to 1957, near the mouth of the MacKenzie River on Thunder Bay, in Shuniah Township.

Fred Page soon became involved with the North Shore Winter Club, and coached a Pee-Wee aged hockey team with the club.

Fred Page died on December 23,1997, at the Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver.

Fred Page was cremated and his ashes were scattered near his family cottage.

Fred Page was made a life member of the Fort William Minor Hockey Association in 1954, after his term as president expired.

Fred Page received several citations for service including; the Fort William Minor Hockey Association for ten years of service in 1962, the IIHF in 1967, the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967, and both the CAHA and AHAUS in 1971.

Fred Page was made a life member of the CAHA on May 25,1973.

Fred Page was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.

Fred Page was honoured for a lifetime of dedication to hockey with induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993, in the builder category.

Fred Page is the namesake of two different Fred Page Cups, one in British Columbia, the other in Eastern Canada.