Kingston hockey historian Bill Fitsell says the Kingston Red Barons were one of the most talented teams in Canada.
He said they were trailblazers — pioneers for the sport of women’s hockey.
“We weren’t in the business to make history,” said the team’s co-founder Annabelle Twiddy. “We just wanted to have fun.”
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The Red Barons were formed in 1969 and throughout the 1970s won numerous tournaments and championships in Ontario and Quebec. They disbanded in 1982.
“We managed to have a really good team,” added Twiddy, who hails from Milford, just outside of Picton. “We just liked each other and got along really well both on and off the ice. We had really good athletes.”
“We had girls that played softball in the summer and hockey in the winter. We had ball caps that said, ‘I would rather play hockey.'”
The name of the team was suggested by Helen Tucker, who drove from Ottawa to play for the Red Barons.
Snoopy was a popular cartoon dog at the time, with multiple qualifications for hockey.
The team placed the stuffed Peanuts character at centre ice before every game they played. A lawyer on the team, Katherine (Cookie) Cartwright handled the legal side of things and has a letter from Charles Shultz, Snoopy’s creator, agreeing that Snoopy could lead the Red Barons into the hockey world.
“I just loved playing hockey,” said Cartwright.
“We had used equipment and practised at six in the morning but nobody ever complained. We just wanted to play hockey at the best level possible.”
Cartwright was the team’s all-time leading scorer but to this day can’t say how many points she recorded.
“We never really kept statistics. We just played hockey and won a lot more games than we lost.”
Cartwright says they became a very strong team in the mid-’70s with star players like Twiddy, Sue Wright, Mary Skeggs, Nancy Seale, Carolyn Alyesworth, Kim Ferguson, Wanda Gyde, and Janean Gerow from Napanee.
“I always wonder how good we could have been if we had better coaching and more ice time to practise. If Canada had a national club back then, I believe four or five of our girls were good enough to be on that squad.”
The Red Barons didn’t know it back then, but they’re a big reason for the success and growth of women’s hockey in the Kingston area.
“We’re green with envy,” added Cartwright.
“It’s just fantastic to see how well they’re playing the game today. We’re all so proud to say that we played a small role in the development of women’s hockey.”
Four members of the Red Barons, Twiddy, Cartwright, Mary Skeggs and Rhonda Taylor-Leeman are members of the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame.
Next year is their 50th anniversary and the women are planning a team reunion.
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