1934-1935 Sunrise Millers
Induction Year: 2025
Category: Team
The 1934-1935 Battleford Sunrise Millers became the first Canadian hockey team to play in Japan. The Japanese, seeking a top-tier opponent to prepare for the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, invited the Sunrise Millers to play a series of exhibition games in Vancouver and Seattle before setting sail from Vancouver on the Japanese Steamer Kikawa Maru. The fourteen-day voyage was anything but smooth, as a three-day typhoon battered the ship before finally arriving in Yokohama on March 15th, 1935. Many of the games were played in department stores where the artificial ice was located on the second and third levels. Twenty games were played in total with most resulting in lopsided wins for the Millers. Their historic tour brought distinction to the community and marked a memorable moment in the sport’s international history.
Members of the 1934-1935 Battleford Sunrise Millers pictured include:
Top Row - Left to Right: Don Murray, Ron Sutherland, F.Leo. Bishop, Harold Gordon, Nap Carriere
Second Row: Eddie Martinson, Phil Carriere, Frank Willey, Joe Osborn, Lloyd Atkinson, Clark Burlingham
Third Row: Johnny Ballendine Jr, Doug Carins, Tony Rodgers, Earl Newbold, Mynard Quehl.