Herder Memorial Trophy


The Herder Memorial Trophy, colloquially known as the Herder, is the championship trophy awarded annually to the senior ice hockey champions of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The original cast silver trophy was donated in 1935 by The Evening Telegram newspaper, on behalf of the Herder family, as a memorial to five brothers who played hockey in St. John's.
First presented in 1935, the Herder Memorial Trophy has been awarded 86 times. The Herder was not awarded in 1942, 1943, 1991, 2020 and 2021. The first winner of the Herder trophy was a team from Corner Brook that won the inaugural all-Newfoundland ice hockey championship on March 22, 1935. The record of most Herder wins belongs to the teams from St. John's that won the trophy a total of 20 times. The 2025 Herder was awarded on April 5, 2025 to the Deer Lake Red Wings.

History

The idea of a new competition to decide the ice hockey champions of Newfoundland gained momentum in early 1935 as organized hockey spread across the island and hockey teams started to travel and compete in regional championships. During a meeting of the St. John's Hockey League on March 5, 1935, it was announced that a trophy, for a championship competition, was to be donated by The Evening Telegram newspaper to be perpetually awarded to Newfoundland's best hockey team. The Herder would become emblematic of ice hockey supremacy in Newfoundland and Labrador.The Evening Telegram was published by a member of the Herder family since the founding of the paper in 1879 up until the retirement of Stephen Herder in 1993. The Telegram has played an integral role in the promotion and sponsorship of the Herder Championships.
The inaugural all-Newfoundland championships took place in St. John's at the Prince of Wales Rink on March 21 and 22, 1935 between Corner Brook, the western hockey champions, and the Guards from the St. John's Senior League that won the Avalon hockey championship. This was the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Newfoundland hockey.
The St. John's Guards earned the right to represent the Avalon Peninsula by first defeating St. Bon's in a 2-game series to become St. John's city champions, and then by toppling the Bay Roberts Rovers in a 2-game, total goal series. The All-Newfoundland championship match-up was then set; the Guards of St. John's would play host to the Corner Brook All-Star Team. Fans in St. John's eagerly awaited the arrival of the Corner Brook team. Tickets to the 2 games were sold out quickly. Corner Brook edged the Guards 1–0 in Game 1, and was victorious in Game 2 by a 4–2 margin to become the island's top team, and first Herder Memorial Trophy Champions.
The Herder trophy was the brainchild of Ralph Herder, then president of The Evening Telegram, as a memorial to his five late brothers. Ralph's brothers Arthur, William, Douglas, Augustus and Hubert were all avid hockey players in the St. John's Hockey league.
Originally donated in memory of five Herder brothers, the trophy now honors the memory of seven brothers, including Ralph and his youngest brother James. In 2009, the name of Ralph's son Stephen was added to the trophy. All seven Herder brothers were fine hockey players and often played together, with four of them sometimes playing together on a championship team. James Herder coached the 1935 Guards team that lost the inaugural Herder championship to Corner Brook in March 1935.

The Herder family

The Herders were a very prominent family in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. William James Herder, born in Old Perlican, was the founder of Newfoundland's first daily newspaper, The Evening Telegram. Ralph, one of William's seven sons, became publisher of the Telegram in 1934 after the death of Augustus, who was the fifth brother to pass away.
Ralph donated the Trophy on behalf of the Herder Family as a memorial to his five late brothers. Later the names of Ralph, his youngest brother James, and Ralph's son Stephen were added to the trophy.
The trophy is now a memorial to the following Herder family members:
  1. Arthur John Herder practiced law in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and served in the 32nd Overseas Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force beginning in December 1914. Arthur joined the Newfoundland Regiment in February 1916. As a second Lieutenant, he was wounded at Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916. The following year Arthur was fatally wounded in France and died on December 1, 1917 at the age of 32.
  2. Hubert Clinton Herder was born July 28, 1891. Hubert was a lieutenant with the First Newfoundland Regiment when he was killed at Beaumont Hamel, France on July 1, 1916, at the age of 25.
  3. William H. Herder was the second oldest son of the Herder family. Will was president of the Evening Telegram from 1922 up to his death on August 22, 1934 at the age of 50.
  4. Douglas C. Herder was the third oldest Herder brother and former hockey player in the St. John's league where he played for the Saints. Doug moved to Montreal in 1907, returning to St. John's in June 1909 in poor health, suffering from typhoid fever. He died on July 8, 1909 at the age of 23.
  5. Herbert Augustus Herder was Vice-President and Circulation Manager of the Evening Telegram. He died on December 28, 1934, of pneumonia at the age of 47.
  6. Ralph Barnes Herder was born in St. John's on August 10, 1894. He volunteered to join the First Newfoundland Regiment in September 1914. Ralph was seriously wounded at Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916, and was wounded at Monchy, France in 1917. In 1918 he was promoted to lieutenant. He married Mary Rendell in June 1924 and they had two sons, Rendell and Stephen. Ralph became President of the Evening Telegram following the deaths of his brothers William and Gus in 1934. He was the driving force behind the creation of the Herder Memorial Trophy in memory of his five brothers who predeceased him. Ralph died on January 8, 1955 at the age of 61.
  7. James Milley Herder was born July 22, 1904, the youngest of seven brothers. Jim was vice president and general manager of The Evening Telegram when his brother Ralph died in 1955. He took over as publisher and piloted The Evening Telegram Ltd through a period of tremendous growth and prosperity during the late 1950s and through the 1960s. Jim died on August 25, 1970, in St. John's at the age of 66.
  8. Stephen Rendell Herder, Ralph's son, was a longtime publisher of The Evening Telegram. An environmentalist long before his time, Steve was known for saving the Rennies River. A bridge over Rennies River is dedicated to his efforts. He was a proud promoter of the Herder Memorial Trophy. Stephen died in 1993 at the age of 65.

    The trophy

An announcement was made on March 5, 1935 at a meeting of the St. John's Hockey League that the Evening Telegram, on behalf of the Herder family, will donate a trophy to be awarded to the winners of an all-Newfoundland hockey championship. The trophy would not be available for the 1935 championship but arrived in St. John's from the manufacturer six months later, and was sent to Corner Brook in October of that year. The trophy was formally presented to the winning team at the Corner Brook Sports Club's annual meeting in November 1935.
The Herder consisted of a cast-silver hockey player mounted on an ebony base. St. Bon's star Edward "Key" Kennedy was the model for the hockey player that stands atop the original trophy. Trophy-donor Ralph Herder brought a photo of Kennedy in a hockey pose to New York where the model was made and a figure was cast in silver.
Beginning in 1947 metal shields, engraved with the names of winning teams, were fixed to the base. In 1952 a second tier was added andin 1960 third and fourth tiers. Two more tiers were added before the original trophy was retired in 2007. The original Herder was retired in 2007 and is now on display in the which is located at the Corner Brook Civic Centre. Since 2007 a replica has been awarded to the championship teams.

Conditions placed by the trophy donor

The Herder family attached eight conditions to their donation of the Herder Memorial Trophy to govern competition for the all-Newfoundland amateur hockey championship:
  1. Trophy to be known as "The Herder Memorial Trophy" presented by The Evening Telegram in memory of Arthur, Douglas, William, Augustus and Hubert Herder.
  2. Trophy to be emblematic of the All-Newfoundland Amateur Hockey championship, and must be competed for each year in St. John's.
  3. All matches held for the Trophy to be held under the rules of the body governing hockey in Newfoundland.
  4. The Trophy cannot be won outright but is to be competed for each year.
  5. The winner shall hold the Trophy until the start of the hockey season the following year and then it must be returned to the donors.
  6. Arrangements for the playing of the All-Newfoundland championship are to be made by the main body governing hockey, the management of the rink, and the donors.
  7. No names of teams or players winning the trophy to be engraved on the trophy or base.
  8. If an All-Newfoundland championship is impossible in any year, the Trophy shall be held by the team winning the championship of the Avalon Peninsula or other Inter-Sectional championship.

    Exceptions to the original conditions

Condition #2

From 1935 though 1941 the All-Newfoundland finals were played at the former Prince's Rink in St. John's. Subsequent to the destruction of the Arena by fire on November 28, 1941, the Herder championships were cancelled in 1942 and 1943 due to depleted rosters of senior hockey teams with men serving overseas during the Second World War. After the Arena burned down in November 1941, St. John's did not have a suitable venue until the opening of Memorial Stadium in December 1954. In 1944, the Herder finals were held outside St. John's for the first time when Bell Island and Corner Brook played the all-Newfoundland final series at the Corner Brook rink. The NAHA was granted permission by Ralph Herder to hold the Herder finals outside the capital city for the first time. Since 1944 condition #2 has not been enforced and the Herder Finals location has been decided by NAHA and typically held in the arenas of the competing teams.
In recent years, the Herder finals series was held at Mile One Centre in St. John's and frequently sold out the 6,000 seat building. Games were also held in the Pepsi Centre in the city of Corner Brook, on the west coast of the island, when teams from that area were playing for the cup.
Since 2013 the Herder finalists have the right to decide the location of their home games.