Editor's note: To read Part 1, click here.
The key games in the run for the 1907 Stanley Cup were held in January as opposed to March. The colder weather made all the difference for the Kenora Thistles as rock-hard ice allowed Roxy Beaudro and his teammates to skate full speed and implement some of their favourite playing strategies that were no use on soft or slushy ice.
That year also saw the Thistles go professional. The playoff format had changed, too. When the Thistles went up against the Montreal Wanderers, it was a two-game, total-goals series.
Game one was a 4-3 victory for the Thistles, and game two was an exciting match indeed.
The Thistles came on strong and had the Wanderers down 6-2 until the Montreal team fought their way back and the teams were tied at six with only a minute of play remaining. The Thistles’ best shooters madly fired pucks at the Montreal goalie with no luck.
With seconds left, the puck was passed to an excellent player who was strong, fast and agile but not known for hard shots on goal. Normally, Roxy Beaudro would be tasked with passing the puck to the strong-armed shooters, but, at that moment, the roles were reversed.
Si Griffis passed the puck to Beaudro, who suddenly saw his chance. He launched the puck and it slipped past the Wanderers’ goalie, Riley Hern, thus winning the game. Amazingly, Thistles teammate Tom Hooper managed to pop in one more goal for insurance and the Thistles were victorious with a score of 8-6.
Beaudro played for the Thistles during the next season and then retired from hockey at the age of 23. By August 1907, he had moved to Winnipeg, was working for the railway, and had married Mabel Goodman, the daughter of a Winnipeg merchant.
Life soon became quite busy and complicated for Roxy Beaudro, leaving no time for hockey. This statement, written by Roxy, attached to the birth registration of his eldest child, Earl Beaudro, sets the scene. Earl’s 1909 birth was not registered until 1930.
“My wife left in the late fall of 1908 to go to my mother in Kenora so that she would receive proper medical treatment when the child was born. I was advised by wire of the birth of my son and personally saw him about March 1 when I returned to Kenora.”
At the time of Earl’s birth, Roxy was working for McInnis and McGillivray Railway Contractors in Prince Rupert, B.C.
When the Great War erupted, the Beaudros were living in Cochrane, Ont. Roxy enlisted there in May 1916. He was then sent to Toronto for training and the family followed. Afterwards, his family went to Winnipeg for the duration of his service overseas.
During his time in Toronto, this very fit accountant, 32-year-old father of three, had a golden opportunity. As the soldiers waited to be shipped to Europe, they formed hockey teams. Lieutenant Beaudro, joined the 228th Battalion's Royal Fusiliers.
In November 1916, Beaudro’s name appeared, possibly for the first time, in a Barrie newspaper. The Northern Advance reported, with a good deal of excitement, on the activities of two of Barrie’s native sons.
“The Meeking boys, Gordon and Harry, the famous hockey players, are slated to play hockey the coming season with the 228th Battalion, which is wintering in Toronto. This battalion has some fast 'hockiests' in its ranks and are entered in the NHA league. Their rivals in the city will be the Torontos. On the 228th lineup there will be such fast men as Eddie Oatman, Arbour, Art Duncan and Gordon Meeking, ‘Roxy’ Beaudro the ex-Thistles star, Merchant and probably Harry Meeking.”
After the war, Roxy Beaudro returned to Cochrane where the family welcomed a daughter, Betty Jean, in 1920, and lost a son in 1921.
In 1943, Betty Jean Beaudro married Ronald Hardy, who was the son of Edmund Hardy, 25-year organist and choir master at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Barrie. It was this connection that brought Roxy Beaudro to this city in his last years.
Roxy passed away in Barrie, February 1960, and is buried at Barrie Union Cemetery with his wife, Mabel, who joined him in 1965.
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