Falcons Forever
Falcons Forever:
The Saga of the 1920 Olympic Gold Medal Ice Hockey Team
by Cathie Eliasson
Size: 6"w x 9"h Softcover
106 Pages
Falcons Forever: The Saga of the 1920 Olympic Gold Medal Ice Hockey Team chronicles the Winnipeg Falcons journey to the VII Olympiad in Antwerp, Belgium. The team was composed of young Icelandic men, except for one, all first generation Canadians, who had come of age in Winnipeg’s West End. Many had just returned from fighting in World War I, and had to overcome discrimination and other challenges to play the game they loved.
Author Cathie Eliasson, granddaughter of Falcons’ defenseman Konrad “Konnie” Johannesson, mined her grandmother's trove of newspaper articles collected in 1919 to 1920 to write this team tribute. She skillfully uses the material to bring the players’ voices to the page one hundred years after the Falcon’s illustrious victory, bringing home the gold—and Canada’s first ever medal for Olympic hockey. Falcons Forever is brimming with historic photos and vivid storytelling, providing a fresh perspective on this fascinating time in hockey history.
“For being so underrated within the lore of hockey history, and over one hundred years since their triumph, the Winnipeg Falcons are still one of the greatest sports stories of all time.
"The Falcons were a group of Icelandic-Canadians from the West End of Winnipeg who fought for Canada in World War I, before winning the Allan Cup and later the Olympic gold medal! Eliasson’s book has a personal touch to it as she takes you back to 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium where the Winnipeg Falcons won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in men’s ice hockey.”
— Ty Dilello, Historian of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and author of “Mosienko: The Man Who Caught Lightening in a Bottle.
Like her grandfather, Falcons defenseman Konnie Johannesson, Cathie Eliasson is of Icelandic descent. A member of the Society for International Hockey Research (SIHR), she grew up watching hockey and getting her daughters into the game. They played for the University of Manitoba, and now Eliasson’s grandchildren have her back at the rink, watching a new generation continue the family’s hockey tradition.
Cathie Eliasson lives in Winnipeg with her husband, Glen, and little black Labradoodle, Elska.
