1963 Catalonian Championship
The 1963 Catalonian Championship was played in Barcelona on April 24, 1963. It was won by Club Alpino Nuria. A temporary, 50x30 meter artificial rink was set up in Barcelona as part of a tourism and sports fair, surrounded by removable stands with room for 2,000 spectators. The rink was open in late April and early May 1963, and played host to two international matches between HC Genève and Chamonix HC (the teams tied 9-9 on 4/25, and Genève won 11-6 two days later), a gala match between a "Pyrenean" (Spanish) and an "Alpine" team, made up of French and Swiss visitors, and the Catalonian Championship.
Final
- 4/24: Club Alpino Nuria - Puigcerdá 4:1 (1:1, 1:0, 2:0) - Trias (Martorell), Puigbó (Serra), Trias (Serra), Serra (Nubiola) / Canais (Carpi)
- Club Alpino Nuria roster: Aimar (Ginestá) - Rovira, Martorell, Viñas, Gotarra, Serra, Puigbó, Trias, Rubio, Estapá, Nubiola, Millet.
- Puigcerdá roster: Gastó (Bamola) - Estanyol, Samará II, Escoll, Mas, Pubill, Marcelino, Bicardi, Bonadó, Samará I, Carpi, Canais.
Other games
A friendly match was played in Barcelona between the Club Hielo Barcelona and Club Alpino Nuria. The short-lived CH Barcelona club was created by Nuria's captain, and President of the "Comité Nacional de Hielo", the ice sports subsection of the Spanish roller skating federation, Enrique Martorell, who was one of Spanish ice hockey's main propagators in this era. He sought to help the sport gain a foothold in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, and announced that more than 400 people who had practiced skating and ice hockey, were willing to help finance a permanent ice rink for 1963-64. However, this did not end up materializing. In late 1965, Martorell proposed to convert the swimming pool at Monjuich into an ice rink in the winter, but this plan fell through as well.
- 4/31: Club Alpino Nuria - Club Hielo Barcelona 3:2 (1:0, 1:0, 1:2) - Bicardi 2 / Puigbó 2, Estapa
- Club Hielo Barcelona roster: Sotéras - Viñas, Gotarra, Estanyol, Corti, Nubiola, Millet, Bicardi, Torra, Carpi.
- Club Alpino Nuria roster: Ginesta - Rovira, Martorell, Rubió, Puigbó, Serra, Trías, Estapá, Olivé, González.
Madrid Tournament
A temporary rink was also set up in Madrid, and the city played host to an international tournament, that took place from June 14-18, 1963. Three teams participated, the French champions, Chamonix HC, Swiss champions, HC Villars, and a Spanish selection called Guadarrama-Pirineos, which was composed of native Spaniards, Swiss visitors, and Canadian import Gaston Pelletier, who was the tournament's leading scorer. Rather surprisingly, the Spanish team won the tournament.
- Guadarrama-Pirineos roster: Rigau (SWI), Serra, Rafael Pérez Alonso (former FEMSA Madrid player), A. Berra (SWI), Zurbucheug (SWI), Santaella (former FEMSA Madrid player), Puigbó, Estapa, Wirz (SWI), Panchaud (SWI), Viñas, Pelletier (CAN), R Berra (SWI), Rovira.
Contemporary accounts
The April 22, 1963, edition of El Mundo Deportivo.
Sources
- El Mundo Deportivo