page_title: George Dudley
section_title: 1954 World Championships
hierarchical_section_title: George Dudley / CAHA secretary-manager / 1954 World Championships
caption_attribution_description: English: CCCP - Soviet Union vs. Canada in the 1954 World Ice Hockey Championships in Stockholm, Sweden. Soviet Union sensationally defeated Canada 7-2 in the final and won the gold in its first championship ever. Svenska: Hockey-VM i Stockholm 1954. CCCP - Sovjetunionen - besegrade sensationellt Kanada med 7-2 i finalen och tog guld i sin första VM-start.
context_page_description: George Samuel Dudley QC was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He joined the Ontario Hockey Association executive in 1928, served as its president from 1934 to 1936, and as its secretary-treasurer from 1936 to 1960. He was elected to Canadian Amateur Hockey Association executive in 1936, served as its president from 1940 to 1942, as its secretary from 1945 to 1947, and as its secretary-manager from 1947 to 1960. He was secretary of the International Ice Hockey Association from 1945 to 1947, and was later vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation from 1957 to 1960. He was expected to become the next president of the IIHF before his death. He graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1917 then practiced law for 43 years as the town solicitor for Midland, Ontario.
  Dudley and W. G. Hardy led the way in revising the definition of an amateur hockey player to keep amateur players in Canada and slow the number of Canadians turning professional. Dudley negotiated deals with the National Hockey League and the British Ice Hockey Association to govern the transfer of players internationally.
context_section_description: The CAHA planned on returning to the Ice Hockey World Championships in 1954, but Dudley had difficulties again in finding a team willing to represent Canada. He eventually arranged for the East York Lyndhursts from a senior B-level league in Ontario to attend the 1954 Ice Hockey World Championships, after several A-level senior teams declined due to the financial strain of travel, and players being away from work. The announcement was made in October 1953, and received little press coverage at the time. In February 1954, he sent reinforcements from higher-level senior teams to strengthen the roster, including Don Lockhart, Eric Unger, Tom Jamieson, and Bill Shill. Dudley said that choosing the national representative was an annual problem, and the cost of sending A-level teams was getting prohibitive. He arranged an exhibition schedule in Europe to acclimatize the team to the international rules of play, and raise funds from tickets to exhibition games to cover travel costs. The 1954 Ice Hockey World Championships was the first time the Soviet Union national team would participate, and he speculated they would finish no better than fourth place.
  Canada lost in the final game by a 7–2 score to the Soviets. The loss was described as a "black eye" to Canada, a "catastrophe" and "a national calamity". The CAHA and Dudley were highly criticized by the media in Canada for sending a B-level senior team to international competition. Dudley invited suggestions on how to better form the team, and reiterated the prohibitive costs of sending A-level teams. He stated that the timing of the world championships coincided with playoffs in Canada, and that no A-level team would agree to leave at a critical team in their season. He also said that the profits from the Allan Cup and Memorial Cup playoffs would not sustain the annual cost of flying a team to Europe to shorten the time away from playing in Canada. He also considered inviting the Soviet Union national ice hockey team to tour Canada as a goodwill gesture, and since increased interest in seeing the Soviet team play would make it profitable.
caption: Canada versus the Soviet Union at the 1954 Ice Hockey World Championships
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