Max Hornfeck

Maximilian Roland Hornfeck (January 13, 1874 – October 25, 1968) was an American amateur ice hockey center and speed skater active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hornfeck played ice hockey for the Montclair Athletic Club, New York Athletic Club, New York Wanderers and New York Hockey Club in the American Amateur Hockey League between 1897 and 1908.

Max Hornfeck
Max Hornfeck circa 1901.
Born (1874-01-13)January 13, 1874
Verona, New Jersey, USA
Died October 25, 1968(1968-10-25) (aged 94)
Height 5 ft 5[1] in (165 cm)
Weight 124 lb (56 kg; 8 st 12 lb)
Position Center
Shot Left
Played for Montclair Athletic Club
New York Athletic Club
New York Wanderers
New York Hockey Club
Playing career 1896–1908

As a speed skater Hornfeck competed both in local and national events against prominent amateur skaters such as LeRoy See (of Berkeley School) and Charles McClave (of the New York Athletic Club).[2][3]

Family

Max Hornfeck was born in Verona, New Jersey on January 13, 1874 to Hermann Heinrich Hornfeck, a manufacturer, and Anna Kathrine Cimiotti. Hermann Heinrich was born in Gera, Thuringia on February 5, 1839 and immigrated to the United States in 1860. He married Anna Kathrine Cimiotti, a native of Vienna, on February 5, 1866.[4]

Ice hockey career

During the 1896–97 season Max Hornfeck played exhibition games with the Montclair Athletic Club ice hockey team against opponents from New York City and New Jersey, as well as against Queen's University (of Kingston, Ontario) and an All-Baltimore aggregation.[5] His younger brothers Henry (b. 1876) and Gus (b. 1878) were also members of the team. All three of the Hornfeck brothers were of diminutive stature in an ice hockey playing context.[6]

Hornfeck played two seasons with the Montclair AC in the AAHL before he joined the New York Athletic Club for the 1899–1900 season.[7] On the New York Athletic Club forward line he teamed up with newly acquired Canadian right winger Tom Howard, a former Stanley Cup champion with the Winnipeg Victorias (in 1896). Hornfeck played four seasons with the New York AC without being able to win the AAHL championship.

Before the 1903–04 AAHL season Hornfeck, Howard, Charlie Clarke and John Carruthers of the New York AC jumped ship, and along with forward Kenneth "Kay" Gordon and goaltender Harold "Buster" Hayward of the St. Nicholas Hockey Club they formed a new team called the New York Wanderers which took the place of the St. Nicholas HC in the AAHL for the 1903–04 season.[8] The new club was successful at its first try at the championship title as the Wanderers finished at the top of the league table in 1903–04 after having defeated the Brooklyn Crescents 3 goals to 1 on March 4, 1904.[9]

Hornfeck played four more seasons in the AAHL (two with the Wanderers and two with the New York Hockey Club) before he retired at the end of the 1907–08 season.

Playing style

Max Hornfeck relied much upon his speed to create scoring chances, and he also used his fast feet on the defensive side of the puck breaking up scoring chances for the opponents by overtaking them and lifting their sticks. He did not have a big shot significative of a stand-out goal scorer, but he could nonetheless score a fair amount of goals on account of his rushing and dodging abilities.[10]

Career statistics
Hornfeck, at far right, with the 1896–97 Montclair Athletic Club. His brothers Henry and Gustave are also seated in the front row.
Hornfeck (11) while a member of the New York Wanderers in 1903–04. His brother Henry Hornfeck (6) is also seated in the front row.

Exh. = Exhibition games

Regular season
    Regular season  
Season Team League GP G A Pts
1896–97 Montclair AC Exh. – – – –
1897–98 Montclair AC AAHL 8 3 0 3
1898–99 Montclair AC AAHL 8 3 3 6
1899–1900 New York AC AAHL 12 11 2 13
1900–01 New York AC AAHL 11 8 7 15
1901–02 New York AC AAHL 9 8 3 12
1902–03 New York AC AAHL 5 1 1 2
1903–04 New York Wanderers AAHL 8 7 0 7
1904–05 New York Wanderers AAHL 6 4 2 6
1905–06 New York HC AAHL 3 1 0 1
1906–07 New York HC AAHL 1 0 1 1
1907–08 New York Wanderers AAHL 4 0 0 0
Totals 75 46 19 65

Statistics from Society for International Hockey Research (sihrhockey.org)

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References
  • Society for International Hockey Research

Notes
  1. "Ice sports" The Amateur Athlete, Mar. 18 1897, pg. 14
  2. "Skating – Hornfeck defeats See at the Clermont Avenue Rink" The New York Daily Tribune, Jan. 19 1899, pg. 6
  3. "Skaters to try for honors" The New York Daily Tribune, Jan. 22 1899, pg. 2
  4. History of German immigration in the United States and successful German-Americans and their descendants Georg von Skal, pg. 131, 189–190
  5. Spalding's Athletic Library 1898 ice hockey and ice polo guide pg. 22–29
  6. "To play hockey in Canada" The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Jan. 31 1900, pg. 15
  7. "Athletic news of clubs" The New York Daily Tribune, Dec. 31 1899, pg. 7
  8. "Hockey fuss ends – New club takes place of St. Nicholas in league schedule this year" The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec. 13 1903, pg. 8 ****
  9. "Wanderers win hockey championship" The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Mar. 5 1904, pg. 9
  10. "McGill beaten at hockey" The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec. 30 1899, pg. 13
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