The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association came into existence June 1881 and began as a confederation of three sporting clubs: The Montreal Snow Shoe Club, The Montreal Bicycle Club, and The Montreal Lacrosse Club. These founding clubs shared the club space of the Montreal Gymnasium, located at Mansfield Street and de Maisonneuve Boulevard. 

In the 1880s, the MAAA organized the famous annual Montreal Winter Carnival. The Winter Carnival featured a temporary "ice castle" or "ice fort", which would be "stormed" in a mock attack, as well as several events, such as snowshoe races, toboggan slides, skating carnivals and ice hockey tournaments. The Sir Vincent Meredith Trophy was awarded to the best all-round athlete in the MAAA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_AAA 

"After the performance on the eighteenth, the troupe drove at headlong speed out of the snow-covered city to the home of the Tuque Bleue Snowshoe Club. Husky young club members seized Clemens, Cable and the huge major and tossed them repeatedly to the ceiling". (page 63 of Twins of Genius by Guy Caldwell).