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1906 ECAHA season | |
---|---|
League | Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association |
Sport | Ice hockey |
Duration | January 3 – March 10, 1906 |
Number of teams | 6 |
1906 | |
Champions | Montreal Wanderers |
Top scorer | Harry Smith (31 goals) |
The 1906 ECAHA season was the inaugural season of the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA). Six teams played a 10-game schedule. The Ottawa HC and Montreal Wanderers tied for the league championship with a record of 9–1, while the Montreal Shamrocks didn't win a single game. The Senators and the Wanderers then played a two-game playoff for the league championship and the Stanley Cup, and the Wanderers won 9–1,3–9 (12–10) on goals.
League business
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Howard_Wilson_MDS_1901.jpg/185px-Howard_Wilson_MDS_1901.jpg)
Part of a series on the |
Emergence of the NHL |
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Early development |
Leagues |
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Executive
Initial:
- Howard Wilson, Montreal (President)
- G. P. Murphy, Ottawa (1st Vice-President)
- Dr. Cameron (2nd Vice-President)
- James Strachan, Wanderers (Secretary-Treasurer)
After December 20:
- Howard Wilson, Montreal (President)
- William Northey, Montreal Arena Corp. (Secretary-Treasurer)
Rule Changes
- Teams must appoint game timers for each game,
- a two referee system was adopted,
- new Arena Trophy would be awarded to the regular season winner,
- three-quarters vote would be needed to admit new teams,
- if a team resigns, all of its played games would be considered cancelled,
- $25 fine for delay of start of game, and
- $50 charge to make a protest, non-refundable.
Regular season
The Ottawas played two Cup challenges during the regular season, defeating Queen's College of Kingston, the OHA champion, and defeating Smiths Falls, the FAHL champion.
Highlights
This season saw many new players. Wanderers brought in Lester Patrick, Ernie Johnson and Ernie Russell and Ottawa brought in Harry and Tommy Smith.
Fred Brophy, of Montreal HC, repeated his goal-scoring performance from the goaltender position in a game against Montreal Victorias on March 7.
Again, the league was high scoring, with Harry Smith scoring 31 goals in 8 games, Russell Bowie scoring 30 goals in 9 games, and Frank McGee scoring 28 goals in 7 games. Mr. Smith scored 6 in one game, 5 in another, topped by 8 against the Shamrocks on February 17. Mr. McGee would equal the 8 goals in a game feat against Montreal HC on March 3. Seven players scored at least 5 goals in a single game.
Final standing
Playoff qualifiers in bold.
Team | Games Played | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals For | Goals Against |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ottawa Hockey Club | 10
|
9
|
1
|
0
|
90
|
42
|
Montreal Wanderers | 10
|
9
|
1
|
0
|
74
|
38
|
Montreal Victorias | 10
|
6
|
4
|
0
|
76
|
73
|
Quebec Hockey Club | 10
|
3
|
7
|
0
|
57
|
70
|
Montreal Hockey Club | 10
|
3
|
7
|
0
|
49
|
63
|
Montreal Shamrocks | 10
|
0
|
10
|
0
|
30
|
90
|
Playoffs
Stanley Cup challenges
The Ottawas played two Cup challenges during the regular season, defeating Queen's College of Kingston, the OHA champion, and defeating Smiths Falls, the FAHL champion.
Queen's University vs. Ottawa Hockey Club Silver Sevens
Date | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
February 27, 1906 | Ottawa HC | 16–7 | Queen's University | Dey's Arena |
February 28, 1906 | Ottawa HC | 12–7 | Queen's University | |
Ottawa wins best-of-three series 2 games to 0 |
Queen's University 7 | Ottawa Hockey Club Silver Sevens 16 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Player | G | Pos | Player | G |
R.M. "Dick" Mills | G | Billy Hague | ||
Hugh McDonnell | P | Harvey Pulford, Capt. | ||
Eric Sutherland | CP | Arthur Moore | ||
Marty Walsh | 2 | R | Harry Westwick | 4 |
Vernon Crawford | 1 | C | Frank McGee | 4 |
George Richardson | 2 | RW | Alf Smith | 5 |
William Dobson | 2 | LW | Harry Smith | 3 |
Referees R. Meldrum, Frank Patrick |
- Spare - Queens University - B. Sutherland -C
- Spares - Ottawa - Hamilton "Billy" Gilmour -RW, Tommy Smith -C, "Coo" Dion -F, Jack Ebbs -F.
Queen's University 7 | Ottawa Hockey Club Silver Sevens 12 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Player | G | Pos | Player | G |
R.M. "Dick" Mills | G | Billy Hague | ||
Hugh McDonnell | P | Harvey Pulford, Capt. | 1 | |
Eric Sutherland | 1 | CP | Arthur Moore | 2 |
Marty Walsh | 2 | R | Harry Westwick | 2 |
Bruce Sutherland | 1 | C | Frank McGee | 2 |
George Richardson | 1 | RW | Alf Smith | 2 |
William Dobson | 1 | LW | Harry Smith | 5 |
Referees R. Meldrum, Frank Patrick |
- Spare - Queens University - V.W. Crawford -C
- Spares - Ottawa - Hamilton "Billy" Gilmour -RW, Tommy Smith -C, "Coo" Dion -F, Jack Ebbs -F.
The lopsided score of the first game gave indications that the series would be quickly over. One interesting emergence was that of Marty Walsh. Walsh would help hold Ottawa to a 5–3 lead scoring two goals. In the game's second half, Ottawa broke away after the score was made 5–4 with nine unanswered goals.[1] Ottawa would win game one by a score of 16–7. The game featured many multiple goal scorers; Westwick, McGee, A. Smith and H Smith would all score four goals for the Senators, and Richardson, Dobbson, and Walsh would each score two for Queen's.
Smiths Falls vs. Ottawa
Date | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
March 6, 1906 | Ottawa Hockey Club | 6–5 | Smiths Falls Hockey Club | Dey's Arena |
March 8, 1906 | Ottawa Hockey Club | 8–2 | Smiths Falls Hockey Club | |
Ottawa wins best-of-three series 2 games to 0 |
Smith Falls Hockey Club 5 | Ottawa Hockey Club 6 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Player | G | Pos | Player | G |
Percy Lesueur, Capt. | G | Billy Hague | ||
Harry Brown | 1 | P | Harvey Pulford, Capt. | |
Harold Armstrong | 1 | CP | Arthur Moore | |
Hugh Ross | R | Harry Westwick | ||
Art Serviss | 2 | C | Frank McGee | 5 |
Bob May | RW | Alf Smith | 1 | |
Jack Fraser | 1 | LW | Harry Smith | |
Referees R. Meldrum, Frank Patrick |
- Spares - Smith Falls - Unknown
- Spares - Ottawa - Hamilton "Billy" Gilmour -RW, Tommy Smith -C, "Coo" Dion -F, Jack Ebbs -F.
Smith Falls Hockey Club 2 | Ottawa Hockey Club 8 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Player | G | Pos | Player | G |
Percy Lesueur, Capt. | G | Billy Hague | ||
Harry Brown | P | Harvey Pulford, Capt. | ||
Harold Armstrong | CP | Arthur Moore | ||
Hugh Ross | 1 | R | Harry Westwick | 2 |
Art Serviss | C | Frank McGee | 4 | |
Bob May | RW | Alf Smith | 1 | |
Jack Fraser | 1 | LW | Harry Smith | 1 |
Referees R. Meldrum, Frank Patrick |
- Spares - Smith Falls - Unknown
- Spares - Ottawa - Hamilton "Billy" Gilmour -RW, Tommy Smith -C, "Coo" Dion -F, Jack Ebbs -F.
ECAHA Playoff
As the season produced a tie for the season championship, the defending champion Ottawas and Wanderers played a two-game playoff, with the winner being awarded the Stanley Cup. The series took place on March 14 in Montreal and March 17 in Ottawa. The Wanderers would win the series 9–1, 3–9 (12–10) in dramatic fashion..
- Game one
Ottawa was installed as 2–1 betting favourites, but the Wanderers upset the bookies.[2] In the first game in Montreal, the Wanderers dominated Ottawa, as Ernie Russell got four goals, Frank Glass got three and Moose Johnson would get two for a 9–1 victory.
- Game two
After the first game, the Ottawas would replace their goalie Billy Hague with the Smiths Falls goalie Percy LeSueur in to play his first game for the club. Despite being down by eight goals, interest in Ottawa for the return match was high. Rush seats on sale the day of the game produced a throng that caused the ticket seller's glass to break. The venue, Dey's Arena, was modified to hold more spectators, including setting up temporary bleachers, removing the grandstand which had been used as a press box, and the installation of a press box attached to the rafters. Over 5,400 would attend the game and the top $2 tickets were being sold for $10. Betting interest was high, including one $12,000 bet.[2]
After twelve minutes, the first goal was scored by the Wanderers' Moose Johnson to increase the goal lead to nine. Ottawa's Frank McGee, Harry Smith, and McGee again scored before half-time, cutting the deficit to 10–4. Harry Smith would score to open the second half, followed by Rat Westwick. Then Westwick scored again to make it 10–7 before Harry Smith scored three straight goals to make the score 9–1, evening the series with ten minutes to play to tie the series, causing a five-minute standing ovation.[3] With seven minutes to play Smith was sent off for the rest of the game and Lester Patrick would score with ninety seconds to play to put the Wanderers back in the lead. Patrick would ice the game with a goal with a few seconds to play. The Silver Seven reign was over.[3][4]
The Toronto Globe called it the "greatest game of hockey ever played on Canadian ice, or any other."[3] The Sporting News would later dub it the "Greatest Hockey Game in History."[4] Moose Johnson would end up with the Governor-General's top hat. It had been knocked off of the Earl Grey's head, and a fan had snatched it up, giving it to Johnson later in the dressing room.[5]