1907 ECAHA season

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The 1907 Eastern Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) season lasted from January 3 until March 10. Teams played a ten game schedule. The Montreal Wanderers won the league championship going undefeated, with their only loss of the season coming in a Stanley Cup challenge series with Kenora.

Contents 1 League business 1.1 Executive 1.2 Rule changes 2 Regular season 2.1 Highlights 2.2 Final standings 2.3 Results 2.4 Goalkeeper averages 2.5 Leading scorers 3 Stanley Cup Challenges 3.1 Wanderers vs. New Glasgow 3.2 Wanderers vs. Kenora at Montreal 3.3 Kenora vs. Brandon 3.4 Wanderers vs. Kenora at Winnipeg 4 Kenora Thistles January 1907 Stanley Cup champions 4.1 Stanley Cup engraving 5 Montreal Wanderers March 1907 Stanley Cup champions 5.1 Stanley Cup engraving 6 References 7 See also

[edit] League business

[edit] Executive

• Fred McRobie (President)
• Darcy McGee, Ottawa (1st Vice-President)
• Gordon Blair, Quebec (2nd Vice-President)
• Emmett Quinn, Shamrocks (Secretary-Treasurer)

Nationals and Grand Trunk applied for franchises but did not get three-fourths approval.

[edit] Rule changes

• Teams could have professionals as well as amateurs
• After a puck strikes a goalie, the rebound could now be played by the defending team without it being called offside
• A player injured in the first half can sit for ten minutes and the other team has to take off a player.

[edit] Regular season

Frank McGee of Ottawa retired to pursue his government career.

[edit] Highlights

A major battle took place for the game between the Senators and Wanderers on January 12. Stick work was the order of the day as Charles Spittal of Ottawa knocked Cecil Blachford in the head, Alf Smith hit Hod Stuart in the head and Harry Smith broke Ernie Johnson's nose. The Wanderers would still win, 4–2.

After the game, a special league meeting was called to hand out discipline, with Victorias and Wanderers wanting Spittal and Alf Smith suspended for the season. The players were not suspended, leading the league president Mr. McRobie to resign, leaving Darcy McGee to take over as president.

On the next visit of the Ottawa team to Montreal, to play the Victorias, the three Ottawa players were arrested by Montreal police. Eventually Alf Smith and Spittal were fined $20 for their actions and Harry Smith was found not guilty.

The scoring championship was close, with Ernie Russell of the Wanderers placing first with 42 goals in 9 games, and Russell Bowie scoring 38 in 10 games.

[edit] Final standings

Team	Games Played	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals For	Goals Against
Montreal Wanderers	10	10	0	0	105	39
Ottawa Senators	10	7	3	0	76	54
Montreal Victorias	10	6	4	0	101	70
Montreal Hockey Club	10	3	7	0	58	83
Quebec Hockey Club	10	2	8	0	62	88
Montreal Shamrocks	10	2	8	0	52	120

[edit] Results

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Jan.	2	Wanderers	6	Victorias	5 (10' overtime)
	5	Montreal	5	Shamrocks	3
	5	Quebec	1	Ottawa	6
	9	Wanderers	6	Montreal	3
	12	Ottawa	2	Wanderers	4
	12	Victorias	10	Quebec	1
	16	Victorias	16	Shamrocks	3
	19	Shamrocks	2	Ottawa	6
	19	Quebec	8	Montreal	15
	23	Victorias	12	Montreal	6
	26	Ottawa	12	Victorias	10
	26	Wanderers	11	Quebec	3
	30	Shamrocks	5	Montreal	3
Feb.	2	Montreal	2	Ottawa	5
	2	Quebec	8	Shamrocks	11
	6	Wanderers	5	Victorias	2
	9	Ottawa	5	Quebec	4 (2' overtime)
	9	Montreal	3	Wanderers	16
	13	Shamrocks	7	Victorias	19
	16	Victorias	7	Ottawa	16
	16	Quebec	5	Wanderers	13
	19	Shamrocks	5	Wanderers	18
	23	Ottawa	12	Shamrocks	6
	23	Montreal	5	Quebec	9
	27	Montreal	8	Victorias	13
Mar.	2	Wanderers	10	Ottawa	6
	2	Quebec	6	Victorias	7
	6	Shamrocks	5	Wanderers	16
	9	Ottawa	6	Montreal	8
	9	Shamrocks	5	Quebec	17

[edit] Goalkeeper averages

Name	Club	GP	GA	SO	Avg.
Riley Hern	Wanderers	10	39		3.9
Percy LeSueur	Ottawa	10	54		5.4
Nathan Frye	Victorias	10	70		7.0
Charles Doddridge	Quebec	4	30		7.5
White	Montreal	10	83		8.3
Paddy Moran	Quebec	6	58		9.7
Currie	Shamrocks	10	120		12.0

[edit] Leading scorers

Name	Club	GP	G
Russell, Ernie	Wanderers	9	42
Bowie, Russell	Victorias	10	38
Russell, Blair	Victorias	10	25
Smith, Harry	Ottawa	9	21
Sargent, Grover	Montreal	10	20
Hale, Chandler	Victorias	7	18
Smith, Alf	Ottawa	9	17
Shore, Hamby	Ottawa	10	17
Johnson, Ernie	Montreal	10	15
Constantine	Quebec	7	15

[edit] Stanley Cup Challenges

The 1907 season had two Stanley Cup champions, Montreal Wanderers and Kenora Thistles.

[edit] Wanderers vs. New Glasgow

The Wanderers played one Stanley Cup challenge before the season, defeating the New Glasgow Cubs in a two-game series 10–3, 7–2, December 27–29, 1906. This was the first series in which professional players played for the Stanley Cup, as the Wanderers and other teams in the ECAHA were starting to mix amateurs with pros in their squads.

[edit] Wanderers vs. Kenora at Montreal

The Wanderers played one Stanley Cup challenge during the season, losing to the Kenora Thistles 2–4, 6–8 on January 17–21. Aided by future Hockey Hall of Famers Tom Hooper, Tommy Phillips, and Art Ross, the Thistles came away with 4–2 and 8–6 victories for a combined score of 12–8 to win a two-game total goals series. A "ringer", Ross was a member of the Brandon Wheat Kings and was borrowed by Kenora for just the challenge games.

[edit] Kenora vs. Brandon

Kenora would play and win the Manitoba Professional Hockey League(MPHL) playoffs against Brandon to successfully defend the Cup, winning a best-of-three series 2–0. Kenora added for this series Alf Smith and Rat Westwick of Ottawa, whose season with the ECAHA was already over. At the time of this series, the acting Stanley Cup trustee William Foran had already declared Smith and Westwick ineligible for the challenge series. After the series was over, the Manitoba League registered their disapproval over Mr. Foran's decision to exclude the players.^[1]

[edit] Wanderers vs. Kenora at Winnipeg

Kenora went ahead and added Alf Smith and Rat Westwick of Ottawa for the challenge, against the wishes of Mr. Foran. The series was supposed to start on March 21 in Kenora, but Montreal protested the use of Smith and Westwick and wanted to play in Winnipeg. Foran ruled that both players were ineligible. The clubs went ahead and started the series on March 23 in Winnipeg. Mr. Foran was notified by the press (inaccurately) that Montreal had dropped its protest and that the clubs intended to play anyway. Mr. Foran threatened to take the Cup back to Ottawa:

If the two clubs ignore the instructions of the cup trustees by mutually agreeing to play against Westwick and Smith when both were positively informed these men were ineligible to participate in the present cup matches, the series will be treated as void, and the cup will be taken charge of by the trustees. It will remain in their possession till the various hockey leagues can educate themselves up to a standard where decent sport will be the order of the day.”^[2]

The teams went ahead and played the series. However, Mr. Foran changed his mind after the Wanderers won the Cup, stating that the Wanderers could keep the Cup, because they had not rescinded their protest.^[3]

[edit] Kenora Thistles January 1907 Stanley Cup champions

Eddie Geroux(Goal), Art Ross(Point), Silas Griffis(Coverpoint), Tom Hooper(Rover), Billy McGimsie(Center), Tom Phillips(Left Wing- Captain), Roxy Beaudro(Right Wing), Russell Phillips(dressed, but did not play/Forward on team picture), Joe Hall(dressed, but did not play/defense on team picture), Alf Smith(right wing)†, Harry Westwick(rover)†, Fred Whitcroft(rover)†.

Non-players

Lowrey Johnson (President/missing from the team picture), Fred A. Hudson (Manager), James A. Link (Coach/Trainer), G.F McGillvary (Secretary/Treasurer).

† Not part of team when Kenora when they won the Stanley Cup in January 1907. However, joined the team in March 1907 to play against the Brandon Wheat Kings in 2 playoff games.

[edit] Stanley Cup engraving

Kenora engraved their name inside the bowl of the Stanley Cup. ^[4]

[edit] Montreal Wanderers March 1907 Stanley Cup champions

Ernie Russell(Right Wing), Frank "Pud" Glass(Rover), Ernie "Moose" Johnson(Left Wing), Jack Marshall(Center), Cecil Blachford (Center-Captain), Billy Strachan(Point), William "Riley" Hern(Goalie), Lester Patrick(Point/Rover), Hod Stuart(Coverpoint), Rod Kennedy(Point).

Non-players

James Strachan (President), Clarence McKerrow (Hon. President), William Jennings (Vice President), Bob Hern (Hon. Vice President), Bert Strachan (Director), George Guile (Secretary/Treasurer), Bob Stephenson (Hon. Treasurer), Tom Hodges (Hon. Secretary), Dickie Boon (Manager), Mr. Chipchase(unknown), Paul Lefebvre (Trainer/left off cup).

[edit] Stanley Cup engraving

Wanderers engraved 20 members inside the bowl of the Stanley Cup. This is first time that winning members were engraved on the Stanley Cup. Paul Lefebvre (Trainer) was included on the team picture, but left off the cup. ^[5] After the season, the Stanley Cup was stolen from Montreal photographer Jimmy Rice's home after a team picture. When no one would pay a ransom for it, the Cup was left on Rice's doorstep, and his wife used it as a window-sill geranium planter until the fall.^[6]

[edit] References

• Coleman, Charles L. (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1, 1893–1926 inc.. NHL. 
• Podnieks, Andrew: Lord Stanley Cup, Fenn Publishing Company, 2004

[edit] See also

• Eastern Canadian Amateur Hockey Association
• List of pre-NHL seasons
• List of ice hockey leagues
• List of Stanley Cup champions

Preceded by Montreal Wanderers March 1906	Kenora Thistles Stanley Cup Champions January 1907	Succeeded by Montreal Wanderers March 1907
Preceded by Kenora Thistles January 1907	Montreal Wanderers Stanley Cup Champions March 1907	Succeeded by Montreal Wanderers 1908
Preceded by 1906 ECAHA season	ECAHA seasons 1907	Succeeded by 1907–08 ECAHA season