1909 ECAHA season
Encyclopedia
The 1909 Eastern Canadian Hockey Association
(ECHA) season lasted from January 2 until March 6. Teams played a twelve game schedule. The Ottawa Senators
would win the league championship with a record of ten wins, two losses and take over the Stanley Cup
.
The Eastern Canadian Amateur Hockey Association league meeting was held November 4, 1908 and was a pivotal meeting in the evolution from amateur to professional ice hockey leagues. At the meeting the two last amateur, or at least partly amateur teams resigned over the signing of players from other teams. Montreal HC
and Montreal Victorias
left the league and later would continue as senior level men's teams playing for the Allan Cup
. Unpaid players would no longer play with paid players.
The league would continue with four professional teams. The league name was changed to Eastern Canadian Hockey Association to reflect the change in status.
had moved to Ottawa. New additions included Joe Hall
, Harry Smith
, Jimmy Gardner and Steve Vair. The Wanderers would come close to their rivals, finishing second with nine wins and three losses.
Ottawa saw Harvey Pulford
and Alf Smith
retire, and Tom Phillips leave. Ottawa would replace these players with Edgar Dey
, Billy Gilmour
and Albert 'Dubby' Kerr from Toronto Professionals. Alf Smith would organize the Ottawa Senators
of the Federal Hockey League
.
Shamrocks added Harry Hyland
, and Quebec saw the start of the career of Joe Malone.
Ottawa played an exhibition game prior to the season with the Toronto professionals on January 2 in Toronto. Ottawa defeated Toronto 5–4. Dubby Kerr played in the game for Toronto, and signed with Ottawa a week later.
On January 25, Wanderers played an exhibition game in Cobalt, Ontario
versus the Cobalt Silver Kings
, betting $500 on themselves to win, but lost 6-4. After the game Harry Smith would leave the Wanderers to join Haileybury of the Timiskaming League.
Marty Walsh
of Ottawa would win the scoring championship with 38 goals. Ottawa would average nearly ten goals per game.
, champions of the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association. Despite all players except for one being a 'ringer' for Edmonton, Montreal would defeat them December 28–30, 1908, in Montreal. In game one, Harry Smith scored 5 goals as he led the Wanderers to a 7–3 victory. The Edmontons won game two, 7–6, but Montreal took the two-game total goals series, 13–10.
After the challenge, Edmonton would play an exhibition game in Ottawa on January 2 before returning to Edmonton, defeating the Ottawa Senators (of the FHL) 4–2. Ottawa played the Toronto Pros the same day in Toronto, losing 5–4. Lindsay, Pitre and Vair, having played with Edmonton for the challenge, would sign after the exhibition game with Renfrew of the Federal League. The players would help Renfrew to the FHL championship.
After the season, Ottawa took over the Cup, but a series against the Winnipeg Shamrocks could not be arranged and no challenge was played. (The Shamrocks would fold before the next season and never played a challenge.) Challenges from Renfrew of the Federal Hockey League and Cobalt of the Timiskaming League were disallowed when the Stanley Cup trustees ruled that the players on Renfrew and Cobalt were ineligible, having joined their teams after January 2.
on March 12 and March 13. Ottawa won the first game 6–4, and the second game was tied 8–8.
Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association
The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association was a men's amateur, later professional ice hockey league in Canada that played four seasons. It was founded on December 11, 1905 with six clubs: four from the Canadian Amateur Hockey League and two from the Federal Amateur Hockey League, to bring...
(ECHA) season lasted from January 2 until March 6. Teams played a twelve game schedule. The Ottawa Senators
Ottawa Senators (original)
The Ottawa Senators were an amateur, and later, professional, ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934...
would win the league championship with a record of ten wins, two losses and take over the Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
.
Executive
- Joe Power, Quebec (President)
- James Strachan, Wanderers (1st Vice-President)
- J. Eveleigh, Montreal (2nd Vice-President)
- Emmett QuinnEmmett QuinnThomas Emmett Quinn ) was a Canadian ice hockey executive, coach and referee. Quinn served as president of the National Hockey Association , the predecessor of today's National Hockey League . His brother Percy Quinn was also an ice hockey executive...
, Quebec (Secretary-Treasurer)
The Eastern Canadian Amateur Hockey Association league meeting was held November 4, 1908 and was a pivotal meeting in the evolution from amateur to professional ice hockey leagues. At the meeting the two last amateur, or at least partly amateur teams resigned over the signing of players from other teams. Montreal HC
Montreal Hockey Club
The Montreal Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was a senior-level men's amateur ice hockey club, organized in 1884. They were affiliated with Montreal Amateur Athletic Association and used the MAAA 'winged wheel' logo. The team is notable for winning the first Stanley Cup in 1893, and in a...
and Montreal Victorias
Montreal Victorias
The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating...
left the league and later would continue as senior level men's teams playing for the Allan Cup
Allan Cup
The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men’s ice hockey champions of Canada. It has been competed for since 1909. The current champion is the Clarenville Caribous hockey club of Newfoundland and Labrador.-History:...
. Unpaid players would no longer play with paid players.
The league would continue with four professional teams. The league name was changed to Eastern Canadian Hockey Association to reflect the change in status.
Regular season
The Wanderers', Cecil Blatchford had retired and Bruce StuartBruce Stuart
Bruce Stuart was a Canadian amateur and professional ice hockey forward who played for the Quebec Bulldogs, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Wanderers from 1899 to 1911...
had moved to Ottawa. New additions included Joe Hall
Joe Hall
Joseph Henry Hall , nicknamed Bad Joe Hall, was a professional ice hockey defenceman who played professionally from 1904 until 1919 when he died as a result of the influenza epidemic...
, Harry Smith
Harry Smith (ice hockey)
Harold Henry "Harry" Smith was a professional Canadian ice hockey player who played 98 games in various professional and amateur leagues, including the National Hockey Association and Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association...
, Jimmy Gardner and Steve Vair. The Wanderers would come close to their rivals, finishing second with nine wins and three losses.
Ottawa saw Harvey Pulford
Harvey Pulford
Ernest Harvey Pulford was a Canadian all-around athlete at the turn of the 20th century, winning national championships in ice hockey, lacrosse, football, boxing, paddling and rowing. He won four Stanley Cups with the Ottawa Hockey Club and championships or tournaments in every sport in which he...
and Alf Smith
Alf Smith
Alfred Edward Smith was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Ottawa Senators, and Kenora Thistles. He had two brothers who played senior-level hockey Harry Smith and Tommy Smith...
retire, and Tom Phillips leave. Ottawa would replace these players with Edgar Dey
Edgar Dey
Edgar Ernest Dey was an early amateur and professional ice hockey player and athlete in canoeing. A member of the Dey family of Ottawa, known for canoe building, athletics and arena operation, he died in 1912 from an injury while playing hockey. He was a canoeing champion of Canada...
, Billy Gilmour
Billy Gilmour
Hamilton Livingstone "Billy" Gilmour was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Ottawa Hockey Club in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League...
and Albert 'Dubby' Kerr from Toronto Professionals. Alf Smith would organize the Ottawa Senators
Ottawa Senators (FHL)
The Ottawa Senators were a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada which played one season in the Federal Hockey League in 1909 before the formation of the National Hockey Association. The club was formed to help boost the rivalry between the Federal League and the Eastern Canada...
of the Federal Hockey League
Federal Amateur Hockey League
The Federal Amateur Hockey League was a Canadian men's senior-level ice hockey league that played six seasons from 1904 to 1909. The league was formed initially to provide a league for teams not accepted by the rival Canadian Amateur Hockey League . One team, the Montreal Le National, was the first...
.
Shamrocks added Harry Hyland
Harry Hyland
Harold Macarius Hyland was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa Senators...
, and Quebec saw the start of the career of Joe Malone.
Ottawa played an exhibition game prior to the season with the Toronto professionals on January 2 in Toronto. Ottawa defeated Toronto 5–4. Dubby Kerr played in the game for Toronto, and signed with Ottawa a week later.
On January 25, Wanderers played an exhibition game in Cobalt, Ontario
Cobalt, Ontario
Cobalt is a town in the district of Timiskaming, province of Ontario, Canada, with a population of 1,223 In 2001 Cobalt was named "Ontario's Most Historic Town" by a panel of judges on the TV Ontario program Studio 2, and in 2002 the area was designated a National Historic Site.-History:Silver was...
versus the Cobalt Silver Kings
Cobalt Silver Kings
The Cobalt Silver Kings are a defunct ice hockey club which played in Cobalt, Ontario, Canada from 1906 to 1911, notably during the 1910 NHA season, founding season of the National Hockey Association forerunner of today's National Hockey League...
, betting $500 on themselves to win, but lost 6-4. After the game Harry Smith would leave the Wanderers to join Haileybury of the Timiskaming League.
Highlights
The rivalry between Ottawa and Wanderers continued, Wanderers winning the first on January 6 7–6 in overtime, with Harry Smith scoring four against his former team. Ottawa would win the next 5–4 in Ottawa, and defeat Montreal in Montreal 9–8 before 8000 fans. Ottawa would finish the series winning 8–3 in Ottawa to clinch the championship.Marty Walsh
Marty Walsh
Martin J. Walsh was a Canadian amateur, later professional, ice hockey forward who played for the Ottawa Senators, winning three Stanley Cups in 1909, 1910 and 1911 and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame...
of Ottawa would win the scoring championship with 38 goals. Ottawa would average nearly ten goals per game.
Final standing
| Team | Games Played | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals For | Goals Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa HC Ottawa Senators (original) The Ottawa Senators were an amateur, and later, professional, ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934... |
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| Montreal Wanderers Montreal Wanderers The Montreal Wanderers were a Canadian amateur, and later becoming a professional men's ice hockey team. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League , the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association , the National Hockey Association and briefly the National Hockey League . The Wanderers are... |
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| Quebec HC Quebec Bulldogs The Quebec Bulldogs were a men's senior-level ice hockey team officially known as the Quebec Hockey Club, later as the Quebec Athletic Club. Their recorded play goes back as far as the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada in 1889, although the Quebec Hockey Club is known to have played since 1880... |
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| Montreal Shamrocks Montreal Shamrocks The Montreal Shamrocks were an amateur, later professional, men's ice hockey club in existence from 1886, merging with the Montreal Crystals club in 1896. They won the Stanley Cup ice hockey championship in 1899 and 1900... |
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Montreal vs. Edmonton
Prior to the season, Wanderers would play a challenge against the Edmonton Hockey ClubEdmonton Eskimos (hockey)
The Edmonton Eskimos were a Canadian amateur and later professional men's ice hockey team that existed from 1905 to 1927. The Eskimos challenged three times for the Stanley Cup, losing each time; in 1908 versus the Montreal Wanderers, in 1910 versus the Ottawa Senators, and Ottawa again in 1923...
, champions of the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association. Despite all players except for one being a 'ringer' for Edmonton, Montreal would defeat them December 28–30, 1908, in Montreal. In game one, Harry Smith scored 5 goals as he led the Wanderers to a 7–3 victory. The Edmontons won game two, 7–6, but Montreal took the two-game total goals series, 13–10.
| Date | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 28, 1908 | Montreal Wanderers | 7–3 | Edmonton HC | Montreal Arena Montreal Arena The Montreal Arena, also known as Westmount Arena, was an indoor arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on the corner of St. Catherine Street and Wood Avenue. It was likely one of the first arenas designed expressly for hockey, opening in 1898... |
| December 30, 1908 | Edmonton HC | 7–6 | Montreal Wanderers | |
| Montreal wins total goals series 13 goals to 10 | ||||
After the challenge, Edmonton would play an exhibition game in Ottawa on January 2 before returning to Edmonton, defeating the Ottawa Senators (of the FHL) 4–2. Ottawa played the Toronto Pros the same day in Toronto, losing 5–4. Lindsay, Pitre and Vair, having played with Edmonton for the challenge, would sign after the exhibition game with Renfrew of the Federal League. The players would help Renfrew to the FHL championship.
After the season, Ottawa took over the Cup, but a series against the Winnipeg Shamrocks could not be arranged and no challenge was played. (The Shamrocks would fold before the next season and never played a challenge.) Challenges from Renfrew of the Federal Hockey League and Cobalt of the Timiskaming League were disallowed when the Stanley Cup trustees ruled that the players on Renfrew and Cobalt were ineligible, having joined their teams after January 2.
Post-season exhibition
Ottawa and the Montreal Wanderers played a two-game series at the St. Nicholas Rink in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on March 12 and March 13. Ottawa won the first game 6–4, and the second game was tied 8–8.
Schedule and results
| Month | Day | Visitor | Score | Home | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. | 2 | Quebec | 8 | Shamrocks | 9 |
| 6 | Shamrocks | 4 | Quebec | 12 | |
| 6 | Ottawa | 6 | Wanderers | 7 (7:40 OT) | |
| 9 | Quebec | 5 | Ottawa | 13 | |
| 13 | Ottawa | 11 | Shamrocks | 3 | |
| 13 | Wanderers | 7 | Quebec | 3 | |
| 16 | Shamrocks | 7 | Ottawa | 9 | |
| 16 | Quebec | 6 | Wanderers | 7 | |
| 20 | Shamrocks | 5 | Wanderers | 7 | |
| 23 | Ottawa | 18 | Quebec | 4 | |
| 27 | Shamrocks | 1 | Wanderers | 5 | |
| 30 | Wanderers | 4 | Ottawa | 5 | |
| 30 | Quebec | 4 | Shamrocks | 8 | |
| Feb. | 6 | Ottawa | 9 | Wanderers | 8 |
| 6 | Shamrocks | 6 | Quebec | 9 | |
| 10 | Shamrocks | 6 | Wanderers | 8 | |
| 13 | Quebec | 6 | Ottawa | 14 | |
| 17 | Wanderers | 12 | Shamrocks | 2 | |
| 20 | Ottawa | 7 | Shamrocks | 3 | |
| 20 | Wanderers | 7 | Quebec | 4 | |
| 27 | Shamrocks | 2 | Ottawa | 11 | |
| 27 | Quebec | 6 | Wanderers | 7 | |
| Mar. | 4 | Wanderers | 3 | Ottawa | 8 |
| 7 | Ottawa | 6 | Quebec | 11 | |
Goalkeeper Averages
| Name | Club | GP | GA | SO | Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hern, Riley | Wanderers | 12 | 61 | 5.1 | |
| LeSueur, Percy Percy LeSueur Sergeant Percy St. Helier LeSueur was a Canadian senior and professional ice hockey goaltender. He was a member of the Smiths Falls Seniors for three years, with whom his performance in a 1906 Stanley Cup challenge series attracted the attention of his opponents, the Ottawa Silver Seven... |
Ottawa | 12 | 63 | 5.3 | |
| Baker, W. | Shamrocks | 12 | 103 | 8.6 | |
| Moran, Paddy | Quebec | 12 | 106 | 8.8 |
Leading scorers
| Name | Club | GP | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walsh, Marty Marty Walsh Martin J. Walsh was a Canadian amateur, later professional, ice hockey forward who played for the Ottawa Senators, winning three Stanley Cups in 1909, 1910 and 1911 and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame... |
Ottawa | 12 | 38 |
| Jordan, Herb | Quebec | 12 | 29 |
| Stuart, Bruce Bruce Stuart Bruce Stuart was a Canadian amateur and professional ice hockey forward who played for the Quebec Bulldogs, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Wanderers from 1899 to 1911... |
Ottawa | 11 | 22 |
| Power, Charles Charles Gavan Power Charles Gavan "Chubby" Power, MC, PC was a Canadian politician and athlete. Power's father, William Power, was also a Member of Parliament from Quebec, retiring in 1917... |
Quebec | 12 | 22 |
| Kerr, Dubby | Ottawa | 9 | 20 |
| Hyland, Harry Harry Hyland Harold Macarius Hyland was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa Senators... |
Shamrocks | 11 | 18 |
| Glass, Frank | Wanderers | 12 | 17 |
| Vair, Steve Steve Vair Steve Vair was a professional ice hockey player who played in various professional and amateur leagues, including the National Hockey Association. Amongst the teams he for played with were the Cobalt Silver Kings, Toronto Tecumsehs, and Renfrew Creamery Kings.... |
Wanderers | 7 | 12 |
| Gilmour, Billy Billy Gilmour Hamilton Livingstone "Billy" Gilmour was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Ottawa Hockey Club in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League... |
Ottawa | 11 | 11 |
| Gardner, Jimmy | Wanderers | 12 | 11 |
Ottawa Hockey Club 1909 Stanley Cup Champions
See also
- Eastern Canadian Amateur Hockey Association
- 1909 FHL season1909 FHL seasonThe 1909 Federal Hockey League season was the sixth and final season of the league. The league had four teams participate this season, Cornwall, returning and three new entries, Ottawa Senators, Renfrew Creamery Kings and Smith's Falls. Smith's Falls had previously played in the league...
- List of pre-NHL seasons
- List of ice hockey leagues
- List of Stanley Cup champions