- 1907 ECAHA season
The 1907
Eastern Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) season lasted from January 3 until March 10. Teams played a ten game schedule. TheMontreal Wanderers won the league championship going undefeated, with their only loss of the season coming in aStanley Cup challenge series with Kenora.League business
Executive
* Fred McRobie (President)
* Thomas D'Arcy 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.
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.Regular season
Frank McGee of Ottawa retired to pursue his government career. Prior to the season, Ottawa travelled to Winnipeg for a series of exhibition games against Manitoba league teams including the
Kenora Thistles , who then came east to play a challenge in Montreal. [cite news |work=The Globe |date=January 1, 1907 |title=Kenora Didn't Stay|page=11]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 knockedCecil Blachford in the head,Alf Smith hitHod 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, andRussell Bowie scoring 38 in 10 games.Final standings
Leading scorers
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
Wanderers vs. Kenora at Winnipeg
Kenora went ahead and added
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.” [Citation |newspaper=The Globe |date=March 25 ,1907 |title=Never Too Late to Mend |pages=pg. 9]
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. [Citation |newspaper=The Globe |date=
Kenora Thistles January 1907 Stanley Cup champions
Stanley Cup champion
defence=*
*
*
*
centers=*
*Harry Westwick(rover)†,
*
wingers=*
*Tom Phillips(Captain)
*Russell Phillips††
*
goaltenders=*
non-players=
*Fred Hudson (Manager), James Link (Coach/Trainer)
*G.F McGillvary (Secretary/Treasurer), Lowrey Johnson (President)&
all-notes=
*† Not part of team when Kenora won the Stanley Cup in January 1907. However, Harry Westwick, Fred Whitcroft, and Alf Smith joined the team in March 1907 to play against the Brandon Wheat Kings in 2 playoff games.
*†† Left the team after winning the Stanley Cup, Art Ross, Russell Phillips, and Joe Hall were not part of the team, when Kenora defeated Brandon in 2 game playoff for Manitoba League Title.
*&-Missing from the team picture.
engraving-notes=Kenora engraved their name inside the bowl of the Stanley Cup. [ [Podnieks] ] .
Montreal Wanderers March 1907 Stanley Cup champions
Stanley Cup champion
defence=*
*
*
*
centers=*
*
*
*
wingers=*Ernie Moose Johnson
*
goaltenders=* William Riley Hern
non-players=
*
*
*Tom Hodges (Hon. Secretary), William Jennings (Vice President)
*Robert Stephanson (Hon. Treasurer), Bob Ahern (Hon. Vice President)
*Bert Strachan (Director), Paul Lefbvre (Trainer)†
*Mr. Chipcase (unknown)††
all-notes=
engraving-notes=Wanderers engraved 20 members' names inside the bowl of the Stanley Cup. This is first time that winning members were engraved on the Stanley Cup officially. †Paul Lefebvre (Trainer) was included on the team picture, but missing from the cup. [ [Podnieks] ] 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. [ [Podnieks] ]
Two names, that of S. Van Sickle and H. L. Linall were ratched onto the Cup that season. [Shea and Wilson(2006), pg. 429] .
References
*cite book
author=Coleman, Charles L.
title=The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1, 1893–1926 inc.
year=1966
publisher=NHL
* Podnieks, Andrew: Lord Stanley Cup, Fenn Publishing Company, 2004
*
ee also
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