1903 CAHL season

Executive

• Harry Trihey, Shamrocks (President)
• P. M. Butler, Ottawa (1st vice-president)
• A. D. Scott, Quebec ( 2nd vice-president)
• Fred McRobie, Montreal (Secretary-Treasurer)

It was decided that league champions would not play for the Stanley Cup until after the season. If a challenge was ordered by the Cup trustees, Montreal would default the Cup. A challenge was ordered by the trustees and Montreal eventually agreed to play Winnipeg in January during regular season play.

This season saw the loss of several players to hockey leagues in the U.S., including Charlie Liffiton, Hod Stuart, Bruce Stuart, Eddie Hogan and George McCarron.

Highlights

This season saw several impressive rookies including Frank McGee and Art Moore for Ottawa.

The season would be a two team race between Montreal Victorias and Ottawa, splitting their matches between each other. The season ended in a tie, which necessitated a playoff, won by Ottawa to win their first Stanley Cup. At the other end of the standing, Shamrocks did not win any games.

Final standing

Note GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against

Results

^[1]

† Postponed and not played.

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals scored

Goaltending averages

Note: GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average

Winnipeg vs. Montreal

Another Montreal HC vs. Winnipeg Victorias best-of-three challenge series was held in early 1903. In game one, defending champion Montreal defeated Winnipeg, 8–1. Game two was the first Stanley Cup challenge match to be replayed. Both teams skated to a 2–2 tie before the game had to be suspended at 27:00 of overtime because of a midnight curfew. It was then decided to discard the result and replay the game two days later. In the rescheduled contest, the Victorias won, 4–2, to even the series. However, Montreal won the decisive game three, 4–1, to retain the Cup.

• Spare - Winnipeg Victorias - Dan Bain - C
• Spares - Montreal - Cecil Blachford - RW, Tom Hodge - D, Charles Liffton - RW, George Smith - RW

• Spare - Winnipeg Victorias - Dan Bain - C
• Spares - Montreal - Billy Bellingham - D, Jimmy Gardner - RW, Charles Liffton - RW, George Smith - RW

• Spare - Winnipeg Victorias - Dan Bain - C
• Spares - Montreal - Billy Bellingham - D, Jimmy Gardner - RW, Charles Liffton - RW, George Smith - RW

• Spare - Winnipeg Victorias - Dan Bain - C
• Spares - Montreal - Cecil Blachford - D, Jimmy Gardner - RW, Tom Hodge - D, Charles Liffton - RW,

Rat Portage vs. Ottawa HC

Ottawa defeated the Rat Portage Thistles 6–2, 4–2 (10–4) in a two-game, total goals series in Ottawa, March 12–14, 1903.

As the new CAHL and Cup champions, the Ottawas accepted a challenge from the Rat Portage Thistles of the Manitoba & Northwestern Hockey Association (MNWHA). Entering the best-of-three challenge series, the Thistles were younger and quicker than Ottawa; only one player on the Thistles was over the age of 20. Any chance that those factors could have helped the team was negated by soft ice conditions. Ottawa swept the series with scores of 6–2 and 4–2.

For their win, the Ottawa players would each receive a silver nugget. From that point on the team would also be known as the Silver Seven.