1909 ECHA season
Ice hockey season
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1909 ECHA season was the fourth and final season of the Eastern Canada Hockey Association (ECHA). Teams played a twelve-game schedule. The Ottawa Hockey Club would win the league championship with a record of ten wins, two losses and take over the Stanley Cup.
| 1909 ECHA season | |
|---|---|
| League | Eastern Canada Hockey Association |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | January 2 â March 6, 1909 |
| Teams | 4 |
| 1909 | |
| Champions | Ottawa Hockey Club |
| Top scorer | Marty Walsh (38 goals) |
League business
Executive
- Joe Power, Quebec (President)
- James Strachan, Wanderers (1st Vice-President)
- J. Eveleigh, Montreal (2nd Vice-President)
- Emmett Quinn, Quebec (Secretary-Treasurer)
The Eastern Canada 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.
Regular season
The Wanderers', Cecil Blachford had retired and Bruce Stuart 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 the 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.[1]
Ottawa played an exhibition game prior to the season with the Toronto professionals on January 2 in Toronto. Toronto defeated Ottawa 5â4.[2] 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 6â4.[3][4] After the game Harry Smith would leave the Wanderers to join Haileybury of the Timiskaming League.[5]
Highlights
The rivalry between Ottawa and Wanderers continued, Wanderers winning the first on January 6 7â6 in overtime, with Harry Smith scoring four against his former team. Ottawa would win the next 5â4 in Ottawa, and defeat Montreal in Montreal 9â8 before 8000 fans. Ottawa would finish the series winning 8â3 in Ottawa to clinch the championship.
Marty Walsh of Ottawa would win the scoring championship with 38 goals. Ottawa would average nearly ten goals per game.
Final standing
Note GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
| Team | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa HC | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 117 | 63 |
| Montreal Wanderers | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 82 | 61 |
| Quebec HC | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 78 | 106 |
| Montreal Shamrocks | 12 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 56 | 103 |
Results
| Month | Day | Visitor | Score | Home | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. | 2 | Quebec HC | 8 | Shamrocks | 9 |
| 6 | Shamrocks | 4 | Quebec HC | 12 | |
| 6 | Ottawa HC | 6 | Wanderers | 7 (OT 7'40") | |
| 9 | Quebec HC | 5 | Ottawa HC | 13 | |
| 13 | Ottawa HC | 11 | Shamrocks | 3 | |
| 13 | Wanderers | 7 | Quebec HC | 3 | |
| 16 | Shamrocks | 7 | Ottawa HC | 9 | |
| 16 | Quebec HC | 6 | Wanderers | 7 | |
| 20 | Shamrocks | 5 | Wanderers | 7 | |
| 23 | Ottawa HC | 18 | Quebec HC | 4 | |
| 27 | Shamrocks | 1 | Wanderers | 5 | |
| 30 | Wanderers | 4 | Ottawa HC | 5 | |
| 30 | Quebec HC | 4 | Shamrocks | 8 | |
| Feb. | 6 | Ottawa | 9 | Wanderers | 8 |
| 6 | Shamrocks | 6 | Quebec HC | 9 | |
| 10 | Shamrocks | 6 | Wanderers | 8 | |
| 13 | Quebec HC | 6 | Ottawa HC | 14 | |
| 17 | Wanderers | 12 | Shamrocks | 2 | |
| 20 | Ottawa HC | 7 | Shamrocks | 3 | |
| 20 | Wanderers | 7 | Quebec HC | 4 | |
| 27 | Shamrocks | 2 | Ottawa HC | 11 | |
| 27 | Quebec HC | 6 | Wanderers | 7 | |
| Mar. | 4 | Wanderers | 3 | Ottawa HC | 8 |
| 7 | Ottawa HC | 6 | Quebec HC | 11 | |
Player statistics
Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals scored
| Name | Club | GP | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marty Walsh | Ottawa HC | 12 | 38 |
| Herb Jordan | Quebec HC | 12 | 29 |
| Bruce Stuart | Ottawa HC | 11 | 22 |
| Charles Power | Quebec HC | 12 | 22 |
| Albert Kerr | Ottawa HC | 9 | 20 |
| Harry Hyland | Shamrocks | 11 | 18 |
| Frank "Pud" Glass | Wanderers | 12 | 17 |
| Steve Vair | Wanderers | 7 | 12 |
| Billy Gilmour | Ottawa HC | 11 | 11 |
| Jimmy Gardner | Wanderers | 12 | 11 |
Goaltending averages
Note: GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average
| Name | Club | GP | GA | SO | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riley Hern | Wanderers | 12 | 61 | 5.1 | |
| Percy LeSueur | Ottawa HC | 12 | 63 | 5.3 | |
| Bill Baker | Shamrocks | 12 | 103 | 8.6 | |
| Paddy Moran | Quebec HC | 12 | 106 | 8.8 |
Stanley Cup challenges
Montreal vs. Edmonton
Prior to the season, Wanderers would play a challenge against the Edmonton Hockey Club, champions of the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association. Despite all players except for one being a 'ringer' for Edmonton, Montreal would defeat them December 28â30, 1908, in Montreal. In game one, Harry Smith scored 5 goals as he led the Wanderers to a 7â3 victory. The Edmontons won game two, 7â6, but Montreal took the two-game total goals series, 13â10.
| Date | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 28, 1908 | Montreal Wanderers | 7â3 | Edmonton HC | Montreal Arena |
| December 30, 1908 | Edmonton HC | 7â6 | Montreal Wanderers | |
| Montreal wins total goals series 13 goals to 10 | ||||
| Edmonton HC | 3 | Montreal Wanderers | 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bert Lindsay | G | William "Riley" Hern | ||
| Lester Patrick | P | Art Ross | ||
| Didier Pitre | CP | Walter Smaill | ||
| Fred Whitcroft | 1 | R | Harry Smith | 5 |
| Steve Vair | 1 | C | Frank "Pud' Glass Capt | 2 |
| Harold McNamara | RW | Ernie "Moose" Johnson | ||
| Tommy Phillips | 1 | LW | Jimmy Gardner | |
| Referees â Frank Patrick & Russell Bowie | ||||
- Spares Edmonton: Bert Boulton, Harold Deeton, Jack âHayâ Miller
- Spares Montreal: Ernie Liffton, Ernie Russell.
| Edmonton HC | 7 | Montreal Wanderers | 6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bert Lindsay | G | William "Riley" Hern | ||
| Lester Patrick | 1 | P | Art Ross | |
| Didier Pitre | CP | Walter Smaill | 1 | |
| Fred Whitcroft | 1 | R | Harry Smith | 1 |
| Harold Deeton | 3 | C | Frank "Pud' Glasss Capt | 3 |
| Jack "Hay" Millar | 2 | RW | Ernie "Moose" Johnson | 1 |
| Steve Vair | 1 | LW | Jimmy Gardner | |
| Referees â Frank Patrick & Russell Bowie | ||||
- Spares Edmonton: Bert Boulton, Howard McNamara, Tommy Phillips.
- Spares Montreal: Ernie Liffiton, Ernie Russell.
Source: Coleman[6]
After the challenge, Edmonton would play an exhibition game in Ottawa on January 2, defeating the Ottawa Senators (of the FHL) 4â2.[7] Ottawa played the Toronto Pros the same day in Toronto, losing 5â4.[8] 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 series.) 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 York on March 12 and March 13. Ottawa won the first game 6â4, and the second game was tied 8â8.
Stanley Cup engraving
| Players |
|---|
| Forwards |
| Albert "Dubbie" Kerr (left winger) |
| Billy Gilmour (right winger-rover) |
| Bruce Stuart(rover â Captain) (center) |
| Marty Walsh (center) |
| Defencemen |
| Fred Lake(point) |
| Fred "Cyclone" Taylor (cover point) |
| Edgar Dey Jr.(cover point-right wing-rover) |
| Horace Merrill (did not play-on team picture) |
| Goaltender |
| Percy LeSueur |
non-players =
- Thomas D'arcy McGee (President), Llewellyn Bates (Vice President)
- Pete Green (Coach), Patrick Basketville (Treasurer)
- Martin Rosenthal (Secretary), Mac McGilton (Trainer)
- Charles Sparks, George Bryson, Dave Mulligan (Directors)
- Percy Butler, S.N. Nagle (Unknown first name) (Directors)
all-notes =
- There are two team pictures one including only players which is reproduced in Coleman, p. 177. The other includes all the players and executives Podnieks Page 41.
engraving-notes =
- Ottawa added a new ring to the bottom of the Stanley Cup and put their name on it.[9]