1904–05 FAHL season

League business

The Ottawa Hockey Club, who officially joined the FAHL prior to the end of the last season, played its first full season in the league. Montreal Le National left the league and joined the rival Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL). Ottawa had negotiated with the CAHL to return, along with the Wanderers joining, but this was turned down. The Ottawa Capitals also left the FAHL.

Pre-season

The Wanderers played an exhibition series in New York City in December 1904. One game, versus the New York Athletic Club, was noted for its rough play by the Wanderers.

Regular season

The newly transferred Ottawa Hockey Club won the league championship – and retained the Stanley Cup – with a record of seven wins and one loss.

Highlights

Ottawa's Frank McGee scored five goals against the Montagnards on February 4.

Final standing

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

Results

† Ottawa HC lock down League Championship, retain Stanley Cup.

Player Statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals scored

Goaltender averages

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

Stanley Cup challenges

Ottawa vs. Dawson City

The Klondike Hockey Club, in a letter dated August 24, 1904, from team president Weldy Young, a former Ottawa player, issued a challenge to the Ottawa Hockey Club. The Dawson City team had won no championships and was not a member of any recognized senior league, yet Stanley Cup trustees P.D. Ross and John Sweetland approved the challenge. Author Paul Kitchen has speculated that the series was approved because Young knew both Ross and federal government minister Clifford Sifton.

In January 1905, the Dawson City Nuggets travelled 4,000 miles (6,400 km) from the Yukon to Ottawa for a best-of-three Cup challenge series. The Nuggets actually left Dawson City on December 19, 1904, and travelled on a month-long journey by dog sled (Dawson to Whitehorse), ship (Skagway to Vancouver), and train (Whitehorse to Skagway, and Vancouver to Ottawa). The team was no match for the Silver Seven. Ottawa defeated them in the first game, 9–2. Numerous Stanley Cup records were then set in game two, including Frank McGee's 14 goals, which included eight consecutive goals scored in less than nine minutes, and a 23–2 rout, the largest margin of victory for any challenge game or Stanley Cup Finals game to date.

Several players playing for Dawson were from the Ottawa area. Jim Johnstone was from Ottawa. Norman Watt was from Aylmer, Quebec. Randy McLennan had played in a Stanley Cup challenge for Queen's University of Kingston, Ontario. Another player has Stanley Cup challenge experience: Lorne Hanna, "formerly of the Yukon", had played for Brandon Wheat City in their 1904 challenge of Ottawa.

Sources:

• The Globe, January 14, 1905
• Fischler

Source: Coleman, pg. 112

After the second game, The Globe reported:

Sources:

• The Globe, January 17, 1905
• Fischler

After the series, Ottawa held a banquet for Dawson City at the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association (OAAA) clubhouse. There is a Stanley Cup legend that after the banquet, the Stanley Cup was drop kicked into the frozen Rideau Canal nearby and retrieved the next day. However, Bill Westwick, Ottawa Journal sports editor and the son of Silver Seven player Rat Westwick, and NHL commissioner Frank Calder both deny it ever happened.

Ottawa vs. Rat Portage Thistles

In March 1905, the Rat Portage Thistles issued another challenge to the Ottawas. McGee did not play in the first game and the Thistles crushed Ottawa, 9–3. However, he returned to lead Ottawa to 4–2 and 5–4 victories in games two and three, respectively. McGee returned in game two, with his good forearm wrapped in a cast, and only a light bandage on his broken wrist, to decoy the Thistles. Alf Smith scored three goals in game two on slow ice, which the Thistles claimed was salted to slow down the Thistles. There was hard ice in game three, and the lead exchanged hands several times. The Thistles led 2–1 at halftime and 3–2 midway through the second half. Ottawa took a 4–3 lead, before Tommy Phillips scored his third of the game to tie the score. However, McGee came through with the winning score late in the game to win it for Ottawa.

• Spare - Rat Portage - Roxy Beaudro -LW/D
• Spare - Ottawa - Arthur "Bones" Allen -D, Billy Bawlf -F Bill Gilmore -LW, Fred White -F

• Spare - Rat Portage - Roxy Beaudro - LW/D
• Spare - Ottawa - Arthur "Bones" Allen -D, Billy Bawlf -F, Hamby Shore -RW, Fred White -F

• Spare - Rat Portage - Roxy Beaudro - LW/D
• Spare - Ottawa - Arthur "Bones" Allen - D, Billy Bawft - F, Hamby Shore - RW, Fred White - F

Stanley Cup engravings

non-players=

• George P. Murphy (President), Robert T. "Bob" Shillington (manager)
• Patrick Baskerville (treasurer), Thomas D'Arcy McGee (secretary)
• Halder Kirby (club doctor), David Barred (team dentist)
• Llewellyn Bates, John Proctor "J.P." Dickson, Martin Rosenthal, Charles Sparks (directors)
• Pete Green (trainer), Mac MacGilton (ass't trainer)

engraving-notes=

• For many years a player named McDonald was credited with scoring a goal for the Ottawa Silver Sevens. No player named McDonald played for Ottawa in 1905. February 24, 1905, after a shot by Hamby Shore was stopped by Cornwall goalie Jack Hunter, Garnet McDonald of Cornwall in a zealous effort to clear the puck, accidentally put in his own neat. The goal is was recorded for Ottawa.
• Patrick "Paddy" Moran name was dotted P. MORAN under the Ottawa vs Dawson engraving on the bowl of the Stanley Cup. The engraving was most likely added during one of the Quebec Bulldogs' Stanley Cup wins in 1912 or 1913.
• Tommy Smith name was scratched T SMITH next to 1905 Ottawa vs Kenora. Tommy Smith won the Stanley Cup in 1906 with Ottawa, 1913 with Quebec. The name was likely added in 1913
• Weldy Young, a former member of the Ottawa team in the 1890s, and the captain of the Dawson City team, engraved his name on the Cup with a penknife. He had missed playing for Dawson as he was working in the federal election, although he did arrive in Ottawa during the series.

References

Bibliography

before = Ottawa Hockey Club 1904 | after = Ottawa Hockey Club January 1906 | title = Ottawa Hockey Club Stanley Cup Champions | years = 1905| before = 1904 FAHL season | after = 1905–06 FAHL season | title = FAHL seasons | years = 1904–05 |

References

1. (December 23, 1904). "Rough Work in New York". The Ottawa Journal.
2. "History of McGee's Inn: Frank McGee, the hockey legend". McGee's Inn Bed & Breakfast – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
3. Reddick, Don. "Dawson City, Yukon · Friday, March 7, 1997:The Genesis of Dawson City's challenge". Klondike Sun.
4. (January 14, 1905). "none". The Globe.
5. (January 17, 1905). "none". The Globe.
6. Zweig, Eric. (June 3, 2017). "How the Stanley Cup Wound Up in a Canal, or Didn’t". The New York Times.