Ice hockey in Ottawa

Ottawa ice hockey clubs date back to the first decade of recorded organized ice hockey play. The men's senior-level Ottawa Hockey Club is known to have played in a Canadian championship in 1884. Today, Ottawa hockey clubs are represented in all age brackets, in both men's and women's, in amateur and professional.

Early hockey
Pre-cursor games of ice hockey are known to have been played in Ottawa. The 1850s medal pictured was presented to a shinny tournament champion. The illustration on the medal depicts two players. The sticks are field hockey sticks and the game was played with a ball. The medal is in the collection of the City of Ottawa archives.

Early Amateur Era
James Creighton, the organizer of the first recorded organized game in 1875 moved to Ottawa and helped develop the game. He worked as a law clerk for the Senate chamber of the Parliament of Canada. Another important figure in the development of the game in Ottawa was P. D. Ross, the publisher of the Ottawa Journal, and later trustee of the Stanley Cup.

The Ottawa Hockey Club, formed in 1883. The club played its first competitive matches in the Montreal Winter Carnival tournament of 1884, and helped form the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada in 1886. The team went into hiatus from 1887 until 1889, when the new Rideau Skating Rink opened, and P. D. Ross helped to rebuild the hockey club. They would re-enter play in 1890, in the Ontario Hockey Association. Ottawa HC were the first winners in the OHA, from 1890-1893. They left the OHA after that season in a dispute over the location of playoffs for the Cosby Cup. This schism lead to today's organization of hockey in Ontario where the ODMHA is responsible for eastern Ontario rather than the OHA.

When Lord Stanley was named Governor-General to Canada, he and his sons and daughter developed a keen interest in hockey, and games were played on a natural rink at Rideau Hall. His sons played on a team called the "Rideau Hall Rebels".

On March 8, 1889, the first recorded organized women's ice hockey match took place at Rideau Skating Rink.

In 1892, at an end-of-season banquet at the Russell House honouring the OHA champion Ottawa Hockey Club, Lord Stanley announced his donation of the "Challenge Cup", later to be known simply as the Stanley Cup.

In 1894, Ottawa HC played in the first Stanley Cup playoffs against the Montreal Victorias, played in Montreal.

In 1897 Ottawa HC rival Ottawa Capitals would play in Stanley Cup challenge against Montreal Victorias.

In 1901, the Ottawa Hockey Club won its first Canadian championship in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League, but did not challenge for the Stanley Cup.

In 1902, the Ottawa Hockey Club first used the nickname 'Senators'.

In 1903, the Ottawa Senators won their first Stanley Cup at the Dey's Arena. The individual players each received a silver nugget, and the team picked up the nickname of the "Silver Seven".

From 1903–1906, the Silver Seven would defeat all challengers in Stanley Cup play, losing in March 1906 to rival Montreal Wanderers in the 1906 ECAHA championship.

In 1908, the Ottawa Victorias would challenge the Montreal Wanderers for the Stanley Cup. Losing a two-game playoff, they were the last amateur team from Ottawa to challenge for the Cup.

In 1909, the Ottawa Cliffsides were the first champions of the Allan Cup, by virtue of winning the Interprovincial Hockey League. The Allan Cup was a new trophy given to the senior amateur champions of Canada, after the Stanley Cup was to be only contested by professional teams.

Ottawa City Hockey League
The Ottawa City Hockey League was one of the first developmental competitive leagues. Teams played in junior and senior age groups. The league was formed in 1890 by the Ottawa Hockey Club, with senior teams only in the first season. Ottawa HC continued to operate a team in the OCHL, called the 'Seconds' after concentrating its first team effort in the AHAC. The league operated until 1945 and its teams dispersed between Quebec and Ottawa leagues.

Early Professional Era
The Ottawa HC/Senators helped found or were inaugural season members of several professional leagues in Canada:


 * Eastern Canada Hockey Association (1909)
 * Canadian Hockey Association (1910)
 * National Hockey Association (1910)
 * National Hockey League (1917)

The Ottawa HC also played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League, which became professional in 1908. Ottawa HC played in the league before it became professional, but a second Senators professional team composed of former Silver Seven players, played in the then Federal Hockey League along with future NHA founders, the Renfrew Creamery Kings during the 1909 season.

In 1934, the Ottawa Hockey Association, the Senators NHL club owners, would split its hockey operations. The NHL club would relocate to St. Louis, Missouri and become the Eagles. The Eagles would play one season in St. Louis before the NHL bought out the Association and disperse the players. Separately, the Ottawa Senators were continued as a senior amateur team, the 'Senior Senators', taking the NHL club's place in the Ottawa Auditorium, using the same striped sweaters and 'O' logo, but play senior amateur clubs in Quebec, including those the original Ottawa HC played before the rise of professionalism in hockey. The club would continue until 1954, dissolving after crowds dwindled, citing the rise of hockey on television. The club would win the Allan Cup in 1949.

Ottawa Alerts
Teams were formed prior to 1915 at Ottawa Ladies College and the Young Women's Christian Association, but they did not play outside teams. In 1915, the Ottawa Alerts were organized, featuring the best women's players in Ottawa. The team were immediately champions. In 1916, the club defeated the Pittsburgh Ladies Club three times in one day, then defeated Toronto the following day. The team, based at Dey's Arena was not in a league, but played exhibitions in a circuit from Montreal to Renfrew. Their first coach was the famous Hamby Shore. In 1922–23, the Alerts won the Canadian championship. The club then passed under the sponsorship of the Ottawa Rowing Club. The team would win one more Canadian championship before it was folded in 1929.

World War II Years
During the World War II years, NHL players enlisted in the war effort. A large number of them were posted to Ottawa base. This included the complete Boston Bruins 'Kraut Line' who played for the Allan Cup champion Ottawa RCAF Flyers from the Ottawa City Senior League in 1941-42.

In 1942-43 the Quebec Senior Hockey League's Ottawa Commandos also won the Allan Cup.

Post-War teams
After World War II, Ottawa's RCAF Flyers, a senior amateur team, played in the 1948 Winter Olympics, representing Canada and winning the gold medal. The club had won the Allan Cup in 1942.

The Senior Senators continued to play in the Quebec Senior Hockey League after the war. While unaffiliated with any NHL team, Senators players were often the property of the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs or former Ottawa-born NHLers reinstated as amateurs. Larry Regan, future GM of the Los Angeles Kings played for the Senators before moving to the American Hockey League. The QSHL became the QHL professional league when the Canadiens bought the league to get Jean Beliveau's contract in 1953. By then, Tommy Gorman, who had owned the club when it was a member of the NHL, was back as owner of the team and the Ottawa Auditorium. In the face of national broadcasts on Saturday nights of the Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, he suspended the club in December 1954.

The next team in Ottawa was the Ottawa-Hull Canadiens who were the relocated Montreal Junior Canadiens. They moved to Ottawa in 1956. The team never belonged to a league, but played games against the Ontario Hockey Association senior and junior teams and also the professional Quebec Hockey League.

In 1959 the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens were one of the founding teams of the Eastern Professional Hockey League. The junior team then moved to Brockville.

Major Junior Hockey
The first Ottawa junior-age team to qualify for the Memorial Cup was the Ottawa Gunners of 1928, followed by the Ottawa Primroses of 1931. Although teams from the city competed in every season, no other teams from Ottawa made it that far until 1957.

The Ottawa-Hull Canadiens played as an independent team, against pro, senior-level teams and other junior-age team. The team qualified twice for the Memorial Cup finals, in 1957 and 1958. The Junior Canadiens won the 1958 Cup to become the first Ottawa team to win the Cup. In 1959, the junior team was moved to Brockville to make way for the pro Hull-Ottawa Canadiens. Some of its players moved up to the pro squad.

The 1960s saw the return of top-level junior hockey to the city. The Ottawa 67s of the OHA began play in December 1967 at the new Ottawa Civic Centre. The Civic Centre, a Centennial project, had to open during 1967 or lose its federal funding. The 67s, which had been playing in Hull, narrowly accomplished the scheduled date, playing their first game in a partially-finished Civic Centre on December 29, 1967.

The club has remained in the Civic Centre ever since, and as of 2009, is considered one of the most successful junior franchises in Canada. The club has won the Memorial Cup and hosted the Memorial Cup tournament.

World Hockey Association
The Ottawa Nationals played in the WHA's inaugural season 1972–73. The team qualified for the 1973 WHA playoffs, losing in the first round. The team was not successful at the gate and left Ottawa when they could not come to terms with the City of Ottawa over the lease of the Civic Centre. They relocated the following season to Toronto, Ontario, to become the Toronto Toros; which in turn, would relocate in 1976–77 to Birmingham, Alabama, as the Birmingham Bulls. A second try in the WHA was attempted in 1976, when the Denver Spurs relocated to Ottawa to become the Ottawa Civics. The team folded after a handful of games, the final game against Gordie Howe and the Houston Aeros, played in Ottawa.

Return of the NHL
The Senators were revived in 1990 after Bruce Firestone and Terrace Investments were granted an expansion franchise by the NHL. The Senators began play in the 1992–93 NHL season, playing their first three seasons in the Ottawa Civic Centre, while their new new arena, the "Palladium" (now called Scotiabank Place), was constructed, moving in January 1996. For their first four seasons, they were unsuccessful, finishing last in the league. In 1996, the team first qualified for the playoffs and qualified for the playoffs in eleven-straight seasons, peaking with a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2007, losing to the Anaheim Ducks. It had been 80 years since an Ottawa team had appeared in the Finals.

Firestone, while ambitious, did not have the finances to support the team. The team struggled financially from the start, financing the arena and its infrastructure. A recession in the early 1990s and a low Canadian dollar put pressure on the club's finances also. When one of the club's bankers failed in the early 2000s, the Senators were forced into bankruptcy themselves. The club did not fold or relocate, instead re-emerging under the new ownership of Eugene Melnyk a multi-millionaire Canadian businessman with enough personal wealth to own the club outright. Since Melnyk took over, the club has been successful financially, bolstered by the strong play of the on-ice product and strong attendance. The club expanded the seating capacity of Scotiabank Place and built the nearby Bell Sensplex arena facility.

Professional teams

 * Ottawa Senators
 * Ottawa Senators (CWHL)

CHL

 * Ottawa 67s, Gatineau Olympiques

Junior 'A'

 * Cumberland Grads, Kanata Stallions, Nepean Raiders, Orleans Blues, Ottawa Jr. Senators

Associations

 * Ottawa District Minor Hockey Association

Major

 * Robert Guertin Arena
 * Scotiabank Place
 * Urbandale Centre

Arenas

 * Bell Sensplex
 * Jim Durrell Arena
 * Nepean Sportsplex
 * Sandy Hill Arena
 * Tom Brown Arena