1903 CAHL season

The 1903 Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) season lasted from January 3 until February 28. Teams played an eight game schedule. Ottawa and Montreal Victorias tied for the league championship with records of six wins and two losses.

League Business

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 the new International Hockey League in the U.S., including Charles Liffiton, Hod Stuart, Eddie Hogan.

Season

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

Team	Games Played	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals For	Goals Against
Ottawa Hockey Club	8	6	2	0	47	26
Montreal Victorias	8	6	2	0	48	33
Montreal Hockey Club	7	4	3	0	34	19
Quebec Hockey Club	7	3	4	0	30	46
Montreal Shamrocks	8	0	8	0	21	56

Results

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Jan.	3	Victorias	4	Ottawa	3
	3	Shamrocks	0	Montreal	10
	10	Ottawa	6	Shamrocks	1
	10	Victorias	11	Quebec	5
	17	Montreal	1	Ottawa	7
	17	Quebec	5	Shamrocks	3
	21	Montreal	5	Victorias	2
	24	Ottawa	6	Quebec	8
	24	Victorias	12	Shamrocks	7
	31†	Quebec		Montreal
Feb.	4	Shamrocks	2	Ottawa	5
	7	Quebec	7	Montreal	6
	7	Ottawa	9	Victorias	3
	11	Montreal	7	Quebec	3
	14	Victorias	3	Shamrocks	10
	14	Quebec	6	Ottawa	1
	21	Montreal	3	Shamrocks	1
	21	Ottawa	4	Montreal	5
	25	Montreal	2	Victorias	3
	28	Quebec	1	Victorias	3

† Postponed and not played.

Goalkeeper Averages

Name	Club	GP	GA	SO	Avg.
Lockerby, Archie	Victorias	3	6		2.0
Nicholson, Billy	Montreal	7	19	1	2.7
Hutton, John Bouse	Ottawa	8	26	2	3.3
Nichol, Jim	Victorias	5	27		5.4
Moran, Paddy	Quebec	7	46		6.6
O'Reilly, P.	Shamrocks	8	56		7.0

Scoring Leaders

Name	Club	GP	G
Bowie, Russell	Victorias	7	22
McGee, Frank	Ottawa	6	14
Jordan, Herb	Quebec	7	12
Gilmour, Billy	Ottawa	7	10
Hooper, Art	Montreal	6	9
Marshall, Jack	Montreal	7	8
Russell, Blair	Victorias	8	7
Gilmour, Dave	Ottawa	4	7
Gilmour, Suddy	Ottawa	7	7
Bright, J.	Shamrocks	8	7

Playoffs

Ottawa and Victorias played a two-game total-goals series.

March 7

Ottawa	1	at	Victorias	1
John Hutton		G	Archie Lockerby
Harvey Pulford		P	Billy Strachan
Arthur Moore		CP	George Fairbank	1
Harry Westwick		R	Russell Bowie
Frank McGee		C	Bert Strachan	1
Billy Gilmour		RW	Charles Allan
Suddy Gilmour	1	LW	Blair Russell
Dave Gilmour		C-Sub
Referee - Harry Trihey

March 10

Victorias	0	at	Ottawa	8
Archie Lockerby		G	John Hutton
Billy Strachan		P	Harvey Pulford
George Fairbank		CP	Arthur Moore
Bert Strachan		R	Frank McGee	3
Russell Bowie		C	Dave Gilmour	2
Blair Russell		LW	Billy Gilmour	1
Charles Allan	1	RW	Suddy Gilmour	2
Referee - P. Quinn

Stanley Cup Challenges

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 game two 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.

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Location
January 29, 1903	Montreal HC	8 – 1	Winnipeg Victorias	Montreal Arena
January 31, 1903	Suspended at 27:00 of overtime due to curfew and the 2–2 tie was discarded
February 2, 1903	Winnipeg Victorias	4 – 2	Montreal HC
February 4, 1903	Montreal HC	4 – 1	Winnipeg Victorias
Montreal wins best-of-three series 2 games to 1

Rat Portage vs. Ottawa

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. However, poor soft ice conditions in Ottawa played a major factor as Ottawa swept the series with scores of 6–2 and 4–2.

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Location
March 12, 1903	Ottawa	6 – 2	Rat Portage Thistles	Dey's Arena
March 14, 1903	Ottawa	4 – 2	Rat Portage Thistles
Ottawa wins best-of-three series 2 games to 0

March 12

Rat Portage	2	at	Ottawa	6
Rutherford		G	John Hutton
Mat Brown		P	Harvy Pulford
Tom Hooper		CP	Arthur Moore
Si Griffis		R	Dave Gilmour	1
Billy McGimsie	2	C	Frank McGee	2
Bill Martin		LW	Billy Gilmour	3
Roxy Beaudro		RW	Suddy Gilmour
Referee- Harry Trihey

March 14

Rat Portage	2	at	Ottawa	4
Rutherford		G	John Hutton
Mat Brown		P	Harvey Pulford
Tom Hooper		CP	Dave Gilmour	1
Si Griffis		R	Frank McGee	2
Billy McGimsie	1	C	Percy Sims	1
Bill Martin		RW	Billy Gilmour
Roxy Beaudro	1	LW	Suddy Gilmour
Referee- Chauncy Kirby

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.

Montreal H.C. February 1903 Stanley Cup champions

Roster

  Forwards

• Cecil Blachford
• Jimmy Gardner
• Charles Liffiton
• Tommy Phillips
• George Smith
• Jack Marshall
• Art Hooper (rover)

  Defensemen

• Billy Bellingham (point)
• Dickie Boon (coverpoint-captain)
• Tom Hodges (point-coverpoint)

  Goaltenders

• Billy Nicholson

  Non-players

• C.C. Chitty† (President), Clarence McKerrow (Manager), D. Browne (Coach),
• H.C. Dewitt† (Secretary-Treasurer), A. Lefbvre† (Trainer)
• Frank A.C. Bicherdike (Director), George R. James (Director),

† Unknown first names (From Montreal H.C. 1903 team picture found at Heritage Auctions)

Ottawa Hockey Club March 1903 Stanley Cup champions

Roster

  Forwards

• Hamilton Billy Gilmour
• Suddy Gilmour
• Harry Westwick (also played rover)
• Percy Sims
• Charles Spittal
• Frank McGee(also played rover)
• Dave Gilmour(also played coverpoint)

  Defensemen

• Harvey Pulford (point-Captain)
• Arthur Fraser (point-coverpoint)
• Arthur Moore(coverpoint)
• Frank Wood (point-coverpoint)

  Goaltenders

• John “Bouse” Hutton

  Non-players

• Percy M Butler (President), Robert T. "Bob" Shillington (Manager)
• Alf Smith (Coach), A.P Mutchmor (Treasurer)
• Martin Rosenthal,(Secretary), Halder Kirby (Club Doctor), Llewellyn Bates (Vice President),
• W.H. Hutton, Chauncy Kirby, Jack Smith, Charles Sparks (Directors),
• Mac McGilton (Ass’t Trainer), Pete Green (Trainer)

• Alf Smith did not play for Ottawa in 1903. However he was playing-coach for Ottawa Silver Sevens next 3 Stanley Cup winning seasons.

Team Photos

Champion Ottawa Hockey Club

Game Ads

Montreal

Quebec City

See Also

• List of Stanley Cup champions

References

• Coleman, Charles L. (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1, 1893–1926 inc.. 
• Podnieks, Andrew (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 1-55168-261-3. 

Preceded by Montreal Hockey Club 1902	Montreal Hockey Club Stanley Cup Champions January 1903	Succeeded by Ottawa HC 1903
Preceded by Montreal Hockey Club January 1903	Ottawa Hockey Club 1903 Stanley Cup Champions 1903	Succeeded by Ottawa Hockey Club 1904
Preceded by 1902	CAHL seasons 1903	Succeeded by 1904