The 1907 Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) season lasted from January 3 until March 10. Teams played a ten game schedule. The Montreal Wanderers won the league championship going undefeated, with their only loss of the season coming in a Stanley Cup challenge series with Kenora.
Nationals and Grand Trunk applied for franchises but did not get three-fourths approval.
Rule changes[]
Teams could have professionals as well as amateurs
After a puck strikes a goalie, the rebound could now be played by the defending team without it being called offside
A player injured in the first half can sit for ten minutes and the other team has to take off a player.
Regular season[]
Frank McGee of Ottawa retired to pursue his government career. Prior to the season, Ottawa travelled to Winnipeg for a series of exhibition games against Manitoba league teams including the Kenora Thistles, who then came east to play a challenge in Montreal.
Highlights[]
A major battle took place for the game between the Senators and Wanderers on January 12. Stick work was the order of the day as Charles Spittal of Ottawa knocked Cecil Blachford in the head, Alf Smith hit Hod Stuart in the head and Harry Smith broke Ernie Johnson's nose. The Wanderers would still win, 4–2.
After the game, a special league meeting was called to hand out discipline, with Victorias and Wanderers wanting Spittal and Alf Smith suspended for the season. The players were not suspended, leading the league president Mr. McRobie to resign, leaving Darcy McGee to take over as president.
On the next visit of the Ottawa team to Montreal, to play the Victorias, the three Ottawa players were arrested by Montreal police. Eventually Alf Smith and Spittal were fined $20 for their actions and Harry Smith was found not guilty.
The scoring championship was close, with Ernie Russell of the Wanderers placing first with 42 goals in 9 games, and Russell Bowie scoring 38 in 10 games.
The 1907 season had two Stanley Cup champions, Montreal Wanderers and Kenora Thistles.
Wanderers vs. New Glasgow[]
The Wanderers played one Stanley Cup challenge before the season, defeating the New Glasgow Cubs in a two-game series 10–3, 7–2, December 27–29, 1906. This was the first series in which professional players played for the Stanley Cup, as the Wanderers and other teams in the ECAHA were starting to mix amateurs with pros in their squads.
The Wanderers played one Stanley Cup challenge during the season, losing to the Kenora Thistles 2–4, 6–8 on January 17–21. Aided by future Hockey Hall of FamersTom Hooper, Tommy Phillips, and Art Ross, the Thistles came away with 4–2 and 8–6 victories for a combined score of 12–8 to win a two-game total goals series. A "ringer", Ross was a member of the Brandon Wheat Kings and was borrowed by Kenora for just the challenge games.
Kenora would play and win the Manitoba Professional Hockey League(MPHL) playoffs against Brandon to successfully defend the Cup, winning a best-of-three series 2–0. Kenora added for this series Alf Smith and Rat Westwick of Ottawa, whose season with the ECAHA was already over. At the time of this series, the acting Stanley Cup trustee William Foran had already declared Smith and Westwick ineligible for the challenge series. After the series was over, the Manitoba League registered their disapproval over Mr. Foran's decision to exclude the players.
Date
Winning Team
Score
Losing Team
Location
March 16, 1907
Kenora Thistles
8–6
Brandon Wheat City
Winnipeg Arena
March 18, 1907
Kenora Thistles
4–1
Brandon Wheat City
Kenora wins series 2–0
Wanderers vs. Kenora at Winnipeg[]
Kenora went ahead and added Alf Smith and Rat Westwick of Ottawa for the challenge, against the wishes of Mr. Foran. The series was supposed to start on March 21 in Kenora, but Montreal protested the use of Smith and Westwick and wanted to play in Winnipeg. Foran ruled that both players were ineligible. The clubs went ahead and started the series on March 23 in Winnipeg. Mr. Foran was notified by the press (inaccurately) that Montreal had dropped its protest and that the clubs intended to play anyway. Mr. Foran threatened to take the Cup back to Ottawa:
If the two clubs ignore the instructions of the cup trustees by mutually agreeing to play against Westwick and Smith when both were positively informed these men were ineligible to participate in the present cup matches, the series will be treated as void, and the cup will be taken charge of by the trustees. It will remain in their possession till the various hockey leagues can educate themselves up to a standard where decent sport will be the order of the day.”/blockquote>
The teams went ahead and played the series. However, Mr. Foran changed his mind after the Wanderers won the Cup, stating that the Wanderers could keep the Cup, because they had not rescinded their protest.
Date
Winning Team
Score
Losing Team
Location
March 23, 1907
Montreal Wanderers
7–2
Kenora Thistles
Winnipeg Arena
March 25, 1907
Kenora Thistles
6–5
Montreal Wanderers
Montreal wins total goals series 12 goals to 8
Kenora Thistles January 1907 Stanley Cup champions[]
J.F McGillvary (Secretary/Treasurer), Lowrey Johnson (President)&
† Not part of team when Kenora won the Stanley Cup in January 1907. However, Harry Westwick, Fred Whitcroft, and Alf Smith joined the team in March 1907 to play against the Brandon Wheat Kings in 2 playoff games.
†† Left the team after winning the Stanley Cup, Art Ross, Russell Phillips, and Joe Hall were not part of the team, when Kenora defeated Brandon in 2 game playoff for Manitoba League Title.
&-Missing from the team picture.
Stanley Cup Engraving
Kenora engraved their name inside the bowl of the Stanley Cup.
.
Montreal Wanderers March 1907 Stanley Cup champions[]
Close-up of bowl portion of Stanley Cup featuring Wanderers' names
Roster
Forwards
William "Bill" Chipcase†† (Spare)
T. Eskrine† (Spare)
Dickie Boon (Manager), George Guile (Secretary/Treasurer)
Tom Hodges (Hon. Secretary), William Jennings (Vice President)
Robert Stephanson (Hon. Treasurer), Bob Ahern (Hon. Vice President)
Bert Strachan (Director), Paul Lefbvre (Trainer)†
Filbert Strachan (Director)†, H. Watson (Director)†
Stanley Cup Engraving
Wanderers engraved 20 members' names inside the bowl of the Stanley Cup. This is first time that winning members were engraved on the Stanley Cup officially.
Team picture included 9 players in uniform, 15 men in suites. Not all members are known.
†-On the team picture, but missing from the Stanley Cup.
After the season, the Stanley Cup was stolen from Montreal photographer Jimmy Rice's home after a team picture. When no one would pay a ransom for it, the Cup was left on Rice's doorstep, and his wife used it as a window-sill geranium planter until the fall.
†† Who was MR. Chipcase?. He was William "Bill" Chipcase. W was stamped upside down looking like a M. Chipcase was first player who name spelled wrong on the Stanley Cup. Chipcase and Eskrine were spares who did not play for Montreal in 1907. William Chipcase's name was included on the Stanley Cup, but not T. Eskrine. Chipchase did play the Wanderers in 1910.
Two names, that of S. Van Sickle and H. L. Linall were ratched onto the Cup that season.
