| 1903 CAHL season | |
| League: | Canadian Amateur Hockey League |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Duration: | January 3 – February 28, 1903 |
| No Of Teams: | 5 |
| Season: | 1903 |
| League Champs: | Ottawa Hockey Club |
| League Champ Name: | Champions |
| Top Scorer: | Russell Bowie (22 goals) |
| Seasonslist: | Canadian Amateur Hockey League |
| Seasonslistnames: | CAHL |
| Prevseason Link: | 1902 CAHL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1902 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1904 CAHL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1904 |
The 1903 Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) season was the fifth season of the league. Teams played an eight game schedule. Ottawa and Montreal Victorias tied for the league championship with records of six wins and two losses. Ottawa defeated the Victorias in a two-game playoff to win the season and their first Stanley Cup championship, the first of "Silver Seven" era.
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 hockey leagues in the U.S., including Charlie Liffiton, Hod Stuart, Bruce Stuart, Eddie Hogan and George McCarron.
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.
| Team | Games Played | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals For | Goals Against | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa Hockey Club | |||||||
| Montreal Victorias | |||||||
| Montreal Hockey Club | |||||||
| Quebec Hockey Club | |||||||
| Montreal Shamrocks |
Ottawa HC and Montreal Victorias played a two-game total-goals series.
| width=170 | Ottawa HC | 1 | width=40 | at | width=170 | Victorias | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John "Bouse" Hutton | G | Archie Lockerby | |||||
| Harvey Pulford, Capt | P | Billy Strachan | |||||
| Arthur Moore | CP | George Fairbank | |||||
| Harry Westwick | RO | Russell Bowie, Capt | |||||
| Frank McGee | C | Bert Strachan | 1 | ||||
| Billy Gilmour | RW | Charles Allan | |||||
| Suddy Gilmour | 1 | LW | Blair Russell | ||||
| Dave Gilmour | C-Sub | ||||||
| Referee – Harry Trihey | |||||||
| width=170 | Victorias | 0 | width=30 | at | width=170 | Ottawa HC | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archie Lockerby | G | John "Bouse" Hutton | |||||
| Billy Strachan | P | Harvey Pulford, Capt | |||||
| George Fairbank | CP | Arthur Moore | |||||
| Bert Strachan | RO | Frank McGee | 3 | ||||
| Russell Bowie, Capt | C | Dave Gilmour | 2 | ||||
| Blair Russell | LW | Billy Gilmour | 1 | ||||
| Charles Allan | RW | Suddy Gilmour | 2 | ||||
| Referee – Percy Quinn | |||||||
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 the game 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 | |||||
| width=170 | Winnipeg Victorias | 1 | width=40 | at | width=170 | Montreal Hockey Club | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fred Olsen | G | Billy Nicholson | |||||
| P | Billy Bellingham | ||||||
| Magus Flett | CP | Dickie Boon, Capt. | |||||
| Billy Kean | RO | Archie Hooper | 4 | ||||
| Fred Cadham, Capt. | 1 | C | 3 | ||||
| Tony Gingras | 1 | RW | Jimmy Gardner | ||||
| Fred Scanlon | LW | ||||||
| Referee – Percy Quinn | |||||||
| width=170 | Winnipeg Victorias | 2 | width=40 | at | width=170 | Montreal Hockey Club | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fred Olsen | G | Billy Nicholson | |||||
| P | Tom Hodge | ||||||
| Magus Flett | CP | Dickie Boon, Capt. | |||||
| Billy Kean | RO | Archie Hooper | 1 | ||||
| Fred Cadham, Capt. | 1 | C | |||||
| Tony Gingras | 1 | RW | Cecil Blachford | ||||
| Fred Scanlon | LW | 1 | |||||
| Referee – Percy Quinn | |||||||
| width=170 | Winnipeg Victorias | 4 | width=40 | at | width=170 | Montreal Hockey Club | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fred Olsen | G | Billy Nicholson | |||||
| P | Tom Hodge | ||||||
| Magus Flett | CP | Dickie Boon, Capt. | |||||
| Billy Kean | 3 | RO | Archie Hooper | ||||
| Fred Cadham, Capt. | C | 2 | |||||
| Tony Gingras | 1 | RW | Cecil Blachford | ||||
| Fred Scanlon | LW | ||||||
| Referee – Percy Quinn | |||||||
| width=170 | Winnipeg Victorias | 1 | width=40 | at | width=170 | Montreal Hockey Club | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fred Olsen | G | Billy Nicholson | |||||
| P | Billy Bellingham | ||||||
| Magus Flett | CP | Dickie Boon, Capt. | |||||
| Billy Kean | 1 | RO | Archie Hooper | ||||
| Fred Cadham, Capt. | C | 2 | |||||
| Tony Gingras | RW | George Smith | |||||
| Fred Scanlon | LW | 2 | |||||
| Referee – Percy Quinn | |||||||
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. Any chance that those factors could have helped the team was negated by soft ice conditions. Ottawa swept the series with scores of 6–2 and 4–2.
| Date | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 12, 1903 | 6–2 | Rat Portage Thistles | Dey's Arena | ||
| March 14, 1903 | 4–2 | Rat Portage Thistles | |||
| Ottawa HC wins best-of-three series two games to none | |||||
| width=150 | Rat Portage | 2 | width=30 | at | width=150 | Ottawa HC | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fred Dulmage | G | John "Bouse" Hutton | |||||
| Mat Brown | P | Harvey Pulford, Capt | |||||
| Tom Hooper, Capt | CP | Arthur Moore | |||||
| RO | Dave Gilmour | 1 | |||||
| Billy McGimsie | 2 | C | Frank McGee | 2 | |||
| Bill Martin | LW | Billy Gilmour | 3 | ||||
| RW | Suddy Gilmour | ||||||
| Referee- Harry Trihey | |||||||
| width=150 | Rat Portage | 2 | width=30 | at | width=150 | Ottawa HC | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fred Dulmage | G | John "Bouse" Hutton | |||||
| Mat Brown | P | Harvey Pulford, Capt | |||||
| Tom Hooper, Capt | CP | Dave Gilmour | 1 | ||||
| Si Griffis | RO | Frank McGee | 2 | ||||
| Billy McGimsie | 1 | C | Percy Sims | 1 | |||
| Bill Martin | RW | Billy Gilmour | |||||
| Roxy Beaudro | 1 | align=center | 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.
| 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 | Montreal | 9 | Quebec | 3 | |
| 7 | Ottawa | 7 | Victorias | 6 | |
| 11 | Victorias | 7 | Shamrocks | 3 | |
| 14 | Quebec | 3 | Ottawa | 10 | |
| 14 | Montreal | 6 | Shamrocks | 1 | |
| 21 | Ottawa | 3 | Montreal | 1 | |
| 21 | Shamrocks | 4 | Quebec | 5 | |
| 25 | Montreal | 2 | Victorias | 3 | |
| 28 | Quebec | 1 | Victorias | 3 | |
† Postponed and not played.
Note: GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average
| Name | Club | GP | GA | SO | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archie Lockerby | Victorias | 3 | 6 | 2.0 | |
| Billy Nicholson | Montreal | 7 | 19 | 1 | 2.7 |
| Bouse Hutton | Ottawa | 8 | 26 | 2 | 3.3 |
| Jim Nichol | Victorias | 5 | 27 | 5.4 | |
| Paddy Moran | Quebec | 7 | 46 | 6.6 | |
| Patrick O'Reilly | Shamrocks | 8 | 56 | 7.0 | |
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals scored
| Name | Club | GP | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russell Bowie | Victorias | 7 | 22 |
| Frank McGee | Ottawa | 6 | 14 |
| Herb Jordan | Quebec | 7 | 12 |
| Billy Gilmour | Ottawa | 7 | 10 |
| Archie Hooper | Montreal | 6 | 9 |
| Jack Marshall | Montreal | 7 | 8 |
| Blair Russel | Victorias | 8 | 7 |
| Dave Gilmour | Ottawa | 4 | 7 |
| Suddy Gilmour | Ottawa | 7 | 7 |
| Harry Bright | Shamrocks | 8 | 7 |