| Team: | Ottawa Hockey Club |
| Season: | 1905–06 |
| Leaguerank: | 1st |
| Record: | 7–1–0 |
| League: | ECAHA |
| Year: | 1905 |
| Gaaleader: | Billy Hague (4.2) |
| Stanleycup: | yes |
| Arena: | Dey's Arena |
| Goalsleader: | Harry Smith (31) |
| Generalmanager: | Bob Shillington |
The 1905–06 Ottawa Hockey Club season, the club's twenty-first season, saw the Silver Seven defend their Stanley Cup championship in two challenges, but lose the Cup in a league playoff with the Montreal Wanderers. The Club moved to the new Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) formed in 1905.
Ottawa joined with the teams of the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) and the Wanderers of the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL) to form one league with the top clubs of both leagues. The FAHL continued, but the CAHL folded.
Ottawa brought in Harry and Tommy Smith, brothers of player-coach Alf Smith. Frank McGee retired before the season, but returned to play seven of the ten games and the ECAHA playoff before retiring for good. Goaltender Dave Finnie retired and was replaced by Billy Hague.
Manager Bob Shillington sold his druggist business in November 1905 and made plans to leave for Haileybury, Ontario to join the mining business he had invested in.[1]
Again, the league was high scoring, with Harry Smith scoring 31 goals in 8 games, and Frank McGee scoring 28 goals in 7 games.
Harry Smith scored 6 in one game, 5 in another, topped by 8 against the Shamrocks on February 17. McGee would equal the 8 goals in a game feat against Montreal HC on March 3.
On February 25, Tommy Smith joined the club from the Ottawa Victorias of the FAHL and all three Smith players played together for the first time on the forward line with McGee.[2]
Playoff qualifiers in bold.
| Team | Games Played | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals For | Goals Against | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa Hockey Club | |||||||
| Montreal Wanderers | |||||||
| Montreal Victorias | |||||||
| Quebec Hockey Club | |||||||
| Montreal Hockey Club | |||||||
| Montreal Shamrocks |
| Month | Day | Visitor | Score | Home | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. | 6 | Quebec | 3 | Ottawa | 6 |
| 13 | Wanderers | 4 | Ottawa | 8 | |
| 20 | Ottawa | 4 | Montreal | 1 | |
| 27 | Victorias | 6 | Ottawa | 11 | |
| Feb. | 3 | Ottawa | 3 | Wanderers | 5 |
| 10 | Ottawa | 10 | Victorias | 4 | |
| 17 | Shamrocks | 2 | Ottawa | 13 | |
| 25 | Ottawa | 9 | Shamrocks | 3 | |
| Mar. | 3 | Montreal | 9 | Ottawa | 14 |
| 10 | Ottawa | 12 | Quebec | 5 | |
| width=90 | Name | width=75 | Club | width=25 | GP | width=25 | GA | width=25 | SO | width=25 | Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hague, Billy | Ottawa | 10 | 42 | 4.2 | |||||||
| width=120 | Name | width=75 | Club | width=30 | GP | width=30 | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith, Harry | Ottawa | 8 | 31 | ||||
| McGee, Frank | Ottawa | 7 | 28 | ||||
| Smith, Alf | Ottawa | 10 | 13 | ||||
The Ottawas played two Cup challenges during the regular season, defeating Queen's College of Kingston, the OHA champion, and defeating Smiths Falls the FAHL champion.
| Date | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 27, 1906 | Ottawa | 16–7 | Queen's University | Dey's Arena | |
| February 28, 1906 | Ottawa | 12–7 | Queen's University | ||
| Ottawa wins best-of-three series 2 games to 0 | |||||
In the first game, Frank McGee scored five goals, but Smiths Falls matched each score until Alf Smith scored with two minutes to play. This was the first appearance of Percy LeSueur in Stanley Cup play, playing for Smiths Falls. LeSueur was described as "one of the cleverest goal-keepers ever seen."[3]
In the second game, over 5,000 attended the game. It turned out to be one-sided, with Ottawa outscoring Smiths Falls 4–1 in each half. McGee scored four for Ottawa, making a total of nine for the series.[4]
| Date | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 6, 1906 | Ottawa | 6–5 | Smiths Falls | Dey's Arena | |
| March 8, 1906 | Ottawa | 8–2 | Smiths Falls | ||
| Ottawa wins best-of-three series 2 games to 0 | |||||
As the season produced a tie for the season championship, the defending champion Ottawas and Wanderers played a two-game playoff, with the winner being awarded the Stanley Cup. The series took place on March 14 in Montreal and March 17 in Ottawa. The Wanderers would win the series 9–1, 3–9 (12–10) in dramatic fashion..
After the first game, the Ottawas would replace their goalie Billy Hague with the Smiths Falls goalie Percy LeSueur in to play his first game for the club. Despite being down by eight goals, interest in Ottawa for the return match was high. Rush seats on sale the day of the game produced a throng that caused the ticket seller's glass to break. The venue, Dey's Arena, was modified to hold more spectators, including setting up temporary bleachers, removing the grandstand which had been used as a press box, and the installation of a press box attached to the rafters. Over 5,400 would attend the game and the top $2 tickets were being sold for $10. Betting interest was high, including one $12,000 bet.[5]
After twelve minutes, the first goal was scored by the Wanderers' Moose Johnson to increase the goal lead to nine. Ottawa's Frank McGee, Harry Smith, and McGee again scored before half-time, cutting the deficit to 10–4. Harry Smith would score to open the second half, followed by Rat Westwick. Then Westwick scored again to make it 10–7 before Harry Smith scored three straight goals to make the score 9–1, evening the series with ten minutes to play to tie the series, causing a five-minute standing ovation.[6] With seven minutes to play Smith was sent off for the rest of the game and Lester Patrick would score with ninety seconds to play to put the Wanderers back in the lead. Patrick would ice the game with a goal with a few seconds to play. The Silver Seven reign was over.[6] [7]
The Toronto Globe called it the "greatest game of hockey ever played on Canadian ice, or any other."[6] The Sporting News would later dub it the "Greatest Hockey Game in History."[7] Moose Johnson would end up with the Governor-General's top hat. It had been knocked of the Earl Grey's head, and a fan had snatched it up, giving it to Johnson later in the dressing room.[8]
| Date | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 14, 1906 | Montreal Wanderers | 9–1 | Ottawa | Montreal Arena | |
| March 17, 1906 | Ottawa | 9–3 | Montreal Wanderers | Dey's Arena | |
| Montreal wins total goals series 12 goals to 10 | |||||
Ottawa had won Stanley Cup challenges that season, which meant that the 1906 season would have two Stanley Cup holders: Ottawa until March, and Montreal Wanderers for the balance of the year.