1902–03 Ottawa Hockey Club season

The 1902–03 Ottawa Hockey Club season was the club's 18th season of play. The club would win the CAHL championship in a playoff with the Montreal Victorias to win the Club's first Stanley Cup. For their win, the players would each be given a silver nugget. From that day forward, the club was nicknamed the Silver Seven.

1902–03 Ottawa Hockey Club
Stanley Cup champions
League	1st CAHL
1902–03 record	6–2–0
Team information
General Manager	Bob Shillington
Coach	Alf Smith
Captain	Harvey Pulford
Arena	Dey's Arena
Team leaders
Goals	Frank McGee (14)
Goals against average	Bouse Hutton (3.80)

Off-season

Defenceman and former captain Peg Duval left the team to sign with the Pittsburgh Victorias as a professional in the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League.

Regular season

Highlights

This season was the first season for Frank McGee and Art Moore. McGee would place second in the league scoring race with 14 goals in six games.

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 two-game playoff, won by Ottawa to win their first Stanley Cup.

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

Schedule and results

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Jan.	3	Victorias	4	Ottawa	3
	10	Ottawa	6	Shamrocks	1
	17	Montreal	1	Ottawa	7
	24	Ottawa	6	Quebec	8
Feb.	4	Shamrocks	2	Ottawa	5
	7	Ottawa	9	Victorias	3
	14	Quebec	6	Ottawa	1
	21	Ottawa	4	Montreal	5

Goaltending averages

Name	Club	GP	GA	SO	Avg.
Hutton, John Bouse	Ottawa	8	30	0	3.80

Scoring Leaders

Name	GP	G
McGee, Frank	6	14
Gilmour, Billy	7	10
Gilmour, Dave	4	7
Gilmour, Suddy	7	7

Playoffs

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

Game one

March 7 Ottawa 1 at Victorias 1 John Hutton G Archie Lockerby Harvey Pulford P Billy Strachan Arthur Moore CP George Fairbank 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

Game two

March 10 Victorias 0 at Ottawa 8 Archie Lockerby G John Hutton Billy Strachan P Harvey Pulford George Fairbank CP Arthur Moore Bert Strachan C Frank McGee 3 Russell Bowie R Dave Gilmour 2 Blair Russell LW Billy Gilmour 1 Charles Allan RW Suddy Gilmour 2 Referee – Percy Quinn Source: Ottawa Citizen[1]

The game was played at Dey's Arena on ice that was covered in water.

Stanley Cup challenges

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. 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	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

Game one

March 12 Rat Portage 2 at Ottawa 6 Fred Dulmage G John Hutton Mat Brown P Harvey 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 Source: Ottawa Citizen[2]

All of the goals were scored in the first half. Fred Westwick did not play due to his wife's illness.[2]

March 14 Rat Portage 2 at Ottawa 4 Fred Dulmage 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 Source: Ottawa Citizen[3]

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.

Ottawa Hockey Club March 1903 Stanley Cup champions

Players

  Forwards

• Hamilton Billy Gilmour
• Suddy Gilmour
• Harry Westwick (also played rover)
• Percy Sims
• Charles Spittal (played one game of regular season)
• Jack Smith (did not play)
• Frank McGee(also played rover)
• Dave Gilmour(also played cover point)

  Defencemen

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

  Goaltenders

• John "Bouse" Hutton

Coaching and administrative staff

• Placy Mituttler (President), Robert Shillington (Manager)
• Alf Smith (Coach), A. Mutchamor (Treasurer)
• W. Halton (Secretary), Halder Kirby (Club Doctor)
• Llewellyn Bates, Chauncy Kirby, Martin Rosenthal, 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.

See also

• 1903 CAHL season
• 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.

1. "Champions Again Are The Ottawas". Ottawa Citizen. March 11, 1903. p. 6.
2. "Thistles Defeated in the First Match". Ottawa Citizen. March 13, 1903. p. 6.
3. "The Stanley Cup Remains In Ottawa". Ottawa Citizen. March 16, 1903. p. 6.

Preceded by Montreal Hockey Club 1902	Ottawa Hockey Club 1903 Stanley Cup Champions 1903	Succeeded by Ottawa Hockey Club 1904