Montreal Wanderers
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| Montreal Wanderers | |
 |
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| Founded | 1903 |
| History | Montreal Wanderers 1903 - 1918 |
|---|---|
| Home Arena | Montreal Arena1903–10 Jubilee Arena1910–15 Montreal Arena1915–18 |
| City | Montreal, Quebec |
| Colors | White and Red |
The Montreal Wanderers were a professional men's ice hockey team that played in Montreal, Quebec at the Montreal Arena, and were one of the founding franchises of the National Hockey League in the 1917-18 NHL season. The Wanderers won a total of eight Stanley Cup challenges within a span of five seasons from 1906 to 1910.
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[edit] History
The team was a namesake of the Montreal Wanderers team which played in the Montreal Winter Carnival hockey tournament in 1884. Prior to the formation of the NHL, the "Redbands" were one of the most successful teams in hockey. They played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League in 1904 and 1904-05, the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association from 1906-09, and the National Hockey Association from 1910-17.
The Wanderers first Stanley Cup challenge was played against the Ottawa Senators on March 2, 1904, resulting in a 5-5 tie game. The Wanderers would refuse to continue series unless the tie was replayed, and forfeited the series. Ottawa and the Wanderers would meet again in 1906, after a regular season tie for first place in the ECAHA, and played a two-game total goals series for the league championship and the Cup. The Wanderers won the first game in Montreal 9-1. The Senators would storm back in the return match in Ottawa, with a 9-1 lead at one point in the game evening the total goals, but only won 9-3 as the Wanderers scored the last two goals, to win the series, and their first Stanley Cup.
Montreal defended the the Cup in its first challenge as champions in December 1906. The Wanderers defeated the New Glasgow Cubs 17-5 in a two-game total goals series. Montreal repeated as league champions in 1907, then faced the Kenora Thistles in a Cup challenge in January of 1907. Kenora defeated Monteal 4-2 and 8-6, taking the Cup back to Northern Ontario. The Wanderers would regain the Cup from Kenora two months later in Winnipeg, Manitoba, defeating the Thistles 7-2 and 5-6.
The Wanderers won their third consecutive league title in 1908 while defending the Cup in a mid-season challenge by the Ottawa Victorias in January. After the regular season, Montreal defended the Cup twice more in March, versus the Winnipeg Maple Leafs, and the Toronto Trolley Leaguers. The 1908 Wanderers team scratched their names inside the bowl, which was just prior to the second band being added to the Cup. The team included five future Honoured Members of the Hockey Hall of Fame: Moose Johnson, Hod Stuart, Riley Hern, Lester Patrick, and Ernie Russell.
Before the 1909 season started, Montreal defended its Cup in a challenge by the Edmonton Eskimos, winning 13-10 in two games. The Wanderers would lose the Cup the had held for two years, finishing second place in the ECAHA to the Ottawa Senators in th 1909 season. Montreal regained the Cup in 1910, winning the ECAHA regular season, and the O'Brien Trophy defeating their rivals, the Ottawa Senators. The Wanderers successfully defended the Cup for the final time versus the Berlin Dutchmen in March of 1910. Many of the early Wanderers had been members of the Montreal Hockey Club team of 1902, which won the Stanley Cup. That team had been known as the "Little Men of Iron" because of the players' tenacity and small stature, and the nickname carried over to the new club.
Montreal fell to fourth place the following season, and lost the privilege to defend the Stanley Cup. The Wanderers would then miss the playoffs four seasons in a row. Montreal's last winning season came in 1914-15, finishing second place and runners up for the O'Brien Trophy. The Wanderers would win only 15 of their next 44 games in two seasons, before the NHA folded.
[edit] The NHL and the team's demise
The Wanderers played only four games in the NHL's inaugural season and lost all but one before their home rink, the Montreal Arena, burned down on January 2, 1918. At the time, they had lost star players Sprague Cleghorn and Odie Cleghorn and had appealed to the other teams for player help. Before the fire, they had successfully obtained goaltender Hap Holmes from Seattle of the PCHA and it seemed that they might turn around their misfortunes. After the fire, the Wanderers again appealed for reinforcements, but none was forthcoming. The team disbanded soon after, defaulting games against the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Arenas.[1]
The last active Wanderers player was George Geran, who all played his last NHL game in 1926. Dave Ritchie and Phil Stevens also played that season, but not the full year.
After the founding of the Montreal Canadiens, a team that specifically appealed to Montreal's Francophone community, the Wanderers drew their support from Montreal's English-speaking community. A new team, the Montreal Maroons, was later established to take the Wanderers' place. It too would eventually fold in 1938, ending efforts to entrench separate Montreal-based teams for French- and English-speaking fans.
[edit] Season-by-season record
- 1904-05 - Federal Amateur Hockey League
- 1906-09 - Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association
- 1910-17 - National Hockey Association
- 1917-18 - National Hockey League
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
| Season | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | Finish | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1904 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 38 | 18 | 1st, FAHL | Forfeit in Stanley Cup challenge (March 1904, Ottawa Senators) |
| 1904-05 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 44 | 27 | 2nd, FAHL | Did not qualify |
| 1906 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 74 | 38 | 1st, ECAHA | Won Stanley Cup (March 1906, Ottawa Senators) Won Stanley Cup (Dec. 1906, New Glasgow Cubs) |
| 1907 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 105 | 39 | 1st, ECAHA | Lost Stanley Cup (Jan. 1907, Kenora Thistles) Won Stanley Cup (Mar. 1907, Kenora Thistles) |
| 1907-08 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 63 | 52 | 1st, ECAHA | Won Stanley Cup (Jan. 1908, Ottawa Victorias) Won Stanley Cup (Mar. 1908, Winnipeg Maple Leafs) Won Stanley Cup (Mar. 1908, Toronto Trolley Leaguers) |
| 1909 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 82 | 61 | 2nd, ECAHA | Won Stanley Cup (Dec. 1908, Edmonton Eskimos) |
| 1910 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 91 | 41 | 1st, NHA | Won O'Brien Trophy (NHA season champions) Won Stanley Cup (March 1910, Berlin Dutchmen) |
| 1910-11 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 14 | 73 | 88 | 4th, NHA | Did not qualify |
| 1911-12 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 18 | 95 | 96 | 3rd, NHA | Did not qualify |
| 1912-13 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 93 | 90 | 2nd, NHA | Did not qualify |
| 1913-14 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 0 | 14 | 102 | 125 | 5th, NHA | Did not qualify |
| 1914-15 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 28 | 127 | 82 | 2nd, NHA | Lost O'Brien Trophy (Ottawa Senators) |
| 1915-16 | 24 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 20 | 90 | 116 | 5th, NHA | Did not qualify |
| 1916-17 1 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 56 | 72 | 5th, NHA | Did not qualify |
| 1916-17 2 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 38 | 65 | 4th, NHA | Did not qualify |
| 1917-18 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 35 | 4th, NHL | Did not complete first half of season |
| Totals | 212 | 122 | 90 | 0 | 244 | 1188 | 1045 |
Note: 1 = first half of season, 2 = second half of season
[edit] Honoured players
The following players for the Wanderers are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame: [2]
[edit] List of NHL Wanderers players
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Holzman, Morey; Joseph Nieforth (2002). "Lichtenhein Loses the War", Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL Conquered Hockey. Toronto: Dundurn Press, pp. 169-70. ISBN 1-55002-413-2. “The league did not accept the Wanderers' resignation immediately, electing to wait and see whether the team showed up for its scheduled match in Toronto on Saturday January 5. ... The deadline did expire, and the once-powerful team that had been known as the Little Men of Iron was thrown onto the scrap heap of hockey history. The Wanderers' scheduled games of January 2 and 5 were officially recorded in the standings as victories for their respective opponents, the Canadiens and Torontos.”
- ^ Players by team - Montreal Wanderers. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
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