Twenty Greatest Hockey Goals

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1 VICS VERSUS VICS

The Rematch That Made the Stanley Cup

December 30, 1896

The Stanley Cup wasn’t always as big as it is today. Anyone who has seen a picture of the trophy in its early days knows this is true in a literal sense. Originally, the Stanley Cup was merely the size of the bowl that sits atop the silver tower today. Back then the Cup was mounted on a small black base with a silver ring below it. The ring was to provide space for engraving the name of the winning team. The addition of more silver rings when space was required is how the trophy began to grow.

More important, the Stanley Cup wasn’t very big in a figurative sense in its earliest days, either. Sure, there seemed to be great excitement in March 1892 when the announcement was made that the governor general, Lord Stanley of Preston, planned to donate a championship trophy to determine the top team in Canada, though, really, that excitement was pretty much confined to a narrow strip of Canada stretching from Toronto to Quebec City. And even within that strip (which has always contained the majority of the country’s population), only a small segment of society could really afford to pay much attention to sports.

In order to make the Stanley Cup a truly Canadian championship, the trustees who oversaw it always planned for teams from across the country to enter the challenge (much in the way boxers from around the globe challenge for world titles). Yet there was no true competition for the Stanley Cup when it was first presented in 1893; it was merely awarded to the hockey club from the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (Montreal AAA) by virtue of its first-place finish in the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) — a five-team circuit with teams based only in Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City. The first Stanley Cup playoffs one year later resulted simply from the need to break the four-way tie atop the AHAC standings, and the wrangling over how best to do that lasted so long that by the time the games were finally played it was too late to accept the first outside challenge, which came from the hockey team at Toronto’s Osgoode Hall Law School, which had won the Ontario Hockey Association title. (The fact that law students were challenging for the Cup gives some idea of the elite nature of sports at the time.)

The Montreal Victorias pose with the Stanley Cup, circa 1897. Captain Mike Grant is third from the left in the second row. Ernie McLea stands to the far right.

Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame

Finally, in 1895, the first formal Stanley Cup challenge was accepted. However, it did little for the prestige of the fledgling trophy. The trustees had arranged for a challenge match to take place on March 9, 1895, one day after the AHAC season ended. Unfortunately, with the possibility of another tie looming and the controversy of the previous year still fresh in their minds, they had arranged for the team from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, to play the Montreal AAA. The problem was that the two-time winners of the Stanley Cup had just been unseated as league champions by the Montreal Victorias. Thus, the situation was that in order for the Vics to claim the Stanley Cup, the AAA had to beat Queen’s, which they did 5–1. If the AAA hadn’t defeated Queen’s, the university team would have technically won the Cup.

Although they were now champions, the first time the Montreal Victorias actually got a chance to play for the Stanley Cup was on February 14, 1896. In a one-game challenge against the Winnipeg Victorias, the Montreal squad was blanked 2–0 by netminder George Merritt, whose white cricket pads marked the first time a goaltender had so protected his legs in championship play. The Winnipeg victory was big news back in the Manitoba capital. There were parades in the streets, and champagne toasts were drunk from the Cup at team parties. And yet if the stories are accurate, the Winnipeg Victorias had only learned about the Stanley Cup by chance.

Hockey had arrived a little bit later in Winnipeg (about 1889) than it had in the main hockey centres of the East, but by 1893 the players of the Manitoba capital were eager to test their skills against the teams of Ontario and Quebec. In February of that year, an all-star team of Winnipeg players headed east for an 11-game tour. They were obviously pretty good, as different sources indicate a record of either 9–2 or 8–3 on their road trip. However, many of their games were played against less-than-top-level opponents, though their match against the soon-to-be champion Montreal AAA resulted in only a 7–4 loss.

Buoyed by the success of the 1893 tour, the Winnipeg Victorias arranged a tour of their own during January and February of 1895. Playing five games against some of the elite teams in Quebec and Ontario, the Winnipeg Vics outscored their opponents 33–12 and posted a record of 4–1. On February 4, 1895, the Vics achieved a 5–1 victory over the Montreal AAA (which still held the Stanley Cup at that time). When they arrived back in Winnipeg on February 20, a welcome-home banquet greeted them as world champions.

It was in Montreal, so the story goes, that Victorias captain Jack Armytage and his teammates had visited the AAA clubhouse. They had noticed the squat little rose bowl that was the Stanley Cup in one of the clubhouse’s many trophy cases. After some inquiries, Armytage was told that, yes, this still-pretty-new hockey prize was a challenge trophy, and since it was supposed to represent the championship of Canada, would be open to a challenge from the West. So late in the fall of 1895, the Winnipeg Victorias issued a formal challenge to their sister Victorias. Two months later they returned to Montreal. When they headed back home from that trip a few days later, they took the little rose bowl with them.

With the Stanley Cup now residing out west, the young trophy suddenly became national news. By the time the Montreal Victorias travelled to Winnipeg to face their rivals in a rematch on December 30, 1896, hockey’s championship game was on its way to becoming a coast-to-coast passion.

The Montreal Victorias officially submitted their challenge for a rematch on November 11, 1896. The start of the hockey season was still more than six weeks away, but the excitement soon spread. As far west as Alberta and British Columbia, and as far east as the Maritimes, newspapers launched their coverage.

The Victoria hockey team, of Montreal, have already arranged to leave there for Winnipeg on Christmas day, reported the Lethbridge News on November 18. "The Montreal Herald remarks that it is not for their health they are coming, but instead it is the Stanley Cup they are after, the trophy which was won from them last year by the Victorias of Winnipeg."

News of the Winnipeg Victorias’ plans was reported in New Brunswick two days later in Saint John’s Daily Sun. The Winnipeg hockeyists meet tonight, the paper told its readers, to discuss the arrangements for a meeting with the Montreal team for the Stanley Cup and championship.

The Montreal Victorias arrived in Winnipeg on Sunday evening, December 27, 1896. As the train pulled in, read one report, a ringing cheer went up from the large crowd of hockeyists who had assembled to do honour to the visitors. Upward of 700 people crowded into the McIntyre Rink to watch the team practice on Monday morning. Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Tribune reported that $1 reserved tickets to Wednesday’s championship game were already being sold for as much as $5 and chances are that by the night of the match the price will reach $10. The Manitoba Free Press would later write that one man claimed to have sold fifteen [pairs of] tickets at two for $25. One ticket brought two and a half tons of coal, while one gentleman who had come in from Calgary to see the match paid $15 for a reserved seat.

Meanwhile, on the day of the game, hundreds of fans without reserved seats lined up for hours to try to buy standing-room tickets. Those who did, and were ushered into the rink a little after seven o’clock, had to wait another hour inside before the game started. At the same time (though, technically, an hour later due to the time difference) a large crowd was also gathering in the streets of Montreal. The Daily Star newspaper had made special arrangements to announce bulletins from the game received by telegraph. As a result, fans at train stations or telegraph offices throughout the country would be able to get almost instant updates on the game. It was a miracle of the age!

In December 1896, Fred Taylor was a 13-year-old boy living in Listowel, Ontario. He would grow up to become Cyclone Taylor, the most famous hockey player of his era. He would play for Stanley Cup champions in 1909 and 1915, but he would never forget the excitement of those earlier games.

Hundreds would gather to get the latest bulletins, he told biographer Eric Whitehead. The mobs would hang around at night in sub-zero weather just waiting for the operator to leave his key and come dashing out with an announcement. He’d appear … and there’d be a sudden hush as he’d clear his throat and cry out something like: ‘[Montreal] has just scored and the game is now tied …’ and there’d be a loud cheering. He’d chalk the score up on a blackboard and then go back into his office, and we’d just stand there and talk hockey and wait for the next bulletin.

It was 8:15 in Winnipeg on the night of the big game when the seven members of the Montreal Victorias, each sporting a maroon sweater with a large V on the chest, took to the ice. Winnipeggers gave them a cheer that nearly raised the roof, the Free Press reported. But while it was most sincere and hearty, it was not quite as great as the cheer that greeted the Winnipeg Victorias when they appeared on the ice with their garnet jerseys decorated with the famous buffalos.… The enthusiasm which greeted the home team was unbounded.

At 8:20 referee Weldy Young of Ottawa summoned the teams to line up. Two minutes later the game was underway. For those fans across the country awaiting bulletins, they must have come fast and furious as the crowd inside the McIntyre Rink was treated to some spectacular action.

Ernie McLea of Montreal beat Jack Armytage to the opening faceoff, but Winnipeg quickly gained possession and headed toward the Montreal net. Soon, though, McLea won another draw. This time he and winger Bob McDougall rushed the puck to the other end and made the Winnipeg people hold their breath. But defenceman Rod Flett broke up the play. A few minutes later Dan Bain (one of Manitoba’s greatest all-round athletes of all time and a future Hockey Hall of Famer) scored for Winnipeg, but the goal was called back because the play was offside. A few minutes later McLea set up McDougall for a goal, but it was also waived off.

The play remained fast and even — and officially scoreless — until Bain got one that counted for Winnipeg 6:30 into the 30-minute first half. Montreal’s own future Hall of Famers, Mike Grant and Graham Drinkwater, were much in evidence, but within five minutes of Bain’s goal the Winnipeg lead was up to 3–0 and the hometown Vics were looking for more. Then, suddenly, the momentum changed. Toat Campbell was given a five-minute penalty for kicking the puck. This, according to the Winnipeg Tribune, nerved the Montrealers up, and McLea and McDougall made matters tough for [Winnipeg defencemen] Flett and [Charlie] Johnstone. McLea finally put Montreal on the scoreboard. Six minutes later Shirley Davidson cut the lead to 3–2, but Attie Howard restored Winnipeg’s two-goal advantage just moments before halftime.

The ice was swept during the 15-minute intermission (Zambonis were still a long way off!), and play resumed at 9:31 p.m. The Free Press reported that the players were refreshed by their quarter of an hour’s rest [and] started at it harder than ever. Both Winnipeg goalie Whitey Merritt and his Montreal counterpart Gordon Lewis were tested early on, and though the home side seemed to have the better of the play, it was Merritt who was beaten first on a goal by Shirley Davidson. Playing for the tie, McLea and McDougall went on the attack, and after pouncing on the rebound of a McDougall shot, McLea’s second goal of the game soon evened matters at 4–4.

Little is known about Ernest Hope McLea. He was born in Montreal on February 5, 1876, the fifth and final child of John and Phoebe McLea. In addition to playing hockey with the Victorias, he also played football and cricket at Montreal’s McGill University … and he may later have committed suicide in 1931. But back in the 1890s, he was an effective scorer during five seasons with the Victorias, though he was never better than he was on the night of the Stanley Cup rematch in Winnipeg. He was, to quote the Free Press, playing a star game.

The Winnipeg Victorias, circa 1895. This is likely the team that toured Quebec and Ontario that winter. Jack Armytage is seated in the middle of the photo. Dan Bain sits cross-legged at the left.

Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame

With McLea’s goal having wiped out the Winnipeg lead, the Montrealers sensed their opportunity. McLea and fellow forwards McDougall, Drinkwater, and Davidson (teams in this era had a rover in addition to their centre and two wingers) pressed the play. Armytage, Bain, and Howard did what they could to fight back for Winnipeg, but goalie Gordon Lewis wasn’t about to let the puck slide between his posts. McDougall put Montreal ahead 5–4, and though the crowd sagged, the Winnipeg players woke up. Still, Lewis wouldn’t be beaten. But neither would Merritt, as there were good opportunities at both ends of the ice.

Time was ticking away, and with spare players only used in the case of extreme injury, the two teams were getting tired. Finally, Jack Armytage had a good chance, and though Lewis stopped him, the rebound went to Toat Campbell. He set up Bain, and the score was tied at 5–5. The crowd roared and the fans waved hats, handkerchiefs, and muffs in their excitement.

Impossible as it seemed, the play became faster and even more furious. The puck was raced from end to end. Each goal-keeper had his hands full, said the Free Press, but most of the work was for Lewis, as the home team pulled itself together wonderfully. Until, just two minutes after Bain had scored, Graham Drinkwater carried the puck out of trouble in the Montreal end. He passed to Ernie McLea, who eluded the Winnipeg defence and fired a shot past Whitey Merritt. It was McLea’s third goal of the night, and the first hat trick in Stanley Cup history put Montreal back on top.

There was still about two minutes left, but the western champions knew they were defeated. The Winnipeg Tribune reported that the last couple of minutes of the game were dead compared to what had passed before … and when the timekeepers rang their bell, the Victorias of Montreal were champions of Canada.

We have never fought a harder game, said Montreal’s captain, Mike Grant, after the 6–5 victory. It was a clean game, and we had to work for all we got. Winnipeg’s captain, Jack Armytage, echoed the sentiments: We did our best and the best team won. We have never had a harder game and I can heartily congratulate the victors.

The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (dark uniforms) takes on the Montreal Victorias (in maroon) at the city’s famed Victoria Skating Rink in a portrait from the early 1890s.

Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame

The game was acknowledged as a great one from the moment it ended. Yet no one could have known for certain that Ernie McLea’s winning goal had launched hockey’s first great dynasty. The Montreal Victorias would hold on to the Stanley Cup for three more years before they were finally dethroned at the end of 1898–99. And as the 20th century dawned, hockey had positioned itself to take its place as Canada’s great national game.

2 ONE-EYED WONDER

Silver Seven Win Their Greatest Battle

March 11, 1905

There were two ways to win the Stanley Cup in the early days of hockey. One method to defeat the current champion was to beat it out for first place in the league in which it played. But unlike today, when a single giant league of 30 teams is the only one permitted to play for the Stanley Cup, there used to be dozens of top leagues (some with as little as two clubs, and few with more than six) scattered across Canada. Because train travel was the only way to get around, leagues had to be small, and teams had to be located close to one another. So to make Lord Stanley’s trophy truly representative of the Canadian championship, there had to be a second way to win it, and that was for the champions of any recognized major league in Canada to challenge the current Cup holder and beat it in a series of games on the defender’s home ice.

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of hockey’s history has probably heard at least a little bit about the two most famous series from the Stanley Cup’s Challenge Era. One would be the story of the Kenora Thistles, a team from a tiny lumber and mining town on the shore of Lake of the Woods in northwestern Ontario (population about 6,000 at the time) that went to Montreal — the country’s largest city — and won the Stanley Cup in January 1907. The other would be the wild tale of the team from Dawson City that travelled nearly 5,000 miles to Ottawa (part of the way on foot when bicycles and dogsleds proved difficult, but most of the trip by boat and train) in January 1905. They arrived only to be beaten 9–2 and 23–2 by the legendary Silver Seven, who were simply called the Ottawas or the Ottawa Hockey Club in their own time.

In truth, the greatest series of the Stanley Cup’s Challenge Era actually took place in March 1905 when the Thistles came to Ottawa for a best-of-three series that was in doubt until the final seconds of the final game.

Kenora was still known as Rat Portage (a name that derived from a Native word meaning portage to the land of the muskrats) when the Thistles came east to face the Ottawas. Their trip to the Canadian capital in 1905 marked their second visit, having been swept 6–2 and 4–2 in a series two years earlier. Ottawa had retained the Stanley Cup ever since, winning two more league titles and turning back challengers from five other cities. But unlike 1903, when the Thistles were an inexperienced team with only one player