Montreal Wanderers
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| Montreal Wanderers | |
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| Played | 1917 |
| Home ice | Montreal Arena |
| Based in | Montreal |
| Colors | Red and white |
| Leagues | National Hockey League, Federal Amateur Hockey League, Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association, and National Hockey Association |
The Montreal Wanderers were a professional hockey team that played in Montreal, Quebec, and were one of the founding franchises of the National Hockey League in the 1917-18 NHL season.
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[edit] History
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 from 1903-05, the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association from 1906-09, and the National Hockey Association from 1909-17. They won the Stanley Cup in five seasons. The 1908 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. Many of the early Wanderers had been members of the Montreal AAA 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.
They 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 players were George Geran, Dave Ritchie, and Phil Stevens, who all played their last NHL games in 1926.
Especially after the Montreal Canadiens were founded, specifically appealing 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] Championships
[edit] League championships
- 1904: Federal Amateur Hockey League
- 1907: Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association
- 1908: Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association
- 1910: National Hockey Association
[edit] Stanley Cup championships
| Date | Opponent |
|---|---|
| 1906 (March) | Ottawa Silver Seven (ECAHA) |
| 1907 (March) | Kenora Thistles |
| 1908 (January) | Ottawa Victorias (FAHL) |
| 1908 (March) | Winnipeg Maple Leafs (MHL) |
| 1908 (March) | Toronto Trolley Leaguers (OPHL) |
| 1908 (December) | Edmonton Eskimos (AHL) |
| 1910 (March) | Berlin Union Jacks (OPHL) |
[edit] Stanley Cup runner-up
| Date | Winner |
|---|---|
| 1904 (March) | Ottawa Silver Seven |
| 1907 (January) | Kenora Thistles |
[edit] List of NHL Wanderers players
- Billy Bell
- George "Gerry" Geran
- Tom Hooper
- Harry Hyland
- Bert Lindsay
- Jack Marks
- Jack McDonald
- Dave Ritchie
- Art Ross
- Raymie Skilton
- Phil Stevens
- Kenneth Thompson
[edit] See also
- List of Stanley Cup champions
- List of defunct NHL teams
- Montreal Canadiens
- Montreal Maroons
- List of NHL players
- List of NHL seasons
[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.”
