Montreal Wanderers - History

History

James Strachan announced the formation of the new club on December 1, 1903. The team was founded on December 3, 1903 when club members met and selected their colours as red and white and named their officers:

• Honourary president: George Hodge
• Honourary vice-president: Clarence C. McKerrow
• President: James Strachan
• Vice-president: George Guile
• Secretary: Tom J. Hodge

The club had formed over a dispute over the control of the Montreal Hockey Club. The Wanderers nickname was the namesake of several earlier Montreal Wanderers team's. The first had played in the Montreal Winter Carnival hockey tournament in 1884. Another was an independent team that played in 1893. A third played in the Independent Amateur Hockey League in 1885, while a fourth played in the Cyclists Interclub Hockey League in 1897. Along with teams rejected for membership in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL), the club helped found the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL) on December 5, 1903. Many of the early Wanderers had been members of the Montreal Hockey Club team of 1902–03, 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.

The Wanderers first Stanley Cup challenge was played against the Ottawa Hockey Club on March 2, 1904, resulting in a 5–5 tie game. The Wanderers would refuse to continue the series unless the tie was replayed in Montreal, and forfeited the series. This was the start of a terrific rivalry as Ottawa and the Wanderers would split the championship between them from 1903 until 1911. 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 'Silver Seven' 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 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 1907. Kenora defeated Montreal 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 they had held for two years, finishing second place in the ECAHA to Ottawa.