In Ottawa, Canada, ice hockey clubs date back to the first decade of recorded organized ice hockey play. The men's senior-level Ottawa Hockey Club is known to have played in a Canadian championship in 1884. Today, Ottawa hockey clubs are represented in all age brackets, in both men's and women's, in amateur and professional.
Precursor games of ice hockey are known to have been played in Ottawa. The 1850s medal pictured was presented to a shinny tournament champion. The illustration on the medal depicts two players. The sticks are field hockey sticks and the game was played with a ball. The medal is in the collection of the City of Ottawa archives.
James Creighton, the organizer of the first indoor ice hockey game in 1875 moved to Ottawa and helped develop the game. He worked as a law clerk for the Senate chamber of the Parliament of Canada. Another important figure in the development of the game in Ottawa was P. D. Ross, the publisher of the Ottawa Journal, and later trustee of the Stanley Cup.
The Ottawa Hockey Club, formed in 1883. The club played its first competitive matches in the Montreal Winter Carnival tournament of 1884, and helped form the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada in 1886. The team went into hiatus from 1887 until 1889, when the new Rideau Skating Rink opened, and P. D. Ross helped to rebuild the hockey club. They would re-enter play in 1890, in the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). Ottawa HC were the first winners in the OHA, from 1890 to 1893. They left the OHA after that season in a dispute over the location of playoffs for the Cosby Cup. This schism lead to today's organization of hockey in Ontario where the ODMHA is responsible for eastern Ontario rather than the OHA.
When Lord Stanley was named Governor-General to Canada, he and his sons and daughter developed a keen interest in hockey, and games were played on a natural rink at Rideau Hall. His sons played on a team called the "Rideau Hall Rebels".
On March 8, 1889, the first recorded organized women's ice hockey match took place at Rideau Skating Rink. [1]
In 1892, at an end-of-season banquet at the Russell House honouring the OHA champion Ottawa Hockey Club, Lord Stanley announced his donation of the "Challenge Cup", later to be known simply as the Stanley Cup.
In 1894, Ottawa HC played in the first Stanley Cup playoffs against the Montreal Victorias, played in Montreal.
In 1897 Ottawa HC rival Ottawa Capitals would play in Stanley Cup challenge against Montreal Victorias.
In 1901, the Ottawa Hockey Club won its first Canadian championship in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League, but did not challenge for the Stanley Cup.
In 1902, the Ottawa Hockey Club first used the nickname 'Senators'.
In 1903, the Ottawa Senators won their first Stanley Cup at the Dey's Arena. The individual players each received a silver nugget, and the team picked up the nickname of the "Silver Seven".
From 1903 to 1906, the Silver Seven would defeat all challengers in Stanley Cup play, losing in March 1906 to rival Montreal Wanderers in the 1906 ECAHA championship.
In 1908, the Ottawa Victorias would challenge the Montreal Wanderers for the Stanley Cup. Losing a two-game playoff, they were the last amateur team from Ottawa to challenge for the Cup.
In 1909, the Ottawa Cliffsides were the first champions of the Allan Cup, by virtue of winning the Inter-provincial Hockey League. The Allan Cup was a new trophy given to the senior amateur champions of Canada, after the Stanley Cup was to be only contested by professional teams.
The Ottawa City Hockey League was one of the first developmental competitive leagues. Teams played in junior and senior age groups. The league was formed in 1890 by the Ottawa Hockey Club, with senior teams only in the first season. Ottawa HC continued to operate a team in the OCHL, called the 'Seconds' after concentrating its first team effort in the AHAC. The league operated until 1945 and its teams dispersed between Quebec and Ottawa leagues.
The Ottawa HC/Senators helped found or were inaugural season members of several professional leagues in Canada:
The Ottawa HC also played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League, which became professional in 1908. Ottawa HC played in the league before it became professional, but a second Senators professional team composed of former Silver Seven players, played in the then Federal Hockey League along with future NHA founders, the Renfrew Creamery Kings during the 1909 season.
In 1934, the Ottawa Hockey Association, the Senators NHL club owners, would split its hockey operations. The NHL club would relocate to St. Louis, Missouri and become the Eagles. The Eagles would play one season in St. Louis before the NHL bought out the Association and disperse the players. Separately, the Ottawa Senators were continued as a senior amateur team, the 'Senior Senators', taking the NHL club's place in the Ottawa Auditorium, using the same striped sweaters and 'O' logo, but play senior amateur clubs in Quebec, including those the original Ottawa HC played before the rise of professionalism in hockey. The club would continue until 1954, dissolving after crowds dwindled, citing the rise of hockey on television. The club would win the Allan Cup in 1949.
Teams were formed prior to 1915 at Ottawa Ladies' College and the Young Women's Christian Association, but they did not play outside teams. In 1915, the Ottawa Alerts were organized, featuring the best women's players in Ottawa. The team were immediately champions. In 1916, the club defeated the Pittsburgh Ladies Club three times in one day, then defeated Toronto the following day. The team, based at Dey's Arena was not in a league, but played exhibitions in a circuit from Montreal to Renfrew. Their first coach was Hamby Shore. In 1922–23, the Alerts won the Canadian championship. The club then passed under the sponsorship of the Ottawa Rowing Club. The team would win one more Canadian championship before it was folded in 1929. [2] Eva Ault of the Ottawa Alerts is crediting with helping to popularize women's hockey during the early 20th century. [3]
During the World War II years, NHL players enlisted in the war effort. A large number of them were posted to Ottawa base. This included the complete Boston Bruins 'Kraut Line'. The clubs played in the Quebec Senior Hockey League, and the Ottawa Commandos (war-time name for the Senators) and the Ottawa RCAF Flyers won the Allan Cup senior men's Canadian ice hockey championship.
After World War II, Ottawa's RCAF Flyers, a senior amateur team, played in the 1948 Winter Olympics, representing Canada and winning the gold medal. The club had won the Allan Cup in 1942.
The Senior Senators continued to play in the Quebec Senior Hockey League after the war. While unaffiliated with any NHL team, Senators players were often the property of the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs or former Ottawa-born NHLers reinstated as amateurs. Larry Regan, future GM of the Los Angeles Kings played for the Senators before moving to the American Hockey League. The QSHL became the QHL professional league in 1953. By then, Tommy Gorman, who had owned the club when it was a member of the NHL, was back as owner of the team and the Ottawa Auditorium. In the face of national broadcasts on Saturday nights of the Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, he suspended the club in December 1954.
After the Senior Senators dissolved in 1954, the senior Hull-Ottawa Canadiens were formed, an affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens, managed by future hall of famers Scotty Bowman and Sam Pollock. The club started play in the Ontario Hockey Association, and moved to the Eastern Professional Hockey League in 1959, playing four seasons before disbanding in 1963.
The first Ottawa junior-age team to qualify for the Memorial Cup was the Ottawa Gunners of 1928, followed by the Ottawa Primroses of 1931. No teams qualified for the final until the 1950s.
When the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens were formed in 1956, a junior-age team was also formed, the Ottawa Junior Canadiens. Playing as an independent team, the team played senior-level teams and other junior-age team. The team qualified twice for the Memorial Cup, in 1957 and 1958, playing for the title both times against other Montreal Canadiens-sponsored junior teams. The Junior Canadiens won the 1958 Cup to become the first Ottawa team to win the Cup. In 1959, the junior team was suspended, and some of its players joined the senior squad.
The 1960s saw the return of top-level junior hockey to the city. The Ottawa 67s of the OHA began play in December 1967 at the new Ottawa Civic Centre. The Civic Centre, a Centennial project, had to open during 1967 or lose its federal funding. The 67s, which had been playing in Hull, narrowly accomplished the scheduled date, playing their first game in a partially finished Civic Centre on December 29, 1967.
The club has remained in the Civic Centre ever since, and as of 2009, is considered one of the most successful junior franchises in Canada. The club has won the Memorial Cup and hosted the Memorial Cup tournament.
The Ottawa Nationals played in the WHA's inaugural season 1972–73. The team qualified for the 1973 WHA playoffs, losing in the first round. The team was not successful at the gate and left Ottawa when they could not come to terms with the City of Ottawa over the lease of the Civic Centre. They relocated the following season to Toronto, Ontario, to become the Toronto Toros; which in turn, would relocate in 1976–77 to Birmingham, Alabama, as the Birmingham Bulls. A second try in the WHA was attempted in 1976, when the Denver Spurs relocated to Ottawa to become the Ottawa Civics. The team folded after a handful of games, the final game against Gordie Howe and the Houston Aeros, played in Ottawa.
The Senators were revived in 1990 after Bruce Firestone and Terrace Investments were granted an expansion franchise by the NHL. The Senators began play in the 1992–93 NHL season, playing their first three seasons in the Ottawa Civic Centre, while their new arena, the "Palladium" (now called the Canadian Tire Centre), was constructed, moving in January 1996. For their first four seasons, they were unsuccessful, finishing last in the league. In 1996, the team first qualified for the playoffs and qualified for the playoffs in eleven-straight seasons, peaking with a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2007, losing to the Anaheim Ducks. It had been 80 years since an Ottawa team had appeared in the Finals.
Firestone, while ambitious, did not have the finances to support the team. The team struggled financially from the start, financing the arena and its infrastructure. A recession in the early 1990s and a low Canadian dollar put pressure on the club's finances also. When one of the club's bankers failed in the early 2000s, the Senators were forced into bankruptcy themselves. The club did not fold or relocate, instead re-emerging under the new ownership of Eugene Melnyk a multi-millionaire Canadian businessman with enough personal wealth to own the club outright. Since Melnyk took over, the club has been successful financially, bolstered by the strong play of the on-ice product and strong attendance. The club expanded the seating capacity of Scotiabank Place and built the nearby Bell Sensplex arena facility.
Ottawa plays host to nine organized adult hockey leagues throughout the city. Also known as Senior hockey leagues or Beer hockey leagues. These leagues are composed of amateur men and women starting from the age of twenty and upwards, with no restrictive age ceiling. Their target audience are adults who have a continued interest to play hockey at a recreational level following their minor hockey league careers or adults who have developed an appetite to learn a new sport. All skill levels are invited to join as most leagues have categorized divisions breaking down various competition level based on skill, age, experience and sex. (Younger players below the age of twenty are still eligible to play in minor league associations and if interested in playing organized hockey they can join leagues such as the Hockey East Ottawa Minor hockey league). All adult recreational hockey leagues in Ottawa are either privately run or run by the city and they are operated out of local arenas.
The costs associated to joining adult hockey leagues in Ottawa vary from league to league and they are based on the following factors: quality of ice surface, the age of the arena, time of play (peak or non-peak hours), level of arena maintenance, the services provided by organizers (referees, time keepers, live statistics tracking and prizes awarded following each game). League fees are used to pay for the ice rental and all other services described above.
Each league has their own set of rules governing the games and enforced by the referees on the ice, but in general they are roughly based on the National hockey league rules. The various league have different requirements relating to equipment warn while playing, however most require CSA approved equipment. The main goal of these leagues is to have fun, get some exercise and spend time with friends therefore they encourage safe play and mutual respect between players and referees.
The majority of leagues will run two season, running leagues in the summer and winter. The summer seasons run between late Spring until mid Summer for an approximate total of 14 games. The winter seasons run between late August until mid April for a minimum of 24 games. In addition to the season games, playoffs are held at the end of the regular season and the number of games played are based on elimination and the number of games played will depend on how far you can make it through, in the end crowning a champion for each division. Winning your division championship comes with a photo with the house trophy, bragging rights and a team prize of some kind.
Registration to an adult recreational hockey leagues is a month before the start of the season and done through each league's unique website and it is preferable to register a full team of ten players or more plus one goalie. However most senior hockey leagues offer the option of signing up as an individual player and the league organizers will help place individuals on teams with open roster spots.
Note: Seven other teams play in the Ottawa Valley and surrounding area: Brockville Braves, Carleton Place Canadians, Cornwall Colts, Hawkesbury Hawks, Kemptville 73's, Pembroke Lumber Kings, and Smiths Falls Bears.
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The Stanley Cup is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) considers it to be one of the "most important championships available to the sport". The trophy was commissioned in 1892 as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup and is named after Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada, who donated it as an award to Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. The entire Stanley family supported the sport, the sons and daughters all playing and promoting the game. The first Cup was awarded in 1893 to the Montreal Hockey Club, and winners from 1893 to 1914 were determined by challenge games and league play. Professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. In 1915, the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), the two main professional ice hockey organizations, reached an agreement in which their respective champions would face each other annually for the Stanley Cup. It was established as the de facto championship trophy of the NHL in 1926 and then the de jure NHL championship prize in 1947.
The Quebec Bulldogs were a men's senior-level ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The team was officially known as the Quebec Hockey Club, and later as the Quebec Athletic Club. One of the first organized ice hockey clubs, the club debuted in 1878 with the opening of the Quebec Skating Rink. The club continued as an amateur team through various leagues, eventually becoming professional in 1908. The club would play in the National Hockey Association and the National Hockey League. In 1920, the team moved to Hamilton, Ontario and became the Hamilton Tigers.
The Montreal Wanderers were an amateur, and later professional, ice hockey team based in Montreal. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the National Hockey Association (NHA) and briefly the National Hockey League (NHL). The Wanderers were four-time Stanley Cup winners. Prior to the formation of the NHL, the "Redbands" were one of the most successful teams in hockey.
The Hamilton Tigers were a professional ice hockey team based in Hamilton, Ontario. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1920 to 1925. The Tigers were formed by the sale of the Quebec Bulldogs NHL franchise to Hamilton interests. After years of struggling, the franchise finished first in the league in the 1924–25 NHL season, but a players' strike before the playoffs resulted in the franchise's dissolution. The players' contracts were sold to New York City interests to stock the expansion New York Americans. A namesake amateur team existed prior to and during the NHL team's existence, and a minor league professional team named the Hamilton Tigers existed from 1926 to 1930.
The 1918–19 NHL season was the second season of the National Hockey League (NHL). While at first it was uncertain that the NHL would operate, and the possibility that National Hockey Association (NHA) would be resumed, the unfinished business of Eddie Livingstone's Toronto and Ottawa's NHA franchise, led to the NHL owners suspending the NHA again. Livingstone would attempt to overthrow the NHA management, and failing that, attempt to operate a rival league. The pre-season was filled with legal actions, deceptions and public verbal attacks. Ultimately, the NHL operated with three teams, in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. However, the season ended early with Toronto suspending operations, leaving Montreal and Ottawa to play off for the championship. Montreal would win the playoff and travel to Seattle for the Stanley Cup Finals. However, the championship series was not completed due to influenza infecting the whole Montreal team and causing the eventual death of Montreal's Joe Hall.
The Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) was an early men's professional ice hockey league. It was founded in November, 1909, as the result of a dispute within the Eastern Canada Hockey Association. The CHA survived only a few weeks of play in January 1910 before two teams jumped to the new National Hockey Association (NHA), itself a seven-week-old league, causing dissolution of the CHA.
TD Place Arena, originally the Ottawa Civic Centre, is an indoor arena located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The arena can normally seat 5,500 people, and with the upper bowl open and with standing room it can hold 8,585 people. Opened in December 1967, it is used primarily for sports, including curling, figure skating, ice hockey, and lacrosse. The arena has hosted Canadian and world championships in figure skating, curling, and ice hockey, including the first women's world ice hockey championship in 1990. It is also used for concerts and conventions such as Ottawa SuperEX.
The Toronto Marlborough Athletic Club, commonly known as the Toronto Marlboros, was an ice hockey franchise in Toronto, Canada. Founded in 1903, it operated junior ice hockey and senior ice hockey teams in the Ontario Hockey Association and later the Ontario Hockey League. The Marlboros were a farm team to the Toronto Maple Leafs and one of the dominant junior teams in history, winning seven Memorial Cup championships. The senior team competed for the Stanley Cup in 1904, and won the Allan Cup in 1950. After decline from the late 1970s, the sale of the franchise, and a move away from Toronto, it became the Guelph Storm in 1991.
The Montreal Junior Canadiens were a junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Junior Hockey League from 1933 to 1961, and the Ontario Hockey Association from 1961 to 1972. They played out of the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The Ottawa Senators were an ice hockey team based in Ottawa, which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League (NHL) and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934. The club, which was officially the Ottawa Hockey Club, was known by several nicknames, including the Generals in the 1890s, the Silver Seven from 1903 to 1907 and the Senators dating from 1908.
The Ottawa Auditorium was a 7,500-seat arena located in Ottawa, Ontario. It was located in Downtown Ottawa at the corner of O'Connor and Argyle Streets, today the site of the Taggart Family YMCA. Built primarily for ice hockey, the arena was also used for sports events, assemblies and musical concerts.
James Arthur Brooks was a Canadian ice hockey goaltender. He played two games each for the Toronto Blueshirts and the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Toronto Arenas in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1916 and 1919. The 1918 team won the Stanley Cup, however Brooks was released and was not a member of the winning team.
The Ottawa Senators, also known as the Ottawa Commandos and Senior Senators, was an amateur, later semi-professional, senior-level men's ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. In 1934, the Ottawa Auditorium, owners of the Ottawa Hockey Association decided it could no longer operate the Senators of the National Hockey League in Ottawa due to mounting financial losses. The Association split its hockey operations, relocating the NHL franchise to St. Louis, and continuing the Senators as an amateur club. The club operated from 1934 until 1955, winning the Allan Cup Canadian men's senior ice hockey championship in 1943, 1948 and 1949. During the war years from 1942 until 1944, it operated as the Ottawa Commandos.
The Ottawa City Hockey League (OCHL) was an amateur ice hockey league with junior, intermediate and senior level men's teams in Ottawa, Canada. Founded in 1890 by the local Ottawa Hockey Association, the OCHL was created to organize play within the city of Ottawa. It is considered the second ice hockey league to form in Canada.
The Ottawa Capitals were the competing clubs of the Capital Amateur Athletic Association (CAAA) of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Association competed in ice hockey, lacrosse and other athletics.
The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in 1917 following the demise of its predecessor league, the National Hockey Association (NHA). In an effort to remove Eddie Livingstone as owner of the Toronto Blueshirts, a majority of the NHA franchises suspended the NHA and formed the new NHL. The Quebec Bulldogs, while a member, did not operate in the NHL for the first two years. Instead the owners of the Toronto Arena Gardens operated a new Toronto franchise. While the NHL was intended as a temporary measure, the continuing dispute with Livingstone led to the four NHA owners meeting and making the suspension of the NHA permanent one year later.
The 1893–94 Ottawa Hockey Club season was the club's ninth season of play. The Club would play in the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) and the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) leagues. Ottawa tied for first in the AHAC championship and played Montreal for the Stanley Cup. Ottawa was about to play the OHA semi-final, but in a dispute with the OHA executive, refused to travel to Toronto to play the final, and left the league.
