1902 CAHL season


The 1902 Canadian Amateur Hockey League season was the fourth season of the league. Teams played an eight-game schedule. The Montreal HC were the league champion with a record of six wins and two losses. After the season, Montreal HC challenged the Winnipeg Victorias for the Stanley Cup title and were victorious.

League business

Executive

New fines were added for being more than 15 minutes late for a game and forfeiting.
The clubs demanded an increase in gate receipts share from 33% to 40% and a higher number of free tickets from the Montreal Arena owners, but settled for the increase in tickets only.
Source: Coleman, p. 68

Season

The Shamrocks team, which had won the Stanley Cup only two seasons prior, was completely new. While Fred Scanlan went to Winnipeg, Harry Trihey, Arthur Farrell, Frank Wall, Frank Tansey, James McKenna and Jack Brannen all retired from competitive ice hockey. The team sank to the bottom of the standings.

Highlights

Montreal would win the league led by their big line of Archie Hooper, Jack Marshall, Jimmy Gardner and Charlie Liffiton. The players would earn their nickname of the 'Little Men of Iron', winning the Stanley Cup in a challenge with Winnipeg. Hooper would score nine goals against the Shamrocks on January 5, on his way to winning the scoring title.

Final standing

Note GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
TeamGPWLTGFGA
Montreal Hockey Club86203915
Ottawa Hockey Club85303515
Montreal Victorias84403625
Quebec Hockey Club84402634
Montreal Shamrocks81701562

Results

† Montreal HC clinches league championship.

Player Stats

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals Scored
NameClubGPG
Archie HooperMontreal HC817
Russell BowieVictorias713
Jack MarshallMontreal HC811
Rat WestwickOttawa HC811
Bruce StuartOttawa HC89
Blair RusselVictorias89
Charlie LiffitonMontreal HC88
Harold HenryOttawa HC86
Edward StuartVictorias66
Percy LemesurierQuebec HC45

Goaltending averages

Note: GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average
NameClubGPGASOGAA
Billy NicholsonMontreal81521.7
Bouse HuttonOttawa81521.7
Archie LockerbyVictorias6152.5
Fred MunroVictorias2105.0
Paddy MoranQuebec HC7466.5
Patrick O'ReillyShamrocks8627.8

Exhibitions

The Ottawa Hockey Club travelled to New York after the season for an exhibition series. Ottawa defeated the Hockey Club of New York 4–3 on March 21, 1902. Ottawa lost to the New York Athletic Club 6–3 on March 23. Both games were at the St. Nicholas Rink.

Stanley Cup challenges

Winnipeg vs. Montreal

After the Montreal HC won the 1902 CAHL title in March, they promptly sent a challenge to the Winnipeg Victorias. In game one of the best-of-three series, Winnipeg shut out Montreal, 1–0. However, Montreal shut out Winnipeg in game two, 5–0, and then held on to a 2–1 victory in game three. With the victory, the Montreal club won the Cup for the first time since 1894.
Jack Marshall of Montreal, who had played for the Winnipeg team in the previous year, faced his old team and scored three goals, including the series clincher. Archie Hooper also scored three for Montreal.

Stanley Cup engraving

  • † Did not play-on team picture
non-players=