This Day in Hockey History – January 21, 1907 – Whistles for Thistles

(Photo: Kenora Thistles 1907, via Wikimedia Commons)

From the time Lord Stanley donated his Cup, teams challenged to hold it and keep it. During the first 14 years, the Stanley Cup had only been held by Montreal, Winnipeg, and Ottawa. That changed on January 21, 1907, when Kenora became the smallest community to ever take home the Stanley Cup. As it turned out, the Thistles held the Cup for the shortest ever term when they lost the rematch with the Montreal Wanderers two months afterwards.

Kenora, first known as Rat Portage, only had about 5,000 residents back then, though the Ontario town now exceeds 15,000. The first hockey team there began in 1894 and became known as the Thistles. Nearly a decade into their existence, they joined the Manitoba Hockey Association (MHA), and they immediately won the league championship. That gave them the right to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1903 and again in 1905. Both times, they lost to the Ottawa Hockey Club (which led the Canadian Amateur Hockey League), but by the second try, they had earned a reputation for speed. The Thistles again led the Manitoba league in 1906, giving them the right to challenge again. This time, they would travel to Montreal to take on the Wanderers.

The Thistles were proud of being a team of locals who had played together back in school. However, they also hired two professionals in time for the challenge (including Art Ross), and goalie Eddie Giroux was originally from Toronto. Their opponents consisted of five pros, including the star Hod Stuart. Still, the Kenora group had high hopes of winning as they left for Montreal on January 12. Their first game, on January 17, proved their prowess as the Thistles defeated the Wanderers 4-2. Tommy Phillips had scored all four goals.

Two days later, the teams met again for the second game of the best-of-three series. As was reported back to Manitoba by wire, “The rink is filling up rapidly and it looks like a record breaking crowd. The ice is in good condition and the weather is ideal for hockey. Everything is perfect for a fast game.” The enthusiastic crowd numbered about 6,500.

The game was divided into two halves, and the Kenora Thistles dominated the first 5-2. Then, as the Montreal Gazette summarized, the “Wanderers made the brace that made the match the great struggle that it proved. Fighting like demons, the champion forwards smashed into the Thistle defence, rally succeeding rally until in less than ten minutes, from being four goals to the bad Wanderers drew even with the score at six all.” Only three minutes remained when the “Thistles, after a bad spell of rattles, began to pull together.”

The game had been “one of the most desperate battles that its [the Cup’s] history has to record.” The two officials from Ottawa gave out plenty of penalty minutes. The penalties contributed to the outcome as four players, two from each team, were called for tripping in short succession. The Wanderers had to play the final minutes without their two defensemen. With 90 seconds remaining, the Thistles took advantage as “big Silas Griffis carried the disc clean through Wanderers’ scattered ranks. He shot twice, and [William “Riley”] Hearn blocked. The puck came out to him on the side, and he slapped it over to [Roxy] Beaudro, standing uncovered on the far side of the net. Beaudro jabbed it into the goals, and the game was won, and with it the cup.” Kenora then potted an insurance goal in the final minute as they won 8-6. They had 30 penalty minutes compared to the Wanderers’ 55.

By and large, Kenora’s victory was attributed to the Thistles’ speed. The Montreal Gazette noted, “The tremendous speed of the challengers was always their strength.” According to the Manitoba Morning Free Press, “It was a clean victory for the challengers, who played fast hockey from the outset.” The Ottawa Journal reported, “The cup challengers did not attempt to play a combination game, but trusted entirely to their wonderful speed and in this feature they entirely outshone the Wanderers.”

Returning home as victors, the Thistles received commemorative cups and other gifts at a banquet held at the Opera House. The team was engraved on the inside of the Stanley Cup, instead of outside like all the previous winners.

The Thistles did not have long to enjoy their prize. They soon tied the Brandon Wheat Cities for the MHA title and had to play them to keep the Stanley Cup. Kenora won two games on March 16 and March 18 with a total of 12 goals to 7. That meant that the Thistles were eligible to be challenged to a rematch by the Montreal Wanderers.

In the meantime, the Thistles needed to replace some injured players and signed three new players, all of whom later landed in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Wanderers protested that they hadn’t played for Kenora that season, but they didn’t have a leg to stand on as they had similarly used Stuart and goalie Riley Hern in January. With the players settled, the rink proved problematic. Kenora’s ice was too poor for the series to begin March 20, so the officials moved the venue to Winnipeg for March 23 and March 25. With such distractions, the Thistles ended up losing both games (7-2 in Game 1 and 6-5 in Game 2) and the Stanley Cup.

That sent the Kenora Thistles into decline. Three of their stars retired, and another took a higher salary from the Ottawa Hockey Club. With such a small town, the team could not earn enough to support professional players. After losing the first game of the 1907-08 season by 16-1, they forfeited the next two and withdrew from the MHA. Having been refused in joining another league, they folded at the end of the season.

Still, almost all of those who played on the Kenora Thistles in 1907 have since been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. They include the four born and bred locally (Si Griffis, Tom Hooper, Billy McGimsie, and Tommy Phillips) as well as the signed Art Ross and Joe Hall. In 1982, the 1907 team itself was added to the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

Additional Sources:

• Mike Commito, Hockey 365: Daily Stories from the Ice (Toronto: Dundurn, 2018), kindle edition.
• “Kenora Wins; Cup Goes West,” Montreal Gazette, 22 Jan. 1907, p. 4.
• “Kenora Thistles Win Stanley Cup,” Manitoba Morning Free Press, 22 Jan. 1907, pp. 6-7.
• “Kenora Thistles Defeat Wanderers and Stanley Cup Goes West Again,” Ottawa Citizen, 22 Jan. 1907, p. 8.
• ‘Kenora Thistles Succeed in Lifting Stanley Cup at Last,” Ottawa Journal, 22 Jan. 1907, p. 2.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1907_ECAHA_season#Wanderers_vs._Kenora_at_Montreal