Stanley Cup In Northern Ontario

In my discussion about the Thunder Bay Flyers yesterday, I received a couple "what about..." emails when it came to specific teams. I'm not saying there haven't been exceptional teams in the communities of northern Ontario, and there has even been a Stanley Cup winner who called the region home. If that surprises you, we're talking about history that's more than a century old, but the fact remains that Kenora, Ontario once called the Stanley Cup theirs. While they didn't win four cups in one single year on both sides of the border, the Kenora Thistles do deserve a tip of the cap for the history they made in the early 1900s.

Before we get into the history of the Thistles, there is a fact that needs to be examined first. Back in the 1890s, the town of Kenora was actually known as Rat Portage. The name was a rough translation of the Anishinaabe name "Waszush Onigum" which, in English, meant "carrying place to the muskrat country". Clearly, that phrase isn't going to work for a city's name, so the town was renamed as "portage du rat" by the French and it was coined "Rat Portage" after the name was adopted by the Hudson's Bay Company and a post was established in the town. That same year, the communities of Keewatin, Norman, and Rat Portage were encouraged to amalgamate, but all three remained independent.

Being that the hockey team was founded in 1894, they took that town name and named themselves the Thistles, becoming the Rat Portage Thistles. Rat Portage played in and around Manitoba in leagues throughout the Keystone province thanks to their proximity to Manitoba, and would eventually join the Manitoba Hockey Association in 1902. Thunder Bay, then known as Port Arthur, sits some 500kms away from Kenora whereas Winnipeg is just 200kms away from the city. Clearly, it made more sense to travel west than east back then, and having a line in the town for the Canadian Pacific Railway only furthered that logical conclusion.

The Thistles began as a team of wealthy individuals. George Dewey, one of the wealthiest people in the town whose source of wealth seems to lost in history, donated the initial funds for the team, and was named the club's honorary president thanks to his considerable donation. Most of the initial Thistles' players were from wealthy families or independently wealthy, meaning they had the means to take time off work and to cover the considerable expenses associated with ice hockey at the time. Because there was very little support from town businesses or investors with profitable businesses, the team relied solely on the players' wealths in order to play games.

The Thistles played well in the second tier of the Manitoba and Northwest Hockey Association in 1894, winning games and showing they could skate with the more polished Manitoba teams from larger communities. While the team wouldn't win a championship in the circuit for a few more years, they showed that the Rat Portage boys were there to play. As the junior Thistles matured, a new wave of talent joined the club, pushing the team to new heights by the turn of the millennium as they began to show how good they could be.

In 1900-01, the Thistles won a tie-breaker to claim the second-tier championship. In 1901, the team opened the season with a blowout, leading to concerns that non-competitive games would cause a drop in revenue if people stopped coming out to watch them play. As a result, they applied for a spot in the Manitoba Hockey Association. To prove they could play competitively in the league, the MHA organized a game against the former Stanley Cup champions in the Winnipeg Victorias, and the Thistles played extremely well despite a close loss. However, they were denied access in 1901 to the league after it was determined they had applied too late to gain entry.

For the 1902-03 season, the Rat Portage Thistles made their debut in Manitoba's top hockey league. However, the two Winnipeg teams threw a hissy fit and opted out of the league, citing concerns over distance to both Rat Portage and newly-admitted Portage la Prairie, leaving Portage, Rat Portage, and Brandon as the only teams playing one another. The Thistles handled the other teams easily as they won the three-team championship, and were allowed to issue a challenge for the Stanley Cup as a result. They made that challenge, and they would face the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa for the Stanley Cup.

The two-game series would be decided on total goals between the Thistles and the Senators. Game One didn't go well for the Thistles as they dropped a 6-2 contest to the Senators with the press noting that thr Thistles looked nervous. Game Two was an Ottawa 4-2 win as well as they retained the Stanley Cup, but the Thistles gained valuable experience against one of the country's best teams.

In a stunning turn of events back home, the Thistles were welcomed back to Manitoba by having the two Winnipeg teams - the same two who wanted nothing to do with the year before - offer a spot in the Western Canadian Hockey League for the 1903-04 season to the Thistles. Apparently, they were impressed with the Thistles' showing against Ottawa, so they extended the invitation. The Thistles, however, declined the offer and staying in the three-team league with Portage and Brandon. Brandon would win the league that season and challenege Ottawa, but the Senators claimed victory once more.

In 1904, the Manitoba Hockey Association and the Western Canadian Hockey League (with only the two Winnipeg teams in it) merged under the Manitoba Hockey Association name. The Thistles, bolstered by the addition of goaltender Eddie Giroux from Toronto who was lured to Rat Portage to work in the lumber industry, were the class of the league in 1904-05, going 7-1 to win the MHA championhip. This would grant them challenge rights once more, and the Thistles had their focus on Ottawa as they descended on the nation's capital for a best-of-three series.

Ottawa was the favorite going into the series, but the Thistles got the jump on them by showing a new formation and style of play where passing and puck possession was the name of the game. Rat Portage took Game One by a 9-3 score using this new style where passes were made to trailing players (no forward passes in those days) who could skate the puck further up the ice. With their defencemen spread across the ice, cross-ice passes opened new lanes of attack for the Thistles! Speed helped them win as Rat Portage went up 1-0.

It didn't help that Ottawa superstar Frank McGee missed Game One for the Senators, but his return in Game Two showed his importance as he helped the Senators square the series at 1-1 in a 4-2 victory as he was shadowed almost all game by a Thistles player. That win setup the all-important deciding game where McGee broke out in a big way, scoring a hat trick for the Senators including the game-winning goal with two and half minutes to play in a 5-4 Ottawa victory! The Thistles were close, but, as we know, that only counts in horseshoes.

In 1904, Rat Portage Town Council had raised the town name issue once more. The people of Rat Portage seemed completely against the idea of changing the name at this time with letters and petitions being sent to Toronto to prevent the change from taking place. The municipal election on January 2, 1905 made the name change one of the issues on the ballot due to the candidates running, and a special Council meeting was held where the name change resolution was passed. However, many townspeople rejected the idea at Town Council meetings that followed to the point where the Ontario provincial government stepped in and demanded that a vote be taken on the name change.

The "Wins" Of Change

In 1905 under Mayor AS Horswill, the name of the city changed to Kenora, derived from the first two letters of names of three communities KEewatin, NOrman, and RAt Portage. Despite locals still rejecting the idea, the Thistles assumed the new name as the Kenora Thistles, and this may be where history smiled upon them as the 1905-06 season finished tied atop the MHA standings and won the one-game tiebreaker with the Winnipeg Hockey Club.

In December, the Winnipeg clubs and Kenora banded together to ask the Ottawa Senators to visit for exhibition games in what might have been a preview of what was to come. As champions, the Thistles had the chance to challenge for the Stanley Cup, and they'd take that opportunity for the third time in a few short months. On January 6, 1906, however, the Thistles and Senators met in Winnipeg for the exhibition game, and the Thistles would shock the Stanley Cup champions with four goals in the final eight minutes to earn victory!

For anyone wondering if there was an article written in the Manitoba Free Press about the game, there definitely was one, but there are a number of racially-insensitive descriptions used in the article that I, frankly, don't want displayed here on HBIC. I know society has evolved, but some of the imagery published shouldn't have been used back then and certainly not today. Because of this, all you get is the headline and scoring summary above here on HBIC.

Some newspaper writers weren't convinced of the Thistles' win in Winnipeg, though. Printed in the January 13, 1906 edition of the Winnipeg Tribune, it seems someone at the Montreal Herald thought that Kenora got off easy by not having to face Ottawa's best team. While I'm sure 1906 was long before there was true bulletin board material, one has to wonder if the lads from Kenora saw the comments made by a Montreal writer. With the Montreal teams not able to secure the Stanley Cup from Ottawa, I also wonder if this is a little bit of sour grapes considering how well Kenora had played against Ottawa in Winnipeg. Only history will know, though.

On March 9, 1906, however, the Winnipeg Tribune gave the Thistles credit after beating the Winnipegs in the championship.

With Kenora set to battle the reigning Stanley Cup champions in another challenge opportunity, it was expected that the Thistles may give the Stanley Cup holder a run for their money. After all, they had beaten the Senators in December, and now had won the Manitoba championship again. So where would the Thistles be going?

Well, they got an answer despite it not being the one they wanted.

The Montreal Wanderers had wrestled the Stanley Cup away from the Ottawa Senators, but it seems they weren't too keen on having anyone challenge their reign over the Dominion of Canada. The Thistles, as stated in the article, were determined to play for the Stanley Cup one way or another, and they weren't going to take "no" for an answer. Whether it was the Montreal Wanderers or the Ottawa Senators, the Kenora Thistles were determined to play for the Cup!

On October 19, 1906, it was determined that the Wanderers and the Thistles would meet between January 10 and February 20 for the Stanley Cup after a deal was reached by James Bell to have the series played. Despite the Wanderers wanting to play the challenges for the Stanley Cup after their season had concluded, Bell had also convinced both the Senators and Wanderers to play a three-game series in Winnipeg for each team in late December and early January potentially as a way for the Wanderers to prepare for the Thistles' challenge in early 1907. Whatever the case may be, the dates had been set for the Thistles' challenge they had earned at the end of the 1905-06 season!

By December 6, 1906, it was known that the Thistles and Wanderers would meet in Montreal for a two-game, total-goals series on January 7, 1907 with a second game potentially on January 9. Those dates weren't firm, though, and the games would eventually get shifted to January 17 and January 21. Game One was a 4-2 victory for Kenora as Tommy Phillips scored all four goals for the Thistles. They'd need to play well in Game Two to secure hockey's ultimate prize, and Tommy Phillips would add three more goals in an 8-6 win for the 12-8 total to win the series! For the first time in their history, the Kenora Thistles would have their name on the Stanley Cup!

For those wondering, their reign as Stanley Cup champions lasted all of two months as the team returned home, were challenged by the Wanderers in a rematch, won the Manitoba championship, and then lost the two-game, total-goals series to Montreal by a 12-8 score. Montreal was named the Stanley Cup champions once again while the Thistles saw a number of their players leave for green pastures and better pay in other professional leagues. By the end of 1908, the Thistles were disbanded as costs went up and they could no longer ice a competitive team.

It should be noted that Kenora remains the smallest town in hockey history to win the Stanley Cup, and it's the smallest town to win a major North American professional championship. The 65-day span as champions also remains the shortest in hockey history. The Thistles did see four players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as Si Griffis, Tom Hooper, Billy McGimsie, and Tommy Phillips all were inducted. The Stanley Cup-winning team was also inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1982. As part of the team's legacy, there are several hockey teams in Kenora now named the "Thistles" who play at different levels!

While I still maintain that the Thunder Bay Flyers were the best team ever for the number of accolades they collected in one season, there certainly is room in the argument for the Kenora Thistles. As a Stanley Cup-winning team, that's a pretty high accolade that not many teams have equalled, and the Thistles deserve to be mentioned for their accomplishments as well!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!