Frank McGee, the first franchise player of the Ottawa Senator – Hockey Writer – Ottawa Senator
On October 8, 1992, the Ottawa Senator defeated Ice for the first time in nearly 60 years and joined the Hyundai NHL to become an expansion team. Since then, the team has been looking for a player to bring the Stanley Cup to the U.S. capital. At first, it might have been Alexei Yashin or Alexandre Daigle, but Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza see them as real faces of the team and in three games of the bring home Cup. Erik Karlsson then regained the in-rope, pushing the Senator to the 2017 Eastern Conference finals before a trade paused the team’s momentum, replaced by Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson and Tim Stutzle, who may have been young but has only recently broken the team’s seven-year playoffs.
But the nearly 90 years since Ottawa returned to the NHL, the Senate was led by Frank McGee. Like he was at the helm, the team successfully defended a three-game winning streak for the Stanley Cup, making them the nickname of “Silver Seven”. Few teams dominate as much as the 1903-06 Senators, thanks in large part to their fearless leaders, not only the faces of his team, but the city he participated in. Despite his short reign, he easily became the first player to the Senator.
The birth of the senator
After the first indoor game in Montreal in 1875, hockey’s popularity soared throughout Canada. The first team soon began to pop up, many of them participating in the Montreal Winter Carnival in 1883, which held its first hockey game. In that decisive game, Ottawas Jack Kerr, Halder Kirby and Frank Jenkins found themselves thinking they could beat those teams on the ice, so they formed their own team. They are simply called Ottawa Hockey Club and they became the first team in Ottawa and Ontario. However, it also means they have no competition, so in the first three years they participated in the Montreal Winter Carnival. But soon after, the league began popping up throughout Eastern Canada, and the Ottawa HC is usually on the ground floor as a founding member.
The Ottawa HC quickly jumped to the top of Ontario hockey. Starting from 1890-92, the team lost only two of the 14 games and defeated their opponents 54-18, leading to the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) championship. During the celebration after the 1892 season, the current Lord Stanley of the Governor of Canada sent a letter to the team. After watching a game at the Montreal Winter Carnival in 1899, he also became obsessed with the sport, using his office to promote and support the game as much as possible. After Ottawa’s dominance, he believes there needs to be a Challenge Cup that will determine Canada’s greatest team.
Related: Ottawa Senator Legend – Frank Finnigan
Ottawa maintained its leading record in 1893. After 10 games, the team scored 55-26 and won the third OHA Cosby Cup. However, Ottawa failed to ask Lord Stanley to donate the first Domination Hockey Challenge Cup, falling into the Montreal HC rankings. Despite the disappointing losses, Ottawa is completely in the public consciousness. Whether due to their connection to parliament or the governor, the team started to be called the Senators, and the new nickname was stuck, although the report still called them “Ottawa”.
Hockey’s first superstar Frank McGee
Born in 1882, McGee is one of the five sons of John McGee, the clerk of the Privy Council, the highest civil servant job in the country and the nephew of Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the fathers of the Confederacy. He was so recognized as a shoo in the political field, and after graduation he joined the Ministry of Indian Affairs. He is a good-looking young man and it doesn’t hurt. In his book Crondicks: Dawson City’s Stanley Cup Challenge, Tim Falconer wrote: “The successor to an outstanding and influential family, a clean man with blond hair, blue eyes and exquisite features, and a dressing table on and under the ice” (p. 223).
But McGee is more than just a pretty face. He is also a nature athlete and excels in hockey, rugby, soccer and hockey. Of course, this is the latter sport, and he has received widespread praise for it. In 1897, the Ottawa Magazine reported that “F. McGee at the university front showed that he was an upcoming man. He was an excellent stick handler and an excellent skater” (p. 225). Other reports say he is one of the best players in the city and the most skilled player on the ice.
However, McGee’s hockey career was almost over until the hockey hit his eye in the 1899 game. Fortunately, the injury only required a few stitches and he returned to the ice and finished the game. A year later, he was hit again in an charity match, but this time, the injury was even more serious and caused vision loss in the eyes. Rather than risking damage to his good eyes or worse, he was completely disappointed, and instead took a step back from hockey, having been in his political career for two years while scrutinizing on the side. But his love for the game made him back, and in 1903 he began practicing with the Senators.
In his first game as a Senator on January 17, 1903, fans would never know that McGee was partially blind. He charges on the ice, flew over the defender and balances the goalkeeper with a series of quick moves, thus providing him with an open net. He scored twice against Montreal to help the Senators win 7-1 before furthering against Quebec with a 6-8 loss. He has led the team with 10 goals in his fourth game, and when the season ended in February, he finished second in the league with 14.
McGee’s dominance has allowed the Senator to win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history at the first place in Victoria Montreal, but his reputation has also caused challenges. Two days after winning the Cup, the Rat Portage Thistles challenged the Senator. Rat Portage goalkeeper Fred Dulmage knew what they were entering, saying: “McGee is a miracle and we are more afraid of him than any other striker, but you can rest assured that Ottawa will never achieve 8 goals on us” (pages 228-9). He is right – the Senator never scored more than six points in a game. But McGee led two games with four goals, and it was easy for the Senators to defend their championship.
While McGee’s achievements portray pictures of pure skilled players like Pavel Bure, he is more similar to the current Senator captain. His skilled training is as powerful as a check that likes to punish, but he often crosses the line due to his competitiveness. Early hockey pioneer Frank Patrick commented that McGege Magazine His intensity was narrated, writing: “F. McGee is a very radical player, and in fact, too much, so he usually decorates the rink about half the time to decorate” (Page 231).
After the 1903 Stanley Cup victory, team owner Bob Shillington gave each player on the team a silver block. Inspired by the recent discovery of a silver medal in cobalt in Ontario, and the fact that he is an investor in the new mine, he wanted to express his appreciation for the senator’s dominance. This gift attracted the current name “Yinqi”.
Seven Eras of Silver
The gift of silver blocks points to the beginning of one of the most important eras of hockey. From 1903-06, the Senators were almost unparalleled, losing only two regular season games in three years. They were even harder to beat in the Stanley Cup challenge, turn away, Toronto Malbur Ross, Montreal Wanderers, Brandon Wheat Kings, Dawson City Nuggets, Reta Portage, Queens University and Smiths fell in the March 17, 1906 campaign, which was the difference between the two. Just two goals behind.
The Senators are undoubtedly a powerful all-around team, and McGee’s senior roster turns them into a powerful force. Captain Harvey “Slugger” Pulford is one of the best checkers in the game and an incredible athlete. According to Gordie Howe, “Pulford might have been named Canada’s top male athlete in the first half of the 20th century if it weren’t for Lionel Conacher.” Harry ‘Rat’ Westwick was also one of the best wanderers at the beginning of the century. The Quebec newspaper wrote that he was a “painful, insignificant mouse” who was quick, tough and bad to fight it. Goalkeeper John’Bouse’ Hutton loves the thrill of danger and smiles as Pucks fly to him. Billy Gilmour was one of the three brothers who provided Ottawa with the right fit and arguably one of the best sticks of his time. All four are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
But it was McGee who became the face of a young franchise. In almost every series, the spotlight is directly attracted by his attention and he is rarely disappointed. In the 1905 Stanley Cup against Dawson City, he scored a record 14 goals in a 23-2 rout, with eight of them scoring in eight minutes and each other in 90 seconds. In Rat Portage’s second challenge, he scored with a broken wrist. His 64 goals will be ranked 31st before Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito, but it’s almost incredible to think he’s finished in just 22 games.
Falconer wrote: “If McGee had played football a century later, he would have been the game’s promotional dream: a dynamic player, handsome, always able to show off; smart and cultured; have a prestigious name; kind of like a character; and, most importantly, earned a reputation for victory” (pg. 232). Ottawa’s Veterans Core needs a superstar who can play every aspect of the game, from fast, dangerous to heavy blows and dirty, McGee offers one.
McGee’s Legacy
After the Senator lost to the Wanderers in 1906, McGee retired from hockey and returned to his neglected political career during the game. There was no compelling ability to bring him back to hockey. He has reached his highest climax for amateur players and now he needs to get back to work.
McGee joined the army before World War I, by skillfully changing his eyes, through eye examinations to cover up the fact that he was invisible. His originality and dedication helped him quickly climb the rankings, and by 1914 when his regiment was called up, he suffered a knee injury in a battle in December 1915, which should have ended his military career, but like his days in hockey, he returned to operation in August 1916. His name, along with all other lost Canadian soldiers, is commemorated in the Vimy Ridge Memorial in France.
McGee was one of nine players who founded the Hall of Fame class in 1945, and in 1966 he was one of the first to be inducted into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame. Despite his nearly tragic career that lasted only three short seasons, he is remembered as one of the greatest NHL players of all time, having an incalculable impact on the sport. That’s why the original Senator was remembered as one of the greatest teams of all time, without him, a modern franchise might never have existed.
Note: Page number reference book Crondicks: Dawson City’s Stanley Cup Challenge, Tim Falconer (ECW Press – 2021).
