In 1905 a team called the Ottawa Silver Seven was the champion of hockey. Since there was no National Hockey League then, any team could challenge for the Stanley Cup. A team from Dawson, Yukon Territory, in the heart of the Klondike area, decided to try for hockey’s greatest prize.
In order to play, the Dawson team had to journey to Ottawa. It was a rough trip. The players traveled by dog team, by boat, and by train. All the travel was in vain. The Silver Seven trounced them twice. In the first game the score was 9-2. The second encounter was strictly no contest. The Silver Seven won, 23-2. Frank McGee, one of hockey’s great all-time players, scored 14 goals, a Stanley Cup record for a single game that will probably never be equaled.
From The Giant Book of More Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
I’ve been through Dawson a couple of times. It is very small and very remote, and essentially at the extreme opposite corner of Canada from Ottawa. I can’t imagine how long it took them to make the trip to and from for the trouble of getting their asses kicked.
I imagine the Dawson team wasn’t really at their best after the grueling travel.