Ernest Russell (October 21, 1883 – February 23, 1963) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player. He was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, and played for the Montreal HC and

Montreal Wanderers The Montreal Wanderers were an amateur, and later professional, ice hockey team based in Montreal. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the National Hockey Association ...

in the early 1900s. Russell was the offensive star of the Wanderers that won the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

in 1906, 1907, 1908, and 1910. He once scored a hat-trick in five consecutive games. Russell was inducted into the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

in 1965.

Career

Russell started out his senior hockey career with the Montreal Hockey Club, an off-shoot of the

Montreal Amateur Athletic Association Montreal Amateur Athletic Association is Canada's oldest athletic association, located in Montreal, Quebec. It was renamed as the ''Club Sportif MAA'' or just ''MAA'' (Montreal MAA) in 1999 after a brush with bankruptcy, but is still widely known ...

, in the CAHL in 1904–05. He also played football with the

Montreal Football Club The Montreal Football Club was a Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec that played in the Quebec Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1915. The club was a founding member of ...

, also under the M.A.A.A. organization, as a half back. Russell moved to the Montreal Wanderers of the

ECAHA The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) was a men's amateur – later professional – ice hockey league in Canada that played four seasons. It was founded on December 11, 1905 with the top clubs from two other leagues: four ...

for the

1906 ECAHA season The 1906 ECAHA season was the inaugural season of the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA). Six teams played a 10-game schedule. The Ottawa HC and Montreal Wanderers tied for the league championship with a record of 9–1, while the Mo ...

, alongside his Montreal HC teammate Ernie "Moose" Johnson, and in his first season with the club the Wanderers won the Stanley Cup after defeating the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

12-10 (9-1, 3-9) on March 14 and 17, 1906 with Russell scoring four goals in the first game. The Wanderers replicated their Stanley Cup winning feat during the 1906–07 season, defeating the

Kenora Thistles The Kenora Thistles, officially the Thistles Hockey Club, were a Canadian ice hockey team based in Kenora, Ontario. Founded in 1894, they were originally known as the Rat Portage Thistles. The team competed for the Stanley Cup, the ice hockey ...

12-9 (7-2, 5-6) in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

on March 23 and 25, with Russell scoring five of his team's goals. During the regular season he had led the ECAHA in scoring with 43 goals in nine games. Prior to the 1907–08 season there were talks about Russell rejoining the Montreal Hockey Club, but he stayed with the Montreal Wanderers instead of going back to his former club, with the result that the M.A.A.A. organization expelled him from their ranks, which meant that he could no longer play football with the Montreal Football Club. With the Wanderers he won his third consecutive Stanley Cup honors after the team defeated the

Winnipeg Maple Leafs The Winnipeg Maple Leafs, or Maple Leaf Hockey Club, were a professional men's ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Winnipeg Maple Leafs played in the Manitoba Professional Hockey League from 1907–1909. In March 1908, as 1907–08 MPHL cha ...

20-8 (11-5, 9-3) on March 10 and 12, and the Toronto Professionals of the OPHL 6-4 on March 14, with Russell scoring 11 of his team's 26 goals. Russell did not play during the 1908–09 season, but he was back with the Wanderers at the end of the

1910 NHA season The 1910 NHA season was the first season of the National Hockey Association men's professional ice hockey league. The season started on January 5, but was suspended immediately and the league then absorbed the Ottawa and Shamrocks teams of the Ca ...

, and on March 12, 1910 he won his fourth Stanley Cup with the team after it defeated the

Berlin Dutchmen The Berlin Dutchmen were an early professional ice hockey team operating out of Berlin, Ontario, (renamed Kitchener in 1916) from 1907 in the Ontario Professional Hockey League (OPHL). The Berlin team is notable for challenging for the Stanley ...

of the OPHL 7-3, with Russell scoring four of his team's goals. Russel played four seasons in the NHA with the Wanderers and retired after the 1913–14 season.

Playing style

Russell played as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

forward with a primary task of scoring goals. The ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'' in March 1908, giving brief sketches on the players on the Montreal Wanderers, noted that Russell's value to his team had been his scoring, and also pointed out that "right in front of the nets there is scarcely a more dangerous forward in the game." The ''Ottawa Citizen'' gave further compliments on his "good eye" and "strong wrist" and stated that he could "keep control under difficult conditions.""Who Wanderers Are – Records of the Hockey Champions of the World"
''Ottawa Citizen''. March 21, 1908 (pg. 17).

Career statistics

champion

Awards and achievements

– 1906, 1907, 1908, and 1910 * ECAHA leading scorer – 1906–07

References

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Ernie 1883 births 1963 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian ice hockey centres Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Montreal Montreal Hockey Club players Montreal Wanderers (NHA) players Montreal Wanderers players Stanley Cup champions