The 1908–09 Ottawa Hockey Club season was the club's 24th season, third in the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association. Ottawa won the league championship and took over the Stanley Cup from the Montreal Wanderers.
Team business This was the first season that the Club played as professionals as the amateur clubs dropped out of the league. There was turnover in Ottawa as Harvey Pulford and Alf Smith retired and Tom Phillips left. Ottawa would replace these players with Edgar Dey, Billy Gilmour and Albert 'Dubby' Kerr from Toronto Professionals. Alf Smith would organize the Ottawa Senators of the Federal Hockey League.
Ottawa played an exhibition game prior to the season with the Toronto Professionals on January 2 in Toronto. Ottawa lost to Toronto 5–4. Dubby Kerr played for Toronto, and signed with Ottawa a week later. Kerr had been the subject of a dispute between the Toronto and Berlin teams. The OPHL awarded Kerr to Guelph, but he instead left to join Ottawa.
Regular season Marty Walsh would win the scoring championship with 38 goals. Ottawa would average nearly ten goals per game. After losing the first game, Ottawa then won the next ten in a row before losing in the final game of the season, when the league championship was already won.
Final standing Team Games Played Wins Losses Ties Goals For Goals Against Ottawa HC Montreal Wanderers Quebec HC Montreal Shamrocks
Schedule and results Month Day Visitor Score Home Score Record Jan. 6 Ottawa 6 Wanderers 7 (7:40 OT) 0–1 9 Quebec 5 Ottawa 13 1–1 13 Ottawa 11 Shamrocks 3 2–1 16 Shamrocks 7 Ottawa 9 3–1 23 Ottawa 18 Quebec 4 4–1 30 Wanderers 4 Ottawa 5 5–1 Feb. 6 Ottawa 9 Wanderers 8 6–1 13 Quebec 6 Ottawa 14 7–1 20 Ottawa 7 Shamrocks 3 8–1 27 Shamrocks 2 Ottawa 11 9–1 Mar. 4 Wanderers 3 Ottawa 8 10–1 7 Ottawa 6 Quebec 11 10–2
Goaltending averages Name Club GP GA SO Avg.LeSueur, PercyOttawa 12 63 5.3
Leading scorers Name Club GP GWalsh, MartyOttawa 12 38Stuart, BruceOttawa 11 22Kerr, DubbyOttawa 9 20Gilmour, BillyOttawa 11 11
Ottawa Hockey Club 1909 Stanley Cup Champions
See also 1909 ECHA season 1908 in sports 1909 in sports List of Stanley Cup champions
References Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books, 12, 50. .