The Renfrew Hockey Club, also known as the Creamery Kings and the Millionaires, was a founding franchise in 1909 of the National Hockey Association, the precursor to the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. The team was based in the founder

Ambrose O'Brien John Ambrose O'Brien (May 27, 1885 – April 24, 1968) was a Canadian industrialist and sports team owner. He was a founder of the National Hockey Association (NHA), owner of the Renfrew Millionaires and the founding owner of the Montreal Canad ...

's hometown of Renfrew, Ontario.

History

The team's founder,

had played varsity hockey at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, then continued his interest as a team founder and owner, financed by his father's amassed great wealth during the Cobalt silver rush –mining magnate Senator

M. J. O'Brien Michael John O'Brien (19 September 1851 – 26 October 1940) was a railway builder, industrialist and philanthropist. He was named to the Senate of Canada in 1918. He was a founder of the town of Renfrew, Ontario.J.P. Bickell: The Life, the Leafs, ...

. In 1909, when O'Brien sought to join the new Canadian Hockey Association with his existing Renfrew team in the semi-pro

Federal Hockey League The Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league with teams in the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern United States. The FPHL began operations in November 2010 as the Federal Hockey League. D ...

, the application was rejected. With fellow rejectee

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 ...

, O'Brien founded the NHA, along with franchises in

Cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...

, Haileybury and

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 ...

. With O'Brien Silver Mine money backing the Creamery Kings, Renfrew iced a powerful team during its first season, with players Frank Patrick and Lester Patrick commanding salaries of $3,000 each, and

Cyclone Taylor Frederick Wellington "Cyclone" Taylor, MBE (June 23, 1884 – June 9, 1979) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and civil servant. A cover-point and rover, he played professionally from 1906 to 1922 for several teams, and is most well ...

receiving a record-setting $5,250 for a two-month season. In consequence, the team became widely nicknamed the "Millionaires" for the over the top salaries. O'Brien also secured the services of Newsy Lalonde midseason from the Canadiens franchise, and Lalonde would wind up the season as NHA's first scoring champion. Coached by

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 ...

legend and future

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Alf Smith, Renfrew finished in third place in the

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

season with an 8-3-1 record. The team had been held as a favorite to win 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 ...

at the onset of the season, and at the end of the season Ottawa Senators player

Bruce Stuart Charles Bruce Stuart (November 30, 1881 – October 28, 1961) was a Canadian amateur and professional ice hockey forward who played for the Quebec Bulldogs, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Wanderers, Portage Lakes Hockey Club, Pittsburgh Victorias ...

claimed lack of confidence played a role in the missed opportunity: Its second and final

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, Renfrew lost Lalonde to the new

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

team, and finished with a less than stellar 8-8 record, with Don Smith and Odie Cleghorn being the leading scorers. Renfrew's final major professional game was a 7-6 victory on March 7, 1911, against the Wanderers. Thereafter, with it being apparent that the small towns such as Renfrew, Cobalt and Haileybury could not support major senior hockey, O'Brien folded the franchise for good.

Renfrew Arena

The team's first arena was their only home and lasted until a fire in the late 1920s destroyed it. A second arena called simply Renfrew Arena or Old Barn was completed in 1929.

Hall of Famers

* Newsy Lalonde C * Lester Patrick D * Frank Patrick D * Didier Pitre F/D * Alf Smith RW * Frederick Wellington "Cyclone" Taylor * Sprague Cleghorn D

References

Notes

;General * Coleman, Charles L. ''Trail of the Stanley Cup'', Vol I., NHL, 1966. * Cosentino, Frank. ''The Renfrew Creamery Kings: The Valley Boys of Winter 1910''. Burnstown, Ontario: General Store Publishing House, 1990.

External links