The Ultimate Small Market Team

**jerrym** · 01-02-2017, 12:52 AM

Renfrew Ontario with a population of 3,000 in 1910, has to be the ultimate small market team, fielding a team with six (out of eight players) who went on to be future Hall of Famers in the National Hockey Association, the precursor of the National Hockey League. Originally called the Renfrew Creamery Kings, the owner paid the previously unheard of salaries to its stars, resulting in their becoming the Renfrew Millionaires.

The team's founder, Ambrose O'Brien, a millionaire from the then-current silver and mining boom in the Cobalt area of Ontario, sought to join the new Canadian Hockey Association with his existing Renfrew team in the semi-pro Federal Hockey League, and was rejected. With fellow rejectee Montreal Wanderers, O'Brien founded the NHA, along with franchises in Cobalt, Haileybury and Montreal.
With O'Brien's money backing the Creamery Kings, Renfrew iced a powerful team its first season, with Frank Patrick and Lester Patrick commanding salaries of $3,000 each, and Cyclone Taylor receiving a record-setting $5,250 for a two-month season. In consequence the team became widely nicknamed the "millionaires." In addition, O'Brien secured the services of Newsy Lalonde midseason from the Canadiens franchise, and Lalonde would wind up the season the NHA's first scoring champion. Coached by Ottawa Senators legend and future Hall of Famer Alf Smith, Renfrew finished in third place in the 1910 season with an 8-3-1 record.
Its second and final season, Renfrew lost Lalonde to the new Montreal Canadiens team, and finished 8-8, 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. ...

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