The Winnipeg Free Press sporting editor was apparently asked by a Toronto hoockeyist for a “selection of a world’s champion hockey team… showing no favoritism to either East or West” in 1906. The reply was as follows:
Goal: Dutchy Morrison
Point: Percy Browne
Cover: Harvey Pulford
Rover: Frank McGee
Centre: Billy Breen
RW: Russell Bowie
LW: Tom Phillips
Source: The Toronto Star, 16 March 1906 page 10
Comments-
As you can see, it looks like this is Canada-focused, so we aren't seeing anyone playing in the IPHL here. The big name we'd likely see added if the IPHL was considered would be Hod Stuart at point or cover. That said, Percy Browne was no slouch. Having finally finished going through the Manitoba league from 1892-1909, Browne was definitely a big name and a well-respected player in the West.
Similarly, Pulford is an interesting choice for cover. He did see a decent amount of time at cover (he and Art Moore traded spots pretty frequently), but I would have figured Lester Patrick or even Art Ross (though Ross doesn't really seem to hit his stride until later) would have gotten the nod.
A Browne/Pulford pairing (though it is really less of a "pairing" and more of a "duo") is odd stylistically. Both were big men who received their highest praise for their defensive play and physicality. It would not be fun for forwards to go up against these two one after the other, but I do think that offense is being left on the table (though, yes, Pulford wasn't an absolute zero there).
Dutchy Morrison is definitely not a name I would have expected to see, though that may just be ignorance on my part; I only have 14 games of his logged so far. I'm in the process of doing a little bit of research into Morrison, and it seems like he certainly had his fans, so maybe I'll get some more clarity as I move into the OHA (though that league scares me). Still... over Paddy Moran or Percy LeSueur? That's quite a statement for this editor to make.
The forwards look strange at first, but less-so if we look through the lens of the editor making a championship team and not an all-star team. The first thing that jumps out (to me, at least) is Bowie not at Rover, but at RW. Now, Bowie broke into senior hockey on the wing. I believe it was LW, but I see him with at least some time at wing into the 1900 season. Could he play RW? Maybe. I wouldn't put him there, but I think the editor did it in an effort to get Billy Breen on the team. Breen is one of the players I think the pre-Consolidation project really missed on, because as I went through the league, he seemed like the Bowie of that league. He led the 1906 MHL/MHA/WhateverWeCallIt in goals, second in points only to Tommy Phillips (who also beat Bowie in the only season they played in the same league), an would then turn in one of the most dominating offensive seasons I've seen yet in 1907 when he totaled 22 points and 20 goals when second place had 8 and 8, respectively.
Taking another look at it, a possible explanation for some of the selections could be the attempt to have balance between the East and West. Taking out Morrison, who played in both the OHA and MHA, we see 3 western players (Browne, Breen, Phillips) and 3 eastern players (Pulford, Bowie, McGee).
