ResilientBeast
Proud Member of the TTSAOA
Russell Bowie
Thank you to TDMM and Dreakmur for the bulk of this
Awards and Achievements:
Stanley Cup Champion (1899)
Allan Cup Champion (1909)
Montreal Victorias Captain
ECHA First Team All-Star (1905)
Charles Coleman's 1893 to 1926 All-Star Team from The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1 (ahead of Cy Denneny, Frank Foyston, Didier Pitre, Gord Roberts, etc)
Offensive Accomplishments:
Goals - 1st(1901), 1st(1903), 1st(1904), 1st(1905), 1st(1908), 1st(1909*), 2nd(1900), 2nd(1902), 2nd(1906), 2nd(1907), 3rd(1899)
Reconstructed Assists: 1st(1904), 1st(1908), 2nd(1906), 3rd(1903), 7th(1907)
(not recorded in 1901, 1902, or 1905)
Rconstructed Points - 1st(1901), 1st(1903), 1st(1904), 1st(1905), 1st(1906), 1st(1907), 1st(1908), 1st(1909*), 2nd(1900), 2nd(1902), 3rd(1899)
TDMM does a better job making the offensive case for him so I'll just quote his post from the HOH top centers project
This is a study of Russell Bowie I did a couple years ago, when I had access to SIHR's statistical database. If we were judging players strictly on how they did against their peers, Bowie would be our #2 behind Gretzky and ahead of Lemieux, but of course, level of competition MUST be taken into account, and hockey was still a developing league when Bowie played.
Bowie was a part of the first generation of hockey players to actually grow up at a time when competitive hockey was a thing. So I do have much more respect for their talents than the previous 1890s generation, none of whom played competitive hockey as children because there was no competitive hockey. Still, we have reasons to believe his generation was significantly weaker than the one that followed; those will be discussed after the study.
IF YOU WANT TO READ CONTEMPORARY QUOTES DESCRIBING RUSSELL BOWIE, GO TO THIS PROFILE AND SCROLL DOWN: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=59476193&postcount=66. The rest of this post will be statistical in nature, because scoring goals was what Bowie was best at, and goal scoring is the one reliable statistic we have from the era.
Over the course of Bowie's athletic prime, he basically doubled the second best goal scorer
From 1899 to 1908, Bowie scored 239 goals in 80 games (2.99 GPG). Blair Russell, the next closest scorer, had 109 goals in 67 games (1.62)
Bowie scored 219% as many goals as his closest competitor - his advantage drops to "only" 184% on a per-game basis. (Compare to Wayne Gretzky who scored 187% as many points as 2nd place Mark Messier from 1979-80 to 1993-94).
Bowie's most dominant season was 1901, when he scored 24 goals despite missing one of his team's eight games. The next highest scorer had 10 goals. Bowie scored more goals in seven games than the entire Quebec team did in eight games. However, competition was still pretty weak in 1901. Most of the HHOFers of the era didn't really get going until a couple years later. Bowie continued to dominate the HHOFers, but not by quite as ridiculous a margin.
Even if you cherrypick the absolute best years of the best players of the decade, Bowie easily beats them - and remember, Bowie's prime lasted much longer than these guys
Frank McGee vs. Russell Bowie (1903-1906)
McGee = 71 goals
Bowie = 106 goals
Bowie beat McGee by 33% over the entire course of McGee's career
Ernie Russell vs. Russell Bowie (1905-1908)
Russell = 90 goals
Bowie = 127 goals
Bowie beat Russell by 29%
Tommy Phillips vs. Russell Bowie (1905-1908)
Phillips = 94 goals
Bowie = 127 goals
This is not quite comparable because these are different leagues, but is worth noting that Bowie, while probably not quite in his prime anymore, scored 26% more goals than Tommy Phillips during Phillips absolute prime.
SIHR counted assists based off the detailed newspaper accounts in the era. This data suggests that Bowie could get the puck to his teammates better than most other players in the era.
No players have assists recorded for them in 1901, 1902, or 1905.
These are the only 5 seasons of his career for which we have assist data.
- His finishes: 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 7th
- His VS2 scores: 100, 100, 100, 75, 60
- His VS1 scores: 100, 89, 75, 56, 33
At 0.50 assists per game, Bowie would be second to Alf Smith's 0.72 in reconstructed assists for the era, and he didn't have star linemates to pass to like Smith did (Smith took kind of a Wayne Cashman or Bert Olmstead role to Frank McGee and later Marty Walsh)
vast majority of hockey's top talents of the time were playing in these leagues.
Bowie's league/competition
Bowie played in the CAHL and the ECAHA, which were actually the same league under different names, between 1899 and 1908, which were not the only leagues in the world, but they were certainly the best leagues in the world. This line of leagues would eventually change its name to the NHA. The majority of hockey's top talents of the time were playing in these leagues.
The Stanley Cup was usually controlled by these leagues.
The question of course becomes "How strong was the overall hockey world before 1910?"
Bowies overall scoring finishes
- Bowie led the major hockey world in goals 5 times: He led the CHL/ECHA in 1901, 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1908.
- He finished 2nd in goals 3 times: 1902, 1906, 1907.
- If you add in reconstructed assists for all players, Bowie led the major hockey world in points 7 times. He finished a close 2nd in goals in 1906 and 1907 to 2 different players, but reconstructed assists for every player would give him enough to finish 1st in points both seasons. He would still finish 2nd in points for 1902.
Ranking Bowie
It should be clear why I would call Bowie the "Wayne Gretzky of pre-1910 hockey." His statistical dominance over his peers is staggering. The cream of the pre-1910 crop can be broken down into Star Scorer (Bowie), Star Defenseman (Hod Stuart), Star Two-Way Forward (Tommy Phillips, a who will come up in the winger project). Bowie had the best longevity of the three of them.
Two important questions remain:
1) How impressive was it actually to dominate pre-1910 hockey?
2) Should Russell Bowie be the next pre-consolidation center we add, or should we wait until the 2nd tier of 1910-1926 guys (MacKay, Fredrickson, Keats IMO) shows up?
Hockey Historysis said:Bowie led the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) in 1900/01 with 24 goals, despite his missing one of his team's eight matches. The next-best player had 10 goals. Hall-of-Fame forwards like Harry Trihey, Art Farrell, Rat Westwick, Bruce Stuart and Blair Russel could manage no more than 10 goals, yet Bowie put in 24. Bowie scored more goals than the entire Quebec hockey club did. Like Gretzky and Orr at their best, Bowie was playing the game at a different level.
Havilland Routh and Art Hooper also pass the Gretzky-Orr threshold, but only for a single season each. Bowie possessing three of the top seven seasons here demonstrates that his appearance at the top of the list is no fluke. He had three seasons that were better than anything Howie Morenz or Cyclone Taylor ever did. It doesn't matter how great you believe Russell Bowie was; you're probably still underrating him.
TDMM: Iain defines "better" as "dominating his peers." The ATD, on the other hand, has long recognized that hockey developed a lot between Bowie's generation and Cyclone Taylor's. If it didn't, we'd be drafting Bowie before Taylor.
The Globe Mar 9 said:The Ottawa Free Press picks the following as Canada's greatest seven ; Goal - Hauge (Ottawa) Point - Pulford (Ottawa); Cover Kennedy (Wanderers) Rover - Bowie (Victorias); Center - McGee (Ottawa); Right - Alf Smith (Ottawa); Left - Phillips (Kenora) (
The Globe said:Russell Bowie was by long odds the most effective player on the Victorian team. He showed great stickhandling ability, his rushes easily being on the features of the game.
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Hynes was ruled off for for tripping and then in a scramble Russell's nose broken compelling his retirement. Hill went off with him to even up. Bowie was upset and laid out temporarily. From an offside face Webster got in a shot from quarter way again tieing the score. The St Georges at this stage had all the better of it and when Hynes and Bowie were ruled off for scraping the Saint's superiority was quickly manifested.
The Globe said:Russell Bowie disguised in the sweater of the Montreal Bank team was in the Victoria squad which turned out before Wanderers' practice last night. It was just by way of a little exercise but if the Vics are badly in need of a forward perhaps the famous rover will be seen in the game again this winter. Vics will surely be in need of a man if Bowie is available and his turnout was welcome sight to the club officials.
The Trail of the Stanley Cup said:There are many who maintain that Russell Bowie was the greatest centre ice player the game has known. Certainly his amazing total of 234 goals in 80 scheduled league games during ten years of play puts him in a class by himself. An average of almost three goals per game in his career is not likely to be challenged.
During his ten years of play he led the goal scorers five times. Practically every all-tar team listed during that decade and years afterwards had Bowie in the lineup.
Ultimate Hockey – Player Biogrphy said:Like Wayne Gretzky, Bowie was one of the most difficult players of his era to keep track of. Although he was invariably a “marked man,†his agility usually kept him out of harm’s way. A wizard with the ood, he used his skates to shield the rubber as he swung through the enemy line with a deftness that defied description.
Ultimate Hockey – In a Flash said:Russell Bowie kept the puck close to his body and was said to have had brilliant hand-eye coordination. Picture Wayne Gretzky before Wayne Gretzky.
Who’s Who in Hockey said:Russell Bowie, who toiled at center ice for the turn-of-the-century Victorias, has been called, by hard-line old-timers, the greatest pivotman to play the game…was a perpetual All-Star.
Legends of Hockey said:Russell "Dubbie" Bowie began playing hockey in his hometown of Montreal at Tucker School and remained an amateur throughout his career. "I am an amateur, was an amateur, and will die an amateur," he said after his playing days were over. Well-known as a music lover, Dubbie once rejected a unique offer of a grand piano as a signing bonus from the Montreal Wanderers to turn pro with that club. So sure of his acceptance were the Wanderers that club officials even had the piano delivered to Bowie's home the day of a game in anticipation of his turning pro and playing! However, Bowie flatly rejected the offer and ordered the piano removed from his home.
He attributed his stickhandling prowess to the fact that he always used a short stick. "Mine came only up to my armpits," he stated. Bowie once scored ten goals in a game and totaled 234 goals over ten-year career of only 80 games, a career average of almost three goals per game. He played with the Montreal Victorias for his entire career, winning a Stanley Cup as an eighteen-year-old with the Vics in 1898. Bowie ultimately retired when the professional National Hockey Association (NHA) formed in 1909 and he never played again except in exhibition matches. Bowie continued his association with the game he loved as a referee for many years after his playing days had ended.
Turning Back Hockey’s Pages – April 5th said:It is almost 20 years since Russell Bowie hung up his stick for good, but today he is still remembered as one of the greatest players of the game. He played for over a decade with Victorias and in that time was easily the best scorer in hockey as well as being the outstanding stick-handler of the epoch. He was on a Stanley Cup winning team when he was only 18 years old, but it is significant that nearly 20 years later when he performed in a veterans’ game, arranged as a benefit contest, it was admitted that he still ranked with the best.
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The slight, almost frail rover of the Victorias played during what was probably the roughest era of hockey for he was a starred member of Victorias when the Silver Seven was in its heyday. It took more than ability to score goals to get by against such stalwarts as McGee, Pulford and the Smiths but even in this company, Bowie, over a period of ten years, was the leading scorer in the Eastern Canada Hockey Association. Bowie was probably the shiftiest player that ever carried a puck. He could nurse the disc between his skates and swing through the opposition, avoiding checks, with a deftness that beggars description. He was probably also one of the brainiest players who ever handled a stick. And, though he was a marked man in every game he played, he led the E.C.H.A in scoring in practically every season from 1900 to 1909. When the National Hockey Association was formed, the amateur Vics dropped from competition and Bowie never played again except in exhibition matches.
It would take columns of pace to tell of his scoring feats. It was a customary thing for him to perform the hat-trick and he has scored as high as 10 goals in a single game. He tallied 30 or more goals every season in the days when teams seldom played more than 10 games during the regular schedule. In 1916, he was coaxed out of retirement to play an exhibition for the regimental funds of the 148th battalion with the local seven composed of veterans like himself. They played against the Silver Seven, their greatest rivals of 10 years before, and Bowie got four goals. He had been out of hockey for almost seven seasons.
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Another story is told of Bowie that is a good example of how he won games with his head as well as his stick. Playing against Quebec in a close game, Bowie was checked by Joe Hall, just as a team-mate was about to pass the puck. “Too bad, Joe, it’s in the net,†Bowie whispered in Hall’s ear. The Quebec defenceman looked up immediately relaxing his attention and then there was a swift movement of Bowie’s stick. And Hall saw then that the puck really was in the net.
Ultimate Hockey's All-Star Team of the 1900s
Ultimate Hockey’s “Best Sniper†of the 1900s
Ultimate Hockey’s “Best Stick-Handler†of the 1900s
The Montreal Star said:…known from ocean to ocean, and was even celebrated in the United States, as many judged by the fact they called Hobby Baker the American Russel Bowie.
The Montreal Gazette said:Bowie was recognized as the trickiest player on skates, and the most effective scoring player in the game.
The Ottawa Citizen said:Perhaps one of the greatest players to ever don a pair of skates…. Feared by such greats as Frank McGee, Harvey Pulford, Harry Westwick, Alf and Harry Smith, Billy Gilmour and Arthur Moore of the Ottawa Silver Seven…. Bowie is listed in what is believed to be the first all-star team ever selected in major hockey in 1905.
The Montreal Gazette said:Bowie picked the puck out of a scuffle and gallantly broke clear of the melee.
The Pittsburgh Press said:Russell Bowie is certainly the king-pin of the Vics, and one of the best stickhandlers who ever put skates on.
The Montreal Gazette – January 26th said:From the Vics’ point of view, there was only one man on the ice. That was Russell Bowie. Speedy, a beautiful stickhandler and a rattling shot, he won the match for the Vics.
The Montreal Gazette – March 9th said:Russell Bowie played and gave an excellent performance in spite of the many difficulties under which he labored.
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Allen and Bowie appeared to do the lion’s share of the attack…. Bowie performed several neat feats but was unfortunate and again he was well watched.
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The Victorias indulged in several rattling combinations that were good to look at. Bert Strachan, Bowie, and Allen were responsible for most of this style of work and it was done in good order too…
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Play had hardly started when Fairbanks handed out a stiff cross-check and went off; Bowie dropping back to cover.
The Montreal Gazette – February 15th said:Of the 4 forwards mentions (on the 1905 All-Star Team), Bowie is perhaps the slowest skater. But Bowie does not win games with his skates. His head and hands have brought him the reputation he holds as the most effective scoring player in the game.
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Bowie, in the minds of the rooted who have followed the game for year, is the trickiest hockey player that ever stepped on the ice.
The Montreal Gazette – December 27th said:Russell Bowie, captain of the Victorias…
The Ottawa Citizen – February 4th said:… Russell Bowie, the stellar rover of the Victorias...
The Montreal Gazette – January 6th said:The close checking from both sides was one of the features of the game… Bowie is always a closely watched player, but he was given more than the average amount of attention Saturday night. Every time the Irishmen’s goals were threatened there were cries from all parts of the rink to “watch Bowieâ€. But the Vics star was in great form in the first half, beating out ________ for three of the Vics goals and giving the Shamrock goaler close calls on half a dozen other occasions. He was right in the nets at every opportunity, ready for one of those lightning shots that would follow a pass from the side. Besides this, in the first half, he did more than his share of carrying the disc through the Shamrock defense… The checking was very close and a good deal of it was foul work. The Shamrocks used their sticks pretty freely early in the game, and the officials let things go a while without penalties.
The Montreal Gazette - January 14th said:…Bowie dashing in on the net, banged in a rebound… Bowie, coming through like a flash, picked it out, and, swinging around to the front of the nets, placed his team in the lead for the final time.
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Nothing could keep Bowie away from the nets, and his eyes and wrists are apparently as quick as ever. He tired under the close attention he was receiving, however, but even then, when he looked all in, he would break away with a fine show of reserve strength.
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…and then when the results were assured. Bowie was covered by Frank Glass like a home player on a lacrosse team, and cross-checked and buffeted about every time he came near the Wanderers goal. Once he was provoked to retaliation, with the result that both he and Glass were banished to the box for a five-minute rest.
The Calgary Daily Herald – January 15th said:I see Russell Bowie is up to his old tricks of making the goal-keeper look like a wooden Indian in front of a cigar store. There was one great player who could have filled in his own figures to the N.H.A. contract if he wanted to participate in the pro league. To my mind he was the greatest player that ever lived. He was fast and brainy. His stick was a magnet to the puck and he walked right in on the defence before he ever thought of shooting. He worried every goal-keeper whether he had the puck or not and gave punishment, never got any and sent hundreds of players to the side by faking an injury. He had a great trick of playing the rubber to the boards and if his check blocked the puck, he would clap his hand to his head or side and drop to one knee. The referee would instantly stop the game and under the impression Bowie had been shortended, chase the other fellow to the penalty box. Aside from his tricks, he had the goods.
Staunchly Amateur:
The Montreal Gazette – June 10th said:Just to illustrate what a difference a few years can make, they tell a story about Dubbie Bowie when that outstanding hockey player was making the opposition look silly on behalf of Victorias a generation ago.
Dubbie, rated with the greatest players of all time, was an “amateur†in the strict sense of the word. If you offered him a nickel for scoring five goals, or something like that, you would likely find yourself flat on your back with a raging hockey player warning you not to try that “bribery†again.
The Ottawa Citizen -- March 4th said:Bowie, who from 1905-09, was the Howie Morenz of his day, once refused the fabulous offer of $3000 plus $4 per minute for a 12-game season with a professional club.
In 1906, as numerous teams and players were becoming more open about being professional, Bowie considered retiredment.
The St. John Daily Sun said:Russell Bowie did not play with the Vics, and is considered to have robbed them of a victory.
The Montreal Gazette – December 8th said:When the Victorias appeared, Russell Bowie was there, and this gave rise to the story that he will play again this season. It is quite true that the former captain has repeatedly said he is out of the game, but his presence at two practices seems to indicate he has more than a passing interest in the team. Russel, Cavie Howard, and Gilbert will play, so that if Bowie would come out, it would make a sturdy forward line, and give the Victorias an attack that would face any line set against them and be able to flourish to the maximium of excitement.
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