A Case for Russell Bowie
I had hoped to have been able to provide something like this earlier, but I'm pressed for time this week. So, here is the long story short version of why I think Russell Bowie, the star rover of the Montreal Victorias in the late 1890s-1900s, deserves to be in the top 5 at the latest. His stats are undeniable; I won’t get into that here, largely due to the following reasons;
1) As I think I have shown in the research/discussion thread, stats from the era are notoriously unreliable, with two or even three players receiving credit for the same goal depending on which paper you are reading, or, worse, no goal scorer being listed at all. And that is not even getting into assists being tracked quite poorly. However, I think the fact that Bowie was at the top (or near the top) of the scoring lists for 10 years proves that his offensive dominance was real.
2) Several people, both here on the board and elsewhere online, have done an excellent job of showing just how dominant he was offensively, even if it appears their numbers may not be the most accurate (see above). His level of dominance is Gretzky-like, and his only real contemporary challenger was Frank McGee, who had the benefit of star teammates (I imagine no less than 3 of his teammates will make this list, which means over half of the players on those teams will be represented here). Bowie, on the other hand, was largely on an island while in his prime; while “rookie” Bowie did play on a fairly stacked team (though, I’d argue not stacked to the extent that McGee’s teams were), his prime was performed largely without star teammates, with only Blair Russell as a source of consistent and reliable support.
3) Finally, I don’t feel qualified to perform any real statistical analysis. My “career” in math ended after calculus in high school, which was well over a decade ago now. I’ll do what I can to support any analysis with the raw stat data, but I’ll leave anything more than that to the posters who are better able to do so.
So if I’m not going to hammer on stats to prop up Bowie (but they are awesome, and should by themselves put him in the conversation at this point), what am I going to focus on? Basically, I think there was more to Bowie than just scoring. He was an excellent stick-handler, and seems to have been responsible for leading the rush. He was noted for his “generalship”, which I understand as something like being the guy who directs the other players on the ice. He was gritty, and while he wasn’t a physical force, he didn’t back down from anyone despite being the target of abuse on a regular basis. He protected the puck well, and there are some comments about the occasional defensive play that makes me think he wasn’t a complete zero there. And I’ve already touched on the impressive length of his prime (for the era), so there’s another feather in his cap.
The following are a sample of quotes that I have pulled until about halfway through 1906; they are not everything I have on him, as that would end up with a lot of redundancy (and needlessly lengthen this post), but I think they provide a pretty good picture of his impact/star power. All of these quotes (and more) can be found in the discussion thread in the individual season recaps (well, they will be once I finish 1906).
General positive remarks
“The Shamrocks say that the Victorias have a gem in Russell Bowie, who played with the Junior Vics last season. He is not yet 19 years of age, very fast, and a great shooter”
“Bowie and Ewing fit very nicely into the vacancies on the Vic. forward line made by the absence of Bob McDougall and Graham Drinkwater. Bowie is a particularly fine player”
“Two men on the [Victoria] forward line, Bowie and Russell, did good work and were factors in the game at all times. The other two did their best, but their good work was spasmodic and Ewing spent considerable time in testing his stick on portions of his opponent’s anatomy”
“Bowie’s work was the feature”
“... though they found Ottawa’s defence almost impregnable, the Victoria line, particularly Bowie and Ewing, frustrated the visitors’ forward play time after time. Scintillating brilliancy was evidenced only rarely, then Bowie and Ewing, on Victorias’ right wing contributed the welcome variety”
“Bowie was the star of the visitors' forward line”
“Bowie and Russell were the stars of the Victoria club”
“Bowie, however, distinguished himself. He was always dangerous, scoring three times”
“Bowie, Russell, Locke and Stewart made wonderful dashes, and Bowie was the most prominent on the ice”
Of the Victorias, Bowie was the star, and the manner in which he got through with the puck was marvellous
“Then the Vics, or rather Bowie, for he was practically alone, got into the game and forced the play for a few scores”
“Stuart played well, but the absence of Bowie was keenly felt, and there was no vim about the attack”
“Russell Bowie played and gave an excellent performance in spite of the many difficulties under which he labored”
“Bowie, Howard and Russell did wonderful work, Bowie as ever taking all sorts of chances and rushing, one would think, almost blindly in on the goals”
“Bowie is certainly a wonder, and a tower of strength to the Vics team”
“Bowie is a wonderful player, he has the confidence of the Victoria crowd, and his scoring gave them a feeling of security”
“Bowie threw himself into the breach time and again, but with all his dare-devil work, and all his impetuous rushes in which he was to the best of their ability supported by men who showed the wear and tear of the fast pace more than he did, he could not stem the tide”
“Bowie was the hero of the game”
“The fine work of Russell Bowie was practically responsible for the victory. He worked like a demon and his body play in the early stages of the second half counted”
“Bowie’s aptitude to slip into proper position in front of the net being particularly useful”
The Quebeckers put up a strong game against them, but their practical experience of the sport was not sufficient to conquer such men as Russell Bowie, the trickiest forward probably known to-day”
“Bowie, the wonderful, scored the first game”
Russell Bowie, the captain and rover, is the king-pin of the seven and without doubt one of a half dozen men who may be looked upon as the greatest exponents of the game playing at the present time. Of the men playing in the East today, McGee, of Ottawa, is Bowie’s only rival in centre ice. Bowie depends not so much on speed as on head work and as a tricky scorer is without equal. He is the terror of all goal minders and takes all kinds of chances when the opportunity to score presents itself”
“Of the seven Bowie was once more the star performer. In the first half, between his own hard luck and Moran’s sensational topping, he failed to connect with the nets, with no one to get by the goaler, were foiled by Moran rushing out and blocking his shot. In the second half things broke better for him, and he tallies six times. As usual, his best work was done when the Vics were apparently falling back, and it was mainly through his individual effort that his team changed a Quebec lead of three into a Vic lead of two”
“Anti-Victoria supporters always hoot at Bowie. It is a tribute to one of the slickest players the game of hockey has ever seen”
“With a Russell Bowie to handle the puck at the critical moments they would early have had a lead and probably the game”
“Bowie was the most conspicuous player on the ice and is evidently rounding into championship form. He was down the ice with every rush, always in his place, and the goals he did not actually score were all netted with his assistance”
“The Vic attack, as usual, revolved around Bowie, and the winners’ success was largely due to his clever work.”
“The real clever head work in the match was that of Bowie’s. He used his brain as well as his stick, and his passing was so clever that in every game scored by his team he either shot into goal himself of passed to somebody else who did the trick for him”
Stickhandling/Skating/Shooting
Bowie and Russell on the Vic’s forward line were the best skaters and stickhandlers the visitors had, and they did a pile of work without adequate support from the rest of the team”
“From a Vic point of view there was only one man on the ice. That was Russell Bowie. Speedy, a beautiful stick handler and a rattling shot, he won the match for the Vics”
“Bowie, on fast ice, would be a dangerous man. He is a very speedy skater”
“He [Bowie] was as tricky as ever, as fast and as aggressive. Some of the jumps he made were really wonderful. He made the score one to one and the crowd roared some more”
“Bowie was even more brilliant than usual, and with Blair Russell’s aid, worked in some combination tricks that phased the Westmount’s defence time and again.”
“Russell and Bowie were the mainstays on the forward line. Bowie’s stick handling is as near perfection as anything could possibly be”
“Bowie’s stick handling was a feature and a sight for sore eyes”
“Said an old Shamrock man: ‘There are some good players on the ice, but I don’t see anyone who can handle a stick with Bowie of the Vics’”
“The sixth went to the Vics, Umpire Ewing holding up his hand on a shot from Bowie. The thud of the puck against the end of the rink was taken by the Quebec crowd as an indication that the goal had not been scored, and an outcry was immediately raised. Umpire Ewing pointed to a large hole in the corner of the net”
Generalship
“The loss of Bowie was inestimable from the standpoint of the Vics, not so much for his playing ability as for his generalship. There was no one to direct the attack. The centre men did not feed the wings and all four wandered away from their positions”
“What Westwick was to Frye Bowie was to Haig and Pulford, and the Vic captain time and again emerged from rushes around the Ottawa goals with stick and arms gesticulating at the Ottawa point and goal. So eager was Bowie on one occasion to help out a shot from Russell that he landed in a heap behind Haig”
“It was largely due to the good generalship and strong individual play of Bowie’s Quebec was both out-generaled and out-played”
Grit/Hard Work
“The hard work told on the Victoria line and soon the only men doing any sort of work were Russell and Bowie. Both of these men worked hard throughout the match, and Russell ought to be a fixture on the Victoria team from this henceforth”
“Bowie worked harder than any man on the ice. He made a number of rattling runs. In the second half he passed through the Montreal defence several times, and only splendid goal keeping on Nicholson’s part saved a larger score”
“Of the visitors, Bowie, the captain, was a glutton for work and kept pegging away in spite of the mushy ice.”
“Captain Bowie, whose ability to play before the match was doubtful owing to an injured ankle turned out and played with his team”
“The crowd seemed to think that Bowie, the Victorias’ captain, was the worst offender. His bad temper was apparent many times, and he showed a nasty habit of using his elbow on the heads of his opponents. The big captain was evidently angered at the manner which the opposing forwards chased him and slashed at his lame ankle”
“Bowie played a hard, effective game
“Of the four, Dunlop proved of most value, and while he lasted kept the Wanderers’ defence busy. His style is reminiscent of Russell Bowie, and he bores right in on the nets”
“Few games pass in which Moran is goaltend and Bowie forward without a mix-up of some sort between the two. Moran wants no one to bother him in the nets, and Bowie accepts all chances and goes in to score when the opportunity offers”
“The Quebec defence gave Bowie a toss nearly every time he went down the ice, but Bowie has a specialty of being able to score standing on his head”
“For the Victorias Bowie was easily the most prominent worker and the fast rover stamped himself as one of the cleverest and grittiest players at present in the game.”
“To Bowie once more fell the honors on the Vics side and he was probably not only the most conspicuous player on his team but of the whole fourteen on the ice. He took a tremendous amount of punishment from the Ottawa defence but never wilted”
Puck Protection/Defensive abilities
“Bowie, of course, was all over the ice, breaking up the Shamrock rushes and doing the bulk of the work for his team”
“Bowie set his teeth and made for the vicinity of the QUebec goals, which he hardly left except when it was absolutely necessary to go back a little on account of the hard work of the Quebec forwards, till he managed to get hold of the perper puck to score”
“It did seem that on half-a-dozen occasions Blair Russell fairly flew over from his wing and interfered with some Montreal player just at the moment when the latter was in a dangerous position. Bowie was no less useful on such occasions, and this feature of the work done by the Victoria forwards had much to do with the result”
He also gets brought up in the early lists of the best players of all-time, when the position of rover was still fresh in everybody’s minds. As the memory of that position faded, so too did the memory of Bowie- his position was gone, so there was nowhere to list him on all-star teams.
“Russell Bowie, like an Indian on skates, if such an expression be permissible, was sneaking around for no good purpose, as far as Montreal was concerned, and some of the Montreal rooters on the rail noticed it, and warning shouts went up of ‘Watch Bowie!’ Watch Bowie!’.
“When it did get away, however, Russell Bowie had it, and he clings to a puck like a miser to his hoard, like a Kangaroo mother to its leaping babe, and only death or violent collision can part him from it”
“It was something unusual to see Bowie allow a man to steal the puck from him without the slightest resentment on his part or the slightest effort to recover it.”
In the interest of fairness, Bowie does have this one thrown against him after one game- “Bowie seldom rushes back to help the defence. His specialty is putting the puck in the net”
From the All TIme Best Players- Lists by Contemporaries thread:
1929/30
Malcolm Brice [1876-1971]
Legendary sports editor for the Ottawa Free Press who saw all the early greats play. He is the one who first gave Fred “Cyclone” Taylor his nickname and was instrumental in getting Cyclone to Ottawa. He also gave Percy LeSueur his nickname “Peerless Percy.”
He gave some insight of the earliest hockey stars
Art Ross picked a team-
The World's Best Hockey Players
Fanning Bee Brings Out Some Candidates
The Victoria Daily Times (1884-1971); Victoria, British Columbia [Victoria, British Columbia] 30 Jan 1912: 6.
Lester Patrick picked a team-
Bowie was also selected via a fan vote for a 1905 All Star team.
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