The Billy Cannon Era (1920s)

Lore & Background

In the 1920s, the Ottawa Senators were a club in constant motion. After winning the Stanley Cup in 1920, the franchise departed the NHL following the 1920–21 season and spent the next five years competing in the Western Canada Hockey League, a circuit that stretched across the prairies and the Rockies. The team's roster churned, its identity shifted, and the very question of whether Ottawa would ever return to the NHL hung in the air. Into that instability walked players like Billy Cannon, whose value was not a line of scoring numbers but the way he made opponents think twice about crossing the blue line.

Hockey in that era was a different sport. Helmets were not yet standard, the ice was harder, and the pace was punctuated by long, grinding battles along the boards. A forward who could deliver a clean hit, protect the puck through traffic, and stay on his feet after a cross-check was as essential as the centre who dished out the assists. Cannon fit that mold: a player whose reputation was built in the locker room and in the dogpiles that followed every penalty, not in the box score.

When the Senators finally re-entered the NHL for the 1926–27 season and captured the Stanley Cup, the roster was a patchwork of veterans from the WCHL years and new signings. Cannon's contribution to that run was part of a larger culture of grit that defined the club through its most uncertain years—a culture that fans still reference when they talk about what it means to be a Senator.

In Their Own Story

The arena was half-full, the kind of Tuesday-night crowd that came for the hockey and left with sawdust on their shoulders. The floodlights buzzed overhead, casting long shadows across the ice. Cannon skated up from the bench, his skates biting into the frozen surface with a sharp crack, and lined up along the wall for the face-off. Across the ice, the opposing winger was a full head taller, grinning, tapping his stick against the boards. Cannon did not smile back. He squared his shoulders, dropped his centre of gravity, and when the puck dropped he went for the body first, the puck second. The hit rang out like a slap of leather, the crowd surged forward in their seats, and for a long moment the only sound was the hiss of breath through a wool scarf and the faint, metallic tick of a stick resting on the ice. He got up, spat, and skated back to the bench without looking back. That was the game. That was Ottawa in the '20s.

Reader's Guide

1919–1921: The Senators compete in the NHL and capture the Stanley Cup in 1920. After the 1920–21 season, the club departs the league, beginning the longest exile in franchise history.

1921–1926: Ottawa plays in the Western Canada Hockey League. The roster is rebuilt around available talent; the team's identity becomes tied to grit and regional pride rather than star power. Players like Billy Cannon anchor the forward line during this transitional stretch, and the club survives on a leaner budget and a wider geographic footprint.

1926–1927: The Senators re-enter the NHL. The 1926–27 roster blends WCHL veterans with new acquisitions. The team wins the Stanley Cup in 1927, a redemption moment that validates the five-year detour and re-establishes Ottawa as a legitimate NHL franchise.

Late 1920s onward: The club settles back into the NHL structure. The physical, board-heavy style of play that defined the mid-decade begins to give way to faster, more structured hockey as the sport evolves. The Cannon-era culture of toughness, however, remains a reference point for generations of Senators fans.

Did You Know?

• The Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup in 1920 and then left the NHL, spending five seasons in the Western Canada Hockey League before returning for the 1926–27 campaign.
• Hockey in the 1920s was played without the protective gear that is standard today; many players, including forwards like Cannon, competed with minimal padding and no helmets.
• The Senators' 1927 Stanley Cup victory came just one season after their return to the NHL, making the mid-1920s WCHL exile a brief but defining chapter in the club's story.
• The physical, shoulder-to-shoulder style of play that defined 1920s forwards was a product of the era's rules, equipment, and rink conditions—games were slower, harder, and far more punishing than modern hockey.