Dawson City Nuggets The Dawson City Nuggets ( also known as the " Klondikes " ) were a hockey team from Dawson City , Yukon Territory , Canada that challenged the reigning champion Ottawa Hockey Club , aka " Silver Seven " in January , 1905 , for the Stanley Cup , and suffered the most lopsided single - game defeat in the history of Stanley Cup play . Sponsored by the Klondike entrepreneur Joseph W . Boyle from men of the mining camps during the tailend of the Yukon gold rush , the Nuggets travelled an epic month - long voyage by dog sled ( Dawson to Whitehorse ) , ship ( Skagway to Vancouver ) and train ( Whitehorse to Skagway , and Vancouver to Ottawa ) to reach Ottawa in time for the games . The team had only one bona - fide player , ex - Ottawa star Weldy Young , but he was unable to make it to Ottawa in time , delayed in Dawson City as an election official . Exhausted by the trip and without Young , they lost the first game of the two - game total goal series 9 - 2 , and the second 23 - 2 , in which Ottawa star Frank McGee set a record that still stands of scoring fourteen goals . The team then played a series of exhibition games in the East before returning to the Yukon . Michael Onesi , a Whitehorse newspaper columnist , speculated , shortly before a 1997 re - enactment ( see below ) , that , had the Dawson team triumphed , they would have had the longest dynasty in Stanley Cup history . Challenges normally took place in the cup - holder ' s town , and visiting teams could not effectively play , the columnist wryly commented , after the brutal journey by overland coach to Dawson , their bodies blacker than a hockey puck from all the bruises of a dog - sled ride . The challenge . The Nuggets participated in perhaps the most famous Stanley Cup challenge of all , against the Ottawa Hockey Club , a . k . a " The Silver Seven " in 1905 . Dawson City had two former elite hockey players , Weldy Young who had played for Ottawa in the 1890s and D . R . McLennan who had played for Queen ' s College against the Montreal Victorias in the challenge of 1895 . Other players were selected from other Dawson City clubs . Dawson City ' s challenge was accepted in the summer of 1904 by the Stanley Cup trustees , scheduled ( inauspiciously ) for Friday January 13 , 1905 . The date of the challenge meant that Young had to travel later as he had to work in a federal election that December , and meet the club in Ottawa . To get to Ottawa , several thousand miles away , the club would have to get to Whitehorse by road , catch a train from there to Skagway , Alaska , then catch a steamer to Vancouver , and a train from there to Ottawa . On December 18 , 1904 several players set out by dogsled and the rest left the next day by bicycle for a 330 mile trek to Whitehorse . At first the team made good progress , but the weather turned warm enough to thaw the roads , meaning the players had to walk several hundred miles . The team would spend the nights in police sheds along the road . At Whitehorse , the weather turned bad , causing the trains not to run for three days , causing the Nuggets to miss their steamer in Skagway . The next one could not dock for three days due to the ice buildup . The club would find the sea journey treacherous , causing seasickness amongst the team . When the steamer reached Vancouver , the area was too fogged in to dock , and the steamer docked in Seattle . The team from there caught a train to Vancouver , and finally left Vancouver on January 6 , 1905 , arriving in Ottawa on January 11 . Despite the difficult journey , the Ottawa squad refused to change the date of the first game , only two days away . Otherwise , Ottawa was hospitable . The Klondikers received a huge welcome at the train station , had a welcoming dinner , and used the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Club ' s rooms for the duration of their stay . Young would not arrive in time to play for Dawson . The first game started well for Dawson , being only down 3 – 1 at the half , but things turned ugly afterwards . Norman Watt of Dawson tripped Ottawa ' s Art Moore , who retaliated with a stick to the mouth of Watt , who promptly knocked Moore out hitting him on the head with his stick . The game ended 9 – 2 for Ottawa . The game left a poor taste in the Klondikers , complaining that several goals were offside . Watt made the mistake of saying that Frank McGee wasn ' t that good as he had only scored one in the first game . McGee would score 4 goals in the first half of the second match and 10 in the second half leading Ottawa to a 23 – 2 score . Despite this high score , the newspapers claimed that Albert Forrest , the Dawson City goalie had played a " really fine game " , otherwise the score " might have been doubled " . Ottawa would celebrate by hosting Dawson at a banquet , then players would take the Cup and would attempt to drop - kick it over the Rideau Canal . The stunt was unsuccessful , the Cup landing on the frozen ice , to be retrieved the next day . The news was worse for McLennan and Watt . The day after the second game , the Yukon Territory announced that they would be laid off from work , effective immediately , albeit with pay until June 30 , 1905 . The pair worked in the gold commissioner ' s office . Re - enactment : 1997 . A team from Dawson competed against the Ottawa Senators alumni , in a re - enactment of the 1905 match , this time at the Corel Centre , complete with organ music , spotlights and other pizzazz . The Dawson team managed a slight improvement in score : 18 - 0 , with 25 shots - on - goal . 45 percent , the Senators ' take of receipts , was contributed to the Heart Institute , while the Dawson team donated 25 ounces of gold , or the cash equivalent , to the Yukon Special Olympics , another 45 percent of the receipts . The rest was designated to Yukon Minor Hockey . The team symbolically recreated the trip to Ottawa , though train service no longer runs between Whitehorse and the Pacific coast . References . The following is fiction , but is based on historical accounts :