format—two home games, two away games against each team. The Thistles were against this, and wanted to play only one home and one away game against the others, as they would be gone for nearly a month for their Cup challenge. Ultimately a compromise was reached. The Thistles would play one home and away game, while the other three teams would play two home and two away. Since this would lead to an unbalanced schedule (the Thistles would have played six games while the other teams had played ten), scores in the games not including the Thistles would be combined for the purposes of the league standings, so all teams would be credited with six games played. January 1907 Stanley Cup challenge As the 1906 champions of the Manitoba league, Kenora earned the right to challenge for the Stanley Cup, which was held by the Montreal Wanderers, but the season ended too late for the series to be held that year. It was postponed until January 1907, during the league's regular season play. The Thistles left for Montreal and the Cup challenge on January 12, 1907. Taking advantage of the new professionalism of their league, the club hired Art Ross, and Joe Hall from Brandon, considered two of the best players in the Manitoba league. It is unclear how much they were paid for the series, but ice hockey historian Eric Zweig has speculated the amount was substantial (though Hall did not play any games for the Thistles). This marked the first time the Thistles had paid players on the team and confirmed their status as a professional club. The Wanderers, by contrast, had five professional players and four amateurs on their roster. The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the Wanderers' league, allowed professionals beginning in the 1906–07 season as long as each players' status was defined by the team. Though the Thistles hired two professional players, the media again emphasized the team consisted mainly of local amateurs, and noted the Wanderers had hired multiple professional players, most notably Hod Stuart, who had played previously for the Pittsburgh Professionals. Even so, the consensus was that the Thistles were the favourites to win the Cup. The first game of the two-game, total-goal series was held on January 17 in Montreal. Tommy Phillips scored all four Kenora goals in a 4–2 victory. The second game, on January 21, saw him record