As to the alleged affluence of the players involved in the game at this time, this is certainly more difficult to determine that the above, since a hockey player's off-ice life was not often recorded for posterity. However in Win, Tie or Wrangle we get some background on a number of Ottawa players, for instance:
Albert Morel, G, 1891-1894: The son of a cabinetmaker, Morel was a student when he first joined the hockey club, and later worked as a private secretary and a bookkeeper for a lumber company.
Weldy Young, CP, 1891-1899: The son of a fire superintendant, he worked as an engraver in a watchmaking business tun by him and his two brothers.
Chauncey Kirby, C, 1891-1899: The son of a city treasurer, worked as a clerk at the Quebec Bank.
Bert Russell, LW, 1893-1896: Worked as a draughtsman for the Geological Survey.
Although there may be a tendency toward white collar work, none of these descriptions seem to indicate a particularly affluent lifestyle. Indeed, the player best described as affluent from the early days of Ottawa hockey would be Frank McGee, who didn't play senior hockey until 1903. McGee came from one of Ottawa's most prominent families, growing up in the “magnificent home” of his father, who was the clerk of the Privy Council, the highest-ranking civil service office in Canada. He worked as a timekeeper for the railroad, but it is certainly fair to say he came from an affluent family. However, he played at a time when the game was supposed to be becoming more serious, due to the Stanley Cup.
Similarly, census records can give us some insight into what players did for a living at a time when they didn't receive a penny for playing hockey. The following players all played at the highest level, prior to the introduction of the Stanley Cup. This is what the 1891 census lists their professions as:
Barlow, Billy - clerk
Bignell, Herbert - insurance clerk
Clapperton, Alexander - dry goods clerk
Cafferty, Thomas - lithographer
Davidson, Robert - grocery clerk
Fairbairn, William - insurance clerk
Hodgson, Archie - whale stationer
James, George - hardware clerk
Kinghorn, James - mill clerk
Larmouth, F.M. - brokerage clerk
Lee, Sam - trunkmaker
Lesser, Joshua - agent
Low, George - bank clerk
McDonnell, John - photographer
Routh, Havilland - clerk
Shearer, Andy - lumber merchant
Warden, William - bank clerk
Again, there does seem to be a tendency toward white-collar jobs, but unless “grocery clerk” or “hardware clerk” implies “affluent” to you, then there's no reason to think these men were particularly well-off in society, members of restrictive upper-crust social clubs.
