The club won the inaugural championship of the also-new Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL) and challenged for the Stanley Cup.
Many of the early Wanderers had been members of the Montreal Hockey Club team of 1902, which won the Stanley Cup.
That team had been known as the "Little Men of Iron" because of the players' tenacity and small stature, and the nickname carried over to the new club.
The Wanderers, formed from players of the 1903 Stanley Cup champion Montreal Hockey Club, were the class of the league and went undefeated.
The Wanderers first Stanley Cup challenge was played against the Ottawa Hockey Club on March 2, 1904, resulting in a 5–5 tie game.