1918-19
In just its second season the National Hockey League found itself reduced to three teams when, just days before the season opener, a fire destroyed the Montreal Wanderers arena. That left Montreal without a team for its English-speaking community as the Canadiens drew primarily Montreal's francophones. Interestingly, the Canadiens rink, Jubilee Arena, would also burn a year later but the club would find a temporary home until a new rink -the Mount Royal Arena- could be built.
Wanderers players would be picked up by other clubs with their two biggest stars in Mickey Mackey and Sprague Cleghorn going to Toronto, raising hopes the Arenas might be a competitive club. Some ended up in the PCHA, which also had a franchise change. The Portland Rosebuds, despite winning three league titles in the past four years, were losing money and shut down, replaced by the return of the Victoria Aristocrats to the league after a two-year absence. Like the Wanderers, former Portland players also fanned out through the two leagues with reigning MVP Frank Foyston going to Ottawa, last year's scoring champ Bobby Rowe moving to Vancouver and goaltender Tom Murry signing on with Victoria.
Toronto was indeed much improved as a bounce back season from goaltender Hugh Lehman, combined with offensive production from the big three of Cyclone Taylor, Joe Malone and newcomer Corb Denneny helped the Arenas battle the defending champion Ottawa Senators for top spot all season. In the end the Senators claimed first by just two points over the Arenas. Ottawa had plenty of offense as well with Harry Meeking leading the league in scoring, followed closely by Corb Denneny's brother Cy. George Hainsworth was named the top goaltender in the league after posting a league-low 3.65 goals against average. The Montreal Canadiens, despite 26 points from Newsy Lalonde, had a terrible season and finished last with a 6-12-0 record.
The Victoria Aristocrats return to the PCHA was a successful one as they led the league with 24 points, while Vancouver and Seattle tied for second with 18. Offense was still at a premium as Victoria's Tom Murray posted the lowest goals against average a professional league had ever seen at 1.61. He was the clear choice for his third straight top goalie award while his teammate Frank Fredrickson led the league in scoring with 12 points and was named Most Valuable Player. Fredrickson had been an Aristocrat during Victoria's first stay in the PCHA, returning after the Montreal Wanderers, who he suited up for a year ago, suspended operations due to their arena fire.
The PCHA added a playoff this season, matching the NHL's old format of a two-game total goal series. Victoria prevailed over Vancouver, which was awarded second place on a tiebreaker, easily winning both games by scores of 3-0 and 4-1. An influenza outbreak had been sweeping the nation and it ended up racing through the Vancouver dressing room, leaving the Millionaires extremely short-staffed for the series.
The NHL also had major concerns with the outbreak. Dick Irvin of the Toronto Arenas was the first player to be sidelined with the Spanish Flu, being knocked out action late in the season. The playoffs were adjusted this season to be a best-of-seven affair, and the Ottawa Senators would win a wild opening game by a score of 8-7 before going on to win the series in six games with Cy Denneny leading the way with 7 goals and 11 points in the series. A number of Toronto players became ill during the series and missed several games.
STANLEY CUP
As the weather was warming up, the Spanish Flu intensified and there were calls by many to cancel the Stanley Cup series but owners from both Victoria and Ottawa elected to proceed. It would turn out to be a decision that had deadly consequences. Victoria goaltender Tom Murray would play the entire series but would be hospitalized immediately after the series and would die in an Ottawa hospital a few days later. Numerous other players on both teams were infected but fortunately all would make a full recovery.
Ottawa won the opening game by a 4-0 score with Buck Boucher and Frank Foyston each scoring once and adding an assist. George Hainsworth would earn the shutout but was called on to make just 13 saves in the Ottawa net. Game Two would also go Ottawa's way as Cy Denneny scored twice in a 6-3 Senators win. The lead would be increased to 3 games to none after Buck Boucher had a 3-point night in leading Ottawa to a 4-1 victory in game three.
Murray made 46 saves in game four, willing his Aristocrats to a 3-2 victory and allowing them to prolong the series. Frank Foyston had scored twice in the second period for Ottawa after Victoria had taken an early 2-0 lead, but Victoria's Frank Frerickson notched the game winner early in the third period.
The Victoria win in game three was just prolonging the inevitable as the Senators won their second consecutive Stanley Cup with a 4-3 victory in the fifth game. Victoria was missing 3 regulars and Ottawa one due to the flu and Murray was beginning to show signs of the virus that would claim his life a few days later but refused to leave the Victoria net.
NOTE- In real life the 1919 Stanley Cup final between the Montreal Canadiens and Seattle Metropolitans was abandoned before its completion due to the Spanish flu. Montreal defenseman Joe Hall would die days later due to the illness. FHM storylines listed a number of players who were sidelined with influenza during or around the time of the series including Murray. Since Hall was not in the series, I used a random number generator to determine which player would replace him as the casualty and it ended up being Murray, who had been named the top goalie in the PCHA each of the past three seasons.
In real life Tommy Murray, born in Buffalo in 1893, would live to the ripe old age of 70 and played hockey until 1930 but primarily in a California semi-pro league as he played just 14 PCHA games after the 1918-19 season. Interestingly enough, I learned in researching him that he was feared dead from injuries suffered during the 1933 Long Beach earthquake near Los Angeles, but it turned out the report was incorrect and he was confused with a garage employee also named Tommy Murray, and the goaltender Tommy Murray escaped the earthquake without injury.
1919-20
The Quebec Bulldogs had dropped out of the NHA a couple of seasons back after their manager had retired due to health reasons and the remaining owner's inability to get enough financing to move to the NHL. A new owner stepped up but according to some reports his plan was to use the Bulldogs to help resurrect the NHA but that did not happen and two years later the Bulldogs had the money to make their NHL debut as they joined for the 1919-20 season to bring the league back to four teams.
As part of the deal to return Quebec to the pro ranks, the league agreed to place all players that were on the Bulldogs Stanley Cup winning team in 1916-17, their final season in the NHA, back on their roster. This included Joe Malone who was returned to Quebec from the Toronto team, now known as the St. Patrick's, along with Duke Keats and Buck Boucher who had won back-to-back Stanley Cups with Ottawa.
Despite the loss of key players, Ottawa and Toronto remained the top teams in the NHL. The Senators benefitted from stellar goaltending from George Hainsworth to go along with the offensive production of Frank Foyston and Cy Denneny and easily finished atop the league for the third straight season.
After keeping pace with the Senators for much of the season, the St. Patrick's stumbled down the stretch but did manage to hold off Montreal by two points to claim second place. Mickey MacKay was the star of the show for Toronto, leading the league in goals with 21 and points with 49. The Newsy Lalonde led Canadiens made a hard charge for a playoff berth, winning five of the final six games but in the end fell just short. Quebec struggled both on the ice and at the box office, and were so strapped for cash they had to sell Joe Malone to Ottawa midway through the season. It seemed unlikely the club would be able to operate next season.
After being a best-of-seven a year ago, the NHL playoff returned to a best-of-five affair with the first two games set to be contested in Toronto. The St. Patrick's rebounded quickly from their rough finish to the regular season and trounced Ottawa 6-2 in the opener behind a pair of goals from league scoring champ Mickey MacKay. It would be Toronto's only time to celebrate in the series as the Senators roared back with three straight victories to earn a spot in the Stanley Cup Final for the third consecutive season. Game Two was a 5-3 Ottawa victory as Frank Foyston scored twice and added an assist. Art Duncan scored twice and Joe Malone had three points as the Senators prevailed 8-5 on home ice in the third game and then closed out the series with a 5-2 victory in game four keyed by a three-point outing from Eddie Gerard.
Out west, the Vancouver Millionaires led by PCHA MVP Frank Nighbor, who led the loop with 15 goals and tied with teammate Carl Kendall for the point lead, finished in first place by a full 12 points over both Seattle and Victoria. Vancouver also had the loop's top goaltender in Hap Holmes. Seattle would be awarded second place on a tiebreaker leaving defending champion Victoria on the outside looking in at playoff time as the loss of goaltender Murray was just too much to overcome.
Vancouver was an overwhelming favourite to win the two-game total goal playoff series as the Millionaires had won 8 of the 11 meetings between the two clubs during the regular season but it was the Metropolitans who took the opening game, winning 3-1 thanks to a pair of goals from Jack Adams. The Millionaires won the rematch, but only by a single goal 4-3, meaning they would lose the total goal series by a 6-5 count.
STANLEY CUP
The Spanish Flu epidemic which had cost the life of Victoria goaltender Tommy Murray and greatly impacted the Cup series a year ago, was now -for the most part anyway- a thing of the past. Still there were lingering concerns and the two leagues agreed in December to reduce the championship series from a best-of-seven matchup to a two-game total goal series.
It would be contested in Ottawa as the Senators looked to capture the Cup for a third straight year. It would be Seattle's first chance to play for the coveted trophy, one which had seen the eastern team prevail in each of the six previous seasons.
Like they were in the PCHA playoffs Seattle was the underdog once more, but the Metropolitans seemed to revel in the role and opened the scoring when Jack Adams beat Ottawa netminder George Hainsworth late in the first period. The two clubs traded goals in the middle frame - Adams scored again for Seattle while Frank Foyston replied for Ottawa- so the Metropolitans held a 2-1 lead entering the final period. It took just two minutes for the Senators Reg Noble to tie the game but the momentum, instead of shifting to Ottawa, seemed to favour the visitors as Jack Adams replied quickly with his hat trick goal, one which opened the floodgates. The Metropolitans would score four more times in the final ten minutes of the game and had a commanding 7-2 lead in goals entering the second contest.
Shocked at the turn of events they could do little about, the Senators again struggled in game two and lost it as well, falling by a 3-2 count as Jack Adams scored his fourth goal of the series. When the final buzzer sounded the Seattle Metropolitans had won 10-4 and became the first PCHL team to win the Stanley Cup.
CYCLONE TAYLOR RETIRES
At the conclusion of the season, Fred "Cyclone" Taylor announced his retirement. The 36-year-old from Listowel, ON., began his pro career with Ambrose O'Brien's Renfrew Creamery Kings and would end it in nearby Ottawa with the NHL Senators. He was much travelled both on the ice and off. On the ice he spent time at various points of his career playing all positions except for goalie and won two PCHA scoring championships while in a different year being considered the top defenseman in the coast league. He is one of a short list of players to play in all three leagues (NHA, PCHA and NHL) and likely should have earned the moniker "Suitcase" instead of Cyclone as he played for 8 different teams over his 11-year career.
Taylor was a two-time MVP of the PCHA and while he did not win a Stanley Cup, he did help Portland reach the finals in the spring of 1915 and was a member of the NHL playoff champion Ottawa Senators in his final season.
Nicknamed Cyclone because of his incredible speed, the real life Taylor was considered one of the first stars of pro hockey and the premier attraction at the birth of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. He led the Vancouver Millionaires to the Stanley Cup in 1915. It is said that his nickname was bestowed upon Taylor by the then-Governor General of Canada, Earl Grey, after he watched Taylor play. After his playing career Taylor worked in the Immigration Department and eventually rose to become the Commissioner of Immigration for British Columbia and the Yukon. He also ran unsuccessfully in Vancouver in two provincial elections. One of his sons won two Canadian University Hockey Championships and a grandson, Mark Taylor, would play 209 NHL games in the 1980's for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington.
HOCKEY MAKES OLYMPIC DEBUT
1920 marked the first and only time that the sport of ice hockey was part of the Summer Olympics. The winter Olympics would not make their debut until 4 years later so it would be the summer games that would usher in the sport's debut as an Olympic discipline. To be fair, it was not really a part of the summer Olympics either as while the tournament was played in Antwerp, Belgium as were the rest of the Olympic sports, hockey and figure skating were both contested in April of that year - four months ahead of the other sports.
In real life Canada, represented by the Allen Cup winning Winnipeg Falcons, dominated the event to win gold, outscoring their opponents in the 3 playoff games by a combined score of 28-1. The United States, which had only lost 2-0 to Canada, took the silver while Czechoslovakia claimed the bronze.
Things were much different in the replay as the United States, led by tournament scoring leader Fern Headley, would defeat Canada 4-2 in the gold medal game. Sweden blanked France 5-0 to claim the bronze.