The NHL started to gather steam and while they had star players, they didn't have anyone that the NHL could get behind to promote the league. That started to change. Clint Benedict the best goalie in hockey continued to stop the puck better then anyone else. At the same time Cecil "Babe" Dye the Toronto scoring ace exploded and lead the league for a second straight year scoring 26 goals in 22 games. Dye opened the season by pumping 5 goals past Montreal's George Vezina and continued to dominate through the rest of the year. Benedict who had forced the NHL to get rid of the flopping penalty continued to entertain fans with his wildly erratic style.
Dye a tiny 5'8 player had the most powerful shot in hockey and a quick release, he was also considered to be dashing and a bit cocksure of himself. Benedict and Dye became the marquee players that the NHL needed to grow the NHL as the glamour of the game started to become more important then the game itself.
Trivia
After a long feud with Montreal ownership that included a 4 game strike, Newsy Lalonde is traded to Saskatoon of the WCHA in exchange for Aurel Joliat.
Joe Malone is traded by Hamilton to Montreal for Bert Corbeau and Edmond Bouchard.
The St Pats aiming for another cup trades Cobett Denneny to Vanouver for scoring ace Jack Adams.
The NHL has its first radio broadcast as Foster Hewitt does the play by play
The star loaded Senators who features a top line of Denneny, Frank Nighbor and Punch Broadbent win 14 games on the way to finish at the top of the NHL.
Clint Benedict wins his 5th straight GAA title with a 2.25 mark
Babe Dye leads the league with 26 goals and 36 points.
Ottawa wins its two game series against the Canadians by a 3-2 score.
Montreal owner suspends Sprague Cleghorn and Billy Couture prior to game 2 as a result of their goonish actions against Ottawa in game 1.
Newsy Lanlonde thrives in Saskatoon as a player coach and leads the league in scoring.
Edmonton wins the WCHL title and bounces Regina.
The PCHA eliminates the rover position going to a 6 man format.
The newly renamed Vancouver Maroons beat Seattle.
In game 1 of the Ottawa Vancouver series Ottawa wins 1-0 and loses Benedict, Eddie Gerard and Denneny during the game to injuries
The Sens beat Vancouver in the next two games to send them packing as they get their players back.
The Sens face Edmonton for the Stanley Cup.
Ottawa wins game 1 2-1 in OT as Denneny scores the game winner. In game 2 Punch Broadbent scores the only goal of the game to take another cup.
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A hat tip to Thomas Patrick Gorman, the manager who built the ‘Super Six’ in Ottawa that won Stanley Cups in 1920, 1921, and 1923.
Tommy Gorman never played hockey, but he won a gold medal playing lacrosse at the 1908 Olympics. He was a reporter by trade, and rose to become sports editor of the Ottawa Citizen. In the tumultuous 1916-17 season, the last year of the NHA, Ted Dey hired him to find new talent to replace all the players that the Ottawa Senators had lost to the army. Hockey and lacrosse have a lot in common, and being a first-rate lacrosse player must have helped Gorman spot hockey talent and recruit players to his team. He was a minority owner of the Senators during their glory years of the early 1920s, but after Frank Ahearn bought the team, Gorman sold his shares to Ahearn and headed south.
As the NHL expanded into the U.S., it quickly became clear that the big American cities held the future of the professional game. Gorman was the first coach and GM of the New York Americans, and after a few years dabbling in other interests, he returned to hockey as coach and GM of the Chicago Black Hawks. He won the Stanley Cup with the Hawks in 1934, after which he quarrelled with the team's owner, the mercurial Major Frederic McLaughlin. Gorman quit and took his formidable skills to Montreal, where he became coach and GM of the Maroons. His new team was just as successful as the old, winning the Stanley Cup in 1935. No other coach in history has won the Cup in consecutive seasons with two different teams.
After the Maroons folded due to the Depression, Gorman signed on with the Canadiens and won two more championships as their GM. He is the only man in the history of the big four North American professional sports to win championships as manager of four different teams.
During his long career, Gorman put his hand to all sorts of ventures. At various times he owned or managed race tracks, a senior hockey team, and a minor-league baseball team, and he reintroduced professional wrestling to Montreal after a long absence. He promoted big-band concerts, an evangelistic revival, and a successful tour by Olympic figure skater Barbara Ann Scott. He was still active in the sports world when he died in 1961, the last living founder of the NHL.
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Last edited by Jay Random; 02-15-2024 at 12:42 AM.
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The NHL and Hockey in general was considered to be one of the toughest games in the world. Even star players like Newsy Lalonde had to be tough, be willing to swing a stick and stand up for themselves. Last year Montreal had suspended their own players Sprague Cleghorn and Billy Couture for their over the top goonery in the the playoffs. Frank Nighbor a member of Ottawa's superstar lineup was a player cut from a different cloth. A highly skilled two way player who didn't think that fighting had a place in hockey, he would rather knock the puck off of your stick of hit you head on then chopping your head off or blasting you from behind. Because of his turn the other cheek mentality he took abuse from nearly every other player in the league, but he showed his toughness by taking it and becoming extremely valuable as Ottawa dominated the NHL.
In 1923-23 Doctor David A. Hart donated a trophy in his name to the leagues most valuable player. With 11 goals and 17 points in 20 games and with his all around effective game Nighbor was the first winner of the Hart Trophy.
Lady Byng the wife of Canada's Governor General was taken by Nighbor's skill and clean play and presented the league with a trophy in her name to be given out starting in 2023-2024. Trivia
After the Cleghorn/Couture incident in the playoffs last year the NHL redefines actionable match fouls creating new fines and mandates for the league review of incidences.
The Ottawa Senators continue to dominate winning the regular season title with 16 wins.
Cy Denneny of the Sens leads the league in goals with 22 in 21 games and wins the scoring title with 23 points.
George Boucher of Ottawa leads the league in scoring for defensemen with 19 points
Howie Morez is added to the Canadians and forms a super line with Aurel Joliat and Billy Boucher.
George Venzina breaks Clint Benedict's string of gaa titles as he wins with a 2.00 gaa.
Sprague Cleghorn takes a 1 game suspension for deliberately injuring Cy Denneny and Lionel Hitchman.
In the WCHL Bill Cook of Saskatoon win the scoring title with 26 goals.
Calgary wins the regular season title in the WCHL.
Mickey McKay of Vancouver wins the PCHA scoring title with 23 goals.
Calgary takes on Regina in the WCHA final. Calgary wins to represent the WCHA, Vancouver beats Seattle to win the PCHA title.
Montreal faces off against Ottawa and beats them. Habs ownner Leo Dandurand proclaims his team is the defender of the Stanley Cup. He then insists that Vancouver and Calgary have to face off for the right to play his Habs. He's told to cram it with walnuts, and the Habs, Calgary and Vancouver will face off in a playoff.
Vancouver is crushed in the semifinal 2 games total points series by Montreal who goes on to face Calgary in the finals.
Calgary is no match for the Canadians as they get crushed 6-1 in the first game as Howie Morenz pie faces the Tigers in the first game 6-1. The Habs then shutout Calgary in the second game to take the Stanley Cup.
The next year the Canadians would debut their globe jersey's as they proclaimed themselves World Champions.
For the second straight Olympics Canada crushes the world. They murdered Switzerland 33-0, Czechoslovakia 10-0, Sweden 22-0 Great Britain 19-2, and the US 6-1 in a squeaker. Harry Watson led all Olympic scorers with 30 goals.
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The NHL had survived its first 7 years and now it was attracting the eyes of big money investment especially from the States.
Boston was already considered to be a hockey hotbed, and when Charles Adams who was a grocery magnate attended the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1923 he was hooked and decided that hockey would blossom in America.
Adams formed an ownership group that was supported by Tom Duggan, Frank Sullivan and Russ Layton, and the NHL awarded Boston a franchise. Adams then hired Arthur Ross a former NHA defensemen who went about the business of building a team.
Other potential American's watched the birth the NHL in the States, however the Bruins on the ice weren't encouraging. Led by Charlie Steward in goal who got constantly shelled, Jimmy Herberts a unknown led the team in scoring with 22 goals, and while Boston opened their schedule with a win, they then proceeded to stumble to 11 straight losses. Boston scored 49 goals and allowed 119 goals.
The Bruins only won 6 games in year one finishing far behind the rest of the NHL the fire was lit as Charles Adams was flooded with calls from other US based promoters and soon applications for other franchises came pouring in. In New York Madison Square Gardens was completed and looking for a team. Pittsburgh was also a front runner.
But they weren't the only expansion team as Donat Raymond and Thomas Strachan were awarded a franchise in Montreal and the Maroons returned. The new owners immediately went to work loading up the team as they acquired Reg Noble from Toronto, and Ottawa goaltender Clint Benedict and Ottawa scoring ace Punch Broadbent.
Trivia
The expansion fee for Boston is $15000.00 (270,500 today)
The season extends from 24 to 30 games which enrages the players and will have an effect later in the season.
The Lady Byng trophy is awarded for the first time.
After being the league doormat for the last season, Hamilton wins 19 games and beats Montreal by 1 point to win the NHL regular season crown.
Toronto's Babe Dye wins the goals and scoring title with 38 goals and 44 points.
George Vezina wins his second straight G.A. title with a stingy 1.87.
Ottawa rookie goalie Alex Connell sets a NHL record with 7 shutouts.
Hamilton wins the regular season title but Hamilton's Red Green calls a strike as he claims his contract is for 24 games and he demanded that he and his team mates should receive extra money for the playoffs. NHL President Frank Calder suspends the team and awards their playoff berth to the 3rd place Montreal Canadians.
In the west Seattle shuts down operations as the PCHA and the league shuts down, Vancouver and Victoria join the WCHL.
Calgary wins the WCHA title and gets a bye to the WCHA finals Saskatoon and Victoria will face off in the semi finals. .
The Victoria Cougars beat Saskatoon in the semis and upset the Calgary Tigers in the finals.
The Canadians advance to the Stanley Cup finals by beating Toronto.
The world Champions fall to the Victoria Cougers 3 games to 1 to send the Stanley Cup West. Its the first time an NHL team has not won the Stanley Cup since the NHL was founded.
Frank Nighbor wins the first Lady Byng trophy, Billy Burch of Hamilton wins the Hart Trophy.
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When the Flames moved to Calgary, was there ever any consideration to re-brand them as the Tigers?
They actually had an informal write-in thing where fans could suggest nicknames for the team, but none of the suggested names got traction, so in the end they kept the name ‘Flames’.
In the old days, this sort of thing was not done formally at all. Since we've reached the first season of the Montreal Maroons franchise, I might as well use it as an example:
The owners of the new Montreal team actually wanted to resurrect the name ‘Montreal Wanderers’, because that team had won several championships in the 1900s and 1910s and was still regarded nostalgically. But Sammy Lichtenhein still owned the trademark on that name, and wouldn't sell it, at least not for any reasonable price.
Now, the Wanderers' logo had been a simple ‘W’ on a red shield. The new team got rid of the shield, changed the ‘W’ to an ‘M’ (to stand for Montreal), and went for a much darker colour. It was the press who nicknamed the team ‘Maroons’ after that colour, and the name stuck. Officially it was known simply as the ‘Montreal Professional Hockey Club’.
The Bruins got their nickname, by the way, because Charles Adams wanted a name that would go with yellow and brown uniforms. Why yellow and brown? Those were the colours in the logo of his grocery stores. The brown was changed to black some years later.
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Last edited by Jay Random; 02-16-2024 at 07:06 PM.
The NHL continues its foray into the States. After last years wild cat strike by Red Green and the Hamilton Tigers Frank Calder allowed the sale of the team and relocated it to New York where they became the Americans. The only thing that was missing was a arena to play in. New York had one major arena to host sporting events, Madison Square Gardens, one of the new mega arenas that were springing up in major American cities. The Gardens wasn't built for hockey though, it was designed to host events like boxing and pro wrestling and didn't have good sight lines. However the building did hold 13,000 seats and there were enough good seats to satisfy the fans, however the owners wanted nothing to do with buying a franchise.
Bill Dwyer was a colorful character to say the least, he spent time in prison and bounced around the streets until prohibition hit and he became wealthy on the back of the bootlegging trade. Dwyer decided to buy the Tigers and booked them into Madison Square Gardens.
Lead by Bully Burch their roster featured players such as Shorty and Red Green, Bullet Joe Simpson and Alex Mckinnon. The team finished with a 12-20-4 record, but they were a nightly sell out and it convinced the owners of the Gardens that they should have a team of their own, which would become the New York Rangers who would take to the ice the next year.
Trivia
The NHL now featured 7 teams with two franchises in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Boston and New York.
Rule changes continued that included delayed penalties to ensure 4 players on the ice. No more then two players could remain behind the bluelines after the puck leaves the defensive zones. And a face off could be called due to excessive ragging of the puck.
The regular season schedule goes to 36 games from 30 games.
Georges Vezina collapses on opening night and is diagnosed with Tuberculosis, he dies 3 months later.
The Maroons finish in 2nd place in their second season.
Maroons rookie Nel Steward leads the league in goals with 34 and points with 42, he also wins the Hart trophy.
The Senators finish with a 25-8-4 record to capture their 6th regular season title. . Alexa Connell wins the G.A. title with a 1.17 gaa and posts 15 shutouts.
Without Georges Venzina the Habs finish last in the league.
Bert Corbeau of Toronto becomes the first player to hit over 100 pnealty minutes in a year and finishes with 121 minutes.
Ottawa's Frank Nighbor wins his 2nd straight Lady Byng trophy.
The second place Maroons beat the place Pittsburgh Pirates in the NHL semi finals.
The Maroons shock the Senators in the league finals lead by Clint Benedict to take the NHL Championship.
In its last year the WCHL moves Regina to Portland and Canada is dropped from the WCHL name.
Edmonton takes the regular season title, but Victoria who finished in 3rd upset Saskatoon and Edmonton and gets the right to defend their Cup.
The Maroons again lead by Clint Benedict who shuts out Victoria in game 1 and 2 beat Victoria 3-1 to win the Stanley Cup. Benedict throws a shutout in game 4.
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The NHL continues its mass expansion as 3 more US teams join the NHL. The Madison Square Garden owned New York Rangers are joined by the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Cougars who were formerly the Victoria Cougars of the WHL. The NHL has now hit 10 teams.
The Ranger's went right to work signing star players like Frank Boucher and the brother combination of Bill and Bun Cook. Bill Cook was one of hockey's greatest all time Right Wingers and Bun was an excellent left winger, to they formed one of the best lines at this time.
The game continued to evolve as the drop pass became a standard NHL and Bun Cook was considered its inventor and the brothers executed it to perfection.
During this era of hockey with small rosters, this line was dominant and usually played a full game, because of that the expansion Rangers finished first in the American Division and Bill Cook dominated the scoring race scoring 33 goals and 37 points, he scored 8 more goals then the second place scorer.
Trivia
The NHL went to 10 teams and split into 2 divisions. The Canadian division which featured the Senators, the two Montreal teams, Toronto and the New York Americans. The American division was made up of the New York Rangers, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit.
The NHL schedule expands to 44 games
The demise of the WHL allows the NHL to claim exclusive control over the Stanley Cup
Conn Smythe who built the New York Rangers is fired before the season starts due to a dispute with management.
At the end of the season the Toronto St Pats are sold to Conn Smythe and Hugh Aird and their name is changed to the Maple Leafs.
Star players from the WHL head east and join the NHL. Eddie Shore finds his way to the Bruins, Bill and Bun Cook go the Rangers and Frank Foyston and Frank Frederick to to Detroit.
Lester Patrick takes over as the manager of the Rangers.
Bill Cook takes the scoring title with 33 goals and 37 points.
Dick Irvin who would later become one the faces of hockey night in Canada makes his rookie debut in Chicago and leads the league in assists with 18 and finishes second in the scoring race with 36 points.
Herb Gardiner a star defenseman with the Canadians wins the Hart Trophy.
Perennial powerhouse Ottawa Senators finished first in the Canadian division with 30 wins in 33 games.
Alex Carroll the Ottawa goalie continues to dominate with a 1.57 gaa, however George Vezina's replacement in Montreal George Hainsworth wins the first ever Vezina trophy. Hainsworth records 14 shut outs.
Clint Benedict of the Maroons wins the GA title with a 1.51 gaa.
The first year high flying Rangers win the American division.
Billy Bunch wins the Lady Byng trophy.
In the American division playoffs the Bruins crush Chicago in the preliminary round and then upset the Rangers.
In the Canadian division the Canadians slip past the Maroons in the first round but fall to Ottawa in the finals.
In game one of the finals in Boston the score is tied 0-0 after 2 overtime periods when the game is called off due to bad ice in Boston. Ottawa beats the Bruins 301 in game 2.
In game 3 the game goes to overtime tied 1-1 in Ottawa and the game is called off again due to bad ice conditions.
Cy Denneny scores twice in game 3 as Ottawa wins their last Stanley Cup.
This was the 4th Stanley Cup for the Senators franchise combining NHA and NHL championships. The Ottawa Silver 7s franchise had also won 3 Stanley Cup Championships. The Senators would start a period of decline after this season.
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[*]This was the 4th Stanley Cup for the Senators franchise combining NHA and NHL championships. The Ottawa Silver 7s franchise had also won 3 Stanley Cup Championships. The Senators would start a period of decline after this season.[/LIST]
I was just reading about the original Senators on Wikipedia, and unless I am misunderstanding, I believe the Silver 7 was technically the same franchise at the original Senators. The Generals, Silver 7, and Senators were all the Ottawa HC. The Ottawa HC franchise is credited with winning 11 Stanley Cups total under the 3 different names.
I also didn't realize that the current Ottawa Senators are officially a reinstatement of the original club and they lay claim to those titles as well. Club team and player records were reset however.
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Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 02-18-2024 at 10:19 PM.
[*]Dick Irvin who would later become one the faces of hockey night in Canada makes his rookie debut in Chicago and leads the league in assists with 18 and finishes second in the scoring race with 36 points.
Dick Irvin Sr.
Dick Irvin Jr. was the broadcaster.
Otherwise, I've been enjoying this thread. Keep it going.
Last edited by Reggie Dunlop; 02-18-2024 at 10:11 PM.
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Its unusual for expansion franchises to succeed in this day and age. It takes years of turning the leagues riff raff into solid pieces while compiling draft picks and using them properly. Its a slow and painful build. But we saw with the Maroons and the New York Rangers that teams can succeed very quickly.
For the Rangers like other teams the story was injuries or specifically an injury. In the Stanley Cup finals against the Montreal Maroons during game 2 after a scoreless first period Ranger's goalie was struck above the eye and could not continue. In the early days of the NHL teams didn't carry back up goalies, there were no emergency local goalies in the stands. It was lucky for the Rangers that Ottawa stud goalie Alex Connell was in the stands, so the Rangers asked that he be loaned to them for the remainder of the game. Yeah that Alex Connell. OF course Montreal outright refused and NHL President Frank Calder told Rangers' manager Lester Patrick to find a goalie in 10 minutes of they would forfeit the game.
Patrick managed to find a goalie . . . himself. AS the fans looked on Lester who had never played goal in his life skated out and took the crease. The Montreal crowd took one look at the 44 year old Patrick and welcomed him with an encouraging wave of laughter, but the Rangers basically formed a human wall around their goal and when needed Patrick stopped 15 out of 16 shots and at the end of regulation time the game was knotted at 1.
Lester was an inspiration to his team mates screaming at them to let them shoot, meanwhile Ranger's temporary coach Odie Spreghorn would cry out "For god sakes don't let them shoot".
The Ranger's would score to win the game in overtime. Lorne Chabot couldn't play in game 3 and Lester Patrick used Joe Miller a goalie for the New York Americans who pitched a 1-0 shut out. The Ranger's then won game 5 2-1 to win their first Stanley Cup in their second year in the league.
Trivia
In order to open up the game the NHL allows forward passing in the neutral zone and defensive zone.
The modern goal net is designed by Art Ross with the double curved back to catch the puck.
Coach Pete Muldoon is fired in Chicago and is so upset that he affixes a hex on the team saying they will never win the NHL title. it will become known as the Muldoon curse.
Barney Stanley is bought in to coach the Hawks, they win 7 games total and set a NHL record by having only 2 home wins.
The Canadians with Howie Morenz, Aurel Joliat and Art Gagne dominate the Canadian Division with a 26-11-7 record.
Canadian's goalie George Hainsworth allows 48 goals in 44 games with 13 shutouts and wins the Vezina trophy.
Alex Connell posts 6 straight shutouts 440 minutes .
Frank Boucher of the Rangers wins the Lady Byng trophy, he will go on to win 7.
Howie Morenz becomes the first NHLer to pass the 50 point mark with 33 goals and 51 points. He wins the Hart Trophy.
In the playoffs in the American division The second place Rangers face the third place Pittsburgh Pirates. while the Maroons and Senators face off in the Canadian Division.
The Canadians and Bruins receive first round byes.
The Rangers and Maroons win their opening series.
In the Semis the Maroons squeak by the Canadians and the Rangers upset the Bruins.
The Rangers beat the Maroons in 5 games as Lester Patrick plays goal in game 2 after an injury to Lorne Chabot.
On March 31, 1927 Gordie Howe is born in Floral, Sk
Canada skates to its 3rd straight Olympic title outscoring their opponents 38-0.
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Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Curse of the Muldoon
Quote:
The Curse of the Muldoon was a story invented by the late Jim Coleman, a legendary sports columnist, when he was working for The Globe and Mail in the late 1950s. The Maple Leafs were playing the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL playoffs, deadline was approaching and Coleman needed a column so the Curse of the Muldoon was born.
According to Coleman, when the team's eccentric owner, Major Frederic McLaughlin, fired head coach Pete Muldoon midway through the 1926-27 season, Muldoon told the owner the team would never finish first as long as McLaughlin lived.
The trouble is, having remembered Coleman's story from years ago, I looked it up in our electronic library. The version I saw was actually someone else's account of Coleman's tale. It said Muldoon told McLaughlin the Blackhawks would never win the Stanley Cup in his lifetime. I then wrote the Blackhawks finally won a Stanley Cup in 1961 after McLaughlin was long gone.
I was surprised to find that the '28 Stanley Cup finals were not actually the first time Lester Patrick played goal. In an amateur game early in his career, the goalie was injured and Patrick had to mind the net for a few minutes. This happened occasionally in the old days, when there were no line changes and teams carried only one or two substitutes and no backup goalie. Under the original rules of hockey, the whole 7-man team was expected to play the full 60 minutes except in case of injury.
In those days, it occasionally happened that one team would suffer an injury or a match penalty and run out of substitutes. If that happened, it was considered good sportsmanship for the other team to remove a man from the ice so both sides would still be at equal strength.
When Lester and Frank Patrick started the Pacific Coast Hockey Association back in 1911, they hired the absolute minimum number of players for their three-team league: seven men each for Vancouver, Victoria, and New Westminster, plus two substitutes for the whole league.
The substitutes then would have been used like EBUGs nowadays. Since there were only three teams, there was never more than one game on a given night. The substitutes would have attended every game, skating for whichever team lost a man to injury.
The Patrick brothers often locked horns with the NHA and NHL in the years when they shared control of the Stanley Cup. The NHL won out because the big new American markets simply had too much money for the small West Coast teams to compete. But as the old Western circuit was breaking up, Frank Patrick pulled one last trick on the magnates of the growing NHL.
Frank arranged for the Victoria Cougars (Stanley Cup champions in 1925) to sell their whole roster to the new Detroit club for $100,000. The Portland Rosebuds sold their players to Chicago for the same amount, and the remaining players in the league were auctioned off for another $160,000. The proceeds were split among the owners of the WHL clubs, who used the money to set themselves up in business as a minor pro league with new players.
The thing was, the WHL didn't actually hold the rights to the players they sold. Unlike the NHL, the Patrick brothers' various leagues did not have a reserve clause, which meant that when the league broke up, every one of their players was technically a free agent. Apparently nobody bothered telling the NHL's new American owners that pertinent little fact. They paid $360,000 in total for the rights to players who weren't actually under contract to anyone. But they made out like bandits on the profits from the big new U.S. arenas, and Detroit and Chicago inherited players who were already used to playing together; so I don't suppose anyone came out of the deal with cause for complaint.
The NHL was still an upstart in the world of North American pro sports. In 1928, the entire Stanley Cup finals were played on the Maroons' home ice, the Montreal Forum. Why? Madison Square Garden had already booked those dates for a circus! So the Rangers won their first championship playing every game on the road, in front of a hostile crowd – and without their regular goalie for much of the series.
Here is the legendary photo of 44-year-old Lester Patrick in his goaltending equipment for the Rangers in 1928.
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One thing I like to do when thinking about the history of the NHL, is to see how many degrees of separation there are between payers now and players then. I usually just use arbitrary and specific points in time, like how many degrees separate Jarome Igina for Maurice Richard. This time I will try to figure out the least degrees of separation from 1917 to the current players in the NHL.
Joe Malone played with Howie Morenz
Howie Morenz played with Toe Blake
Toe Blake played with Maurice Richard
Maurice Richard played with Henri Richard
Henri Richard played with Guy LeFfeur
Guy Lefleur played with Joe Sakic
Joe Sakic played with Owen Nolan
Owen Nolan played with Jarome Iginla
Jarome Iginla played with Mikael Backlund.
So there is 9 degrees of separation between Backlund and Joe Malone. Which seems like a lot until could consider it's been over 100 year.
I am sure if I had the time to really focus on it, I could probably cut down by a couple of degrees. I was adamant for it to have a Flames angle in the end.
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One thing I like to do when thinking about the history of the NHL, is to see how many degrees of separation there are between payers now and players then. I usually just use arbitrary and specific points in time, like how many degrees separate Jarome Igina for Maurice Richard. This time I will try to figure out the least degrees of separation from 1917 to the current players in the NHL.
Joe Malone played with Howie Morenz
Howie Morenz played with Toe Blake
Toe Blake played with Maurice Richard
Maurice Richard played with Henri Richard
Henri Richard played with Guy LeFfeur
Guy Lefleur played with Joe Sakic
Joe Sakic played with Owen Nolan
Owen Nolan played with Jarome Iginla
Jarome Iginla played with Mikael Backlund.
So there is 9 degrees of separation between Backlund and Joe Malone. Which seems like a lot until could consider it's been over 100 year.
I am sure if I had the time to really focus on it, I could probably cut down by a couple of degrees. I was adamant for it to have a Flames angle in the end.
If you inserted Jagr in there, you probably could get rid of a couple degrees.
When we talk about impactful and memorable players throughout the history of the NHL Eddie Shore has to be one of the first names that comes to mind.
While the NHL at this era had superstars as forwards with players like Morenz, and Bill Cook and incredible goalies like Alex Connell and George Hainsworth. Defensemen really weren't noticed. They were there to prevent goals and get the puck to the forwards.
Eddie Shore came to the NHL from the defunct PCHA and he bought a brash no no nonsense personality, and he created mayhem every time he hit the ice. In his second year in the league he racked up 163 minutes in penalties and because of that the blue collar Boston Bruins fans adopted him as one of their own.
Eddie Shore was vicious, there's no denying that and his name will become notorious and linked to the NHL Allstar games forever. But he was also incredibly tough. He broke three ribs in a game in New York and the Ranger's left him there to be cared for by a physician while they headed to Montreal. Meanwhile Eddie hailed a cab to Grand Central Station and bought a late train ticket to Montreal and played the next night.
Shore also revolutionized the game. In the early NHL era, defensemen stayed near their blueline and rarely rushed the puck up the ice. Shore broke that rule because he was not only vicious, but he was a great skater and he would rush the puck up the ice. In 1928-29 he scored 12 goals and 7 assists, and this led him to win 4 hart trophies in the 1930's. When you look at Shore who was teamed up with Lionel Hitchman they were an exceptional defensive pairing and allowed Boston goalie Cecil "Tiny" Thompson to put up a 1.18 gaa. With Shore on the blueline and Thompson in goal the Bruins managed to upset the vaunted Canadians and knock off the powerful Rangers to win their first Stanley Cup.
Shore will show up many times in the write ups, first for his on ice performances and later in his roles as a coach and minor league team owners.
Trivia
The NHL now allows forward passing in the defensive and neutral zone as well as forward passing into the attacking zone from the neutral zone, but forward passing is still not allowed in the offensive zone.
A delay of game penalty will now be called on any player who delays the game by passing the puck backwards into his own defensive zone.
Regulation ties will now result in a 10 minute non sudden death overtime period
Despite all of the rule changes to encourage offence George Vezina racks up 22 shutouts and a .98 gaa.
The Canadian's dominate the Canadian Division with a 22-7-15 record
Toronto rookie Ace Bailey leads the league with 22 goals and 32 points.
Chicago sets a unbeatable record by being shutout 8 games in a row.
The Canadians riding a hot George Hainsworth rip off a 17 game undefeated streaks.
New York Rangers center Franch Boucher leads the league in assists with 16 and wins his second straight Lady Byng trophy.
The Rangers trade Lorne Chabot to the Leafs and name John Roach as their goalie, he posts a 1.48 gaa.
The Rangers Bread line of Bill Cook, Frank Boucher and Bun cook dominates as all three players hit double digits in goals.
The playoffs debut a new format. The first, second and third place team from each division play their opposite number in the other division.
In the opening round Toronto and Detroit who each finished third in their division face off in a two goal total goal series, Toronto destroys Detroit 7-2.
The Ranger's and American's face off in a inter city series and the Rangers clinch with a goal in double overtime in game 2.
Montreal and Boston face off in a best of 5 match up but the Bruins pull one of the greatest upsets of all time and sweep the Habs.
The Rangers face Toronto in the second round while Boston receives a bye to the finals.
The best of three semi final see's the Rangers beat the Leafs.
In the inals Tiny Thompson of the Bruins shutout the Rangers in game one and Bill Caroson breaks a 1-1 tie with 58 seconds left as the Bruins take homes the Stanley Cup.
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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Behind the goaltending of "Tiny" Thompson and with Eddie Shore on the blueline the Bruins rounded into a dominant team. To bolster their attack, manager Art Ross put together a forward line of Aubrey "dit" Clapper, Ralph "Cooney" Weiland and Norman "Dutch" Gainer. This line known as the Dynamite Trio became dominant Weiland put up 73 points setting a NHL record, and he scored 43 goals. The Bruins carved up the NHL finishing with a record of 38-5-1, what made this record impressive is that the Rangers, Canadians and Maroons all had high powered dominant teams. The Bruins had a 14 game winning streak as well.
Just to show the dominance of the Dynamite line Weiland finished with 43 goals, Clapper finished 2nd with 41 goals and 61 points. Eddine Shore dominated and Thompson won the Vezina trophy. This is a team that would look at the Oilers of the 80's with disdain and call them a nice little team.
But it wasn't meant to be for the Bruins. They destroyed the Maroons in the first round of the playoffs, but fell in the finals to the Canadians. Though the Bruins dominated the series in a 3 game series anything can happen.
Trivia
The Detroit Cougars changed their name to the Falcons.
The NHL allows forward passing in all zones, the league also allows the puck to be kicked, just not into the net. Goalies were no longer allowed to freeze the puck and had to play the puck right after a save.
High sticking becomes a penalty as the NHL tries to cool down the violence.
Offside is bought in as well to prevent a attacking player from proceeding the puck into the offensive zone.
NHL scoring explodes form 642 goals in 1928-29 to 1301 goals.
The Bruins win the American division finishing 30 points ahead of Chicago.
The Rangers Franck Bouchard records 36 assists and wins the Lady Byng again.
Hit in the face by a shot from Howie Morenz Maroons goalie puts on a goalie mask to protect his broken nose.
On Dec 19th Pittsburgh's Johnny McKinnon and Toronto's Hap Day make history when both defensemen score 4 goals in the same game.
Tiny Thompson wins the Vezina with a sky high 2.34 gaa.
Nels Steward scores 39 goals and 55 points for the Maroons and wins the Hart trophy.
The Canadians face the the Black Hawks in the first round of the playoffs, while the Rangers face the Senators. The Habs win the two game total goals series 3-2. The Rangers trash the Senators 6 goals to 2.
In the payoff meeting of divisional winners the Bruins beat the Maroons 3 games to 1.
The Canadians face off against the Rangers and after a first game thriller that went to 4 overtime periods before the Canadians won the two exhausted teams played the next night and Montreal beats the Rangers 2-0 to go to the finals.
The Habs shut down the Rangers in the first game of the finals and then secure the upset by beating the Bruins 4-3 when Morenz scores the winner in the second period.
Because of the collapse of the Steel industry and the horrid Pittsburgh team they pack it in at the end of the season and go to stay with their auntie and uncle in Philadelphia where they change their name to the Quakers.
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
