1917–18 Toronto Hockey Club season
The 1917–18 Toronto Hockey Club season was the first season of the Toronto franchise in the newly organized National Hockey League (NHL). While intended as a 'temporary' franchise, and operated by the arena management where they played, the team came together to win the Stanley Cup, the first in Toronto NHL franchise history and second after the Toronto Blueshirts victory in 1914.
Team business
In the inaugural meeting of the National Hockey League (NHL), the management of the Toronto Arena proposed to operate a Toronto franchise. When the Quebec team was unable to operate, the NHL created a temporary Toronto franchise for the Arena management to operate, ostensibly until an agreement could be made with Eddie Livingstone, owner of the Toronto Hockey Club, which had operated in the suspended National Hockey Association (NHA). The Arena management reached an agreement to lease the Torontos players, most of whom were under NHA contract. While agreement was reached on leasing the players, financial terms were not settled and this would lead to a law suit after the season. The team used the same uniform as the previous season, blue with a white 'T'. The Arena paid players on a cash basis, and many players played without a contract.
Regular season
The Torontos, Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, and Ottawa Senators were the original four teams of the league. The Wanderers would not finish the season, as the Montreal Arena burned down on January 2, 1918, and the club would fold after just six games.[1]
The Torontos would finish the first half of the season with a 8-6-0 record, finishing second to the Montreal Canadiens, however, Toronto put up a league best 5-3-0 record in the second half of the season, earning a spot in the O'Brien Cup finals against the Canadiens. Overall, the Torontos finished 13-9-0, tied with the Montreal Canadiens with the best record in the NHL.[2]
During a game on January 28, 1918, Alf Skinner of the Torontos and Joe Hall of the Montreal Canadiens were involved in a stick swinging duel. Both players received match penalties, $15 fines, and were arrested by the Toronto Police for disorderly conduct, in which they received suspended sentences.[3]
Reg Noble led the Torontos with 28 goals, which placed him third in the league, while Corbett Denneny had 20 goals, and Harry Cameron scored 17 goals. Alf Skinner, Ken Randall, and Harry Meeking would each get into double digits with goals, scoring 13, 12, and 10 respectively. Randall led the club with 55 penalty minutes, while Rusty Crawford earned 51 penalty minutes in only 9 games after being acquired from Ottawa.[4]
In goal, Hap Holmes played the majority of games, earning a club high 10 victories, while backup Arthur Brooks posted a team best 4.00 GAA.[5]
Final standings
[6] Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
The Wanderers defaulted scheduled games against the Canadiens (Jan. 2, 1918) and Toronto (Jan. 5, 1918), when their arena burned down.
These appear as losses in the standings, but the games were not played.[7]
Schedule and results
First half
- Montreal Wanderers forfeit game on January 5.
Second half
Playoffs
The Torontos would face the Canadiens in a two game total goal series. In the opening game at Mutual Street Arena, Toronto would have no problems defeating Montreal, winning the game by a 7-3 score. The series moved over to Jubilee Arena in Montreal for the second game, and while the Canadiens won the game 4-3, the Torontos outscored Montreal 10-7 in the series, and advanced to the Stanley Cup finals.
- Toronto 10, Montreal Canadiens 7
Stanley Cup final
Toronto would face the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA to determine the winner of the 1918 Stanley Cup Finals in a best of 5 series, with all games being played at Mutual Street Arena. Toronto took the series opener by a 5-3 score, however, the Millionaires evened the series up with a 6-4 win in the second game. The teams would again split the next two games, setting up a fifth and final game. The Torontos would hold off the Millionaires for a 2-1 victory, as Corbett Denneny scored the winning goal of the series.[8]
- Toronto 3, Vancouver Millionaires 2
- Games 1, 3, and 5 played with NHL rules, Games 2 and 4 played with PCHA rules.
Player stats
Scoring leaders
Goaltending
Note:
- Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
- Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;
Awards and records
Transactions
Torontos 1918 Stanley Cup champions
Roster
- Non-players
a Played rover position in the Stanley Cup series.
b Released before playoffs.
c Did not play in Stanley Cup series due to ineligibility.
Stanley Cup engraving
Even though they officially did not win the Cup during this season, the Vancouver club had the words "Vancouver/Defeated Seattle/1917–18/Score 1–0" engraved on the Cup after winning the PCHA championship over the Metropolitans, who won the previous year's Cup finals. This was similar to the practice prior to 1915 when the trophy was officially passed on to the winner of the league championship of the previous Cup champion's league.
However, the Toronto club never did engrave their name on the Cup to memorialize their series victory over Vancouver. At the time, the NHL club was in a dispute with the owner of the NHA Toronto franchise holder over the Stanley Cup revenues. In 1948, the NHL engraved "1918 Toronto Arenas" on the Cup.
See also
References
- ^ Holzman, Morey; Joseph Nieforth (2002). "Lichtenhein Loses the War". Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL Conquered Hockey. Toronto: Dundurn Press. pp. 169–70. ISBN 1-55002-413-2. "The league did not accept the Wanderers' resignation immediately, electing to wait and see whether the team showed up for its scheduled match in Toronto on Saturday January 5. ... The deadline did expire, and the once-powerful team that had been known as the Little Men of Iron was thrown onto the scrap heap of hockey history. The Wanderers' scheduled games of January 2 and 5 were officially recorded in the standings as victories for their respective opponents, the Canadiens and Torontos."
- ^ Final NHL Standings 1917-18
- ^ Borden D. Mills. "Kenora Thistles: 1907 Stanley Cup Champions: Joe Hall". Archived from the original on 2009-10-20. http://www.webcitation.org/5kfLKwmDb.
- ^ 1917-18 National Hockey League [NHL] standings at hockeydb.com
- ^ Toronto Arenas goaltending history : Harry "Hap" Holmes
- ^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy et al. ed. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
- ^ Holzman, Morey; Joseph Nieforth (2002). "Lichtenhein Loses the War". Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL Conquered Hockey. Toronto: Dundurn Press. pp. 169–70. ISBN 1–55002–413–2. "The league did not accept the Wanderers' resignation immediately, electing to wait and see whether the team showed up for its scheduled match in Toronto on Saturday January 5. ... The deadline did expire, and the once-powerful team that had been known as the Little Men of Iron was thrown onto the scrap heap of hockey history. The Wanderers' scheduled games of January 2 and 5 were officially recorded in the standings as victories for their respective opponents, the Canadiens and Torontos."
- ^ Legends of Hockey - Silverware - 1917-18 Stanley Cup Winner - Toronto Arenas
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