| 1917–18Toronto Hockey Club | |
|---|---|
Stanley Cup champions | |
| League | 2nd (1st half), 1st (2nd half)NHL |
| 1917–18 record | 13–9–0 |
| Home record | 10–1–0 |
| Road record | 3–8–0 |
| Goals for | 108 |
| Goals against | 109 |
| Team information | |
| General manager | Charles Querrie |
| Coach | Dick Carroll |
| Captain | Ken Randall |
| Arena | Arena Gardens |
| Team leaders | |
| Goals | Reg Noble (29) |
| Assists | Harry Cameron Corb Denneny Reg Noble (10) |
| Points | Reg Noble (39) |
| Penalty minutes | Ken Randall (116) |
| Wins | Hap Holmes (9) |
| Goals against average | Hap Holmes (4.73) |
1918–19 → | |
The1917–18 Toronto Hockey Club season was the first season of the new Toronto franchise in the newly-organizedNational Hockey League (NHL). The team was intended as a 'temporary' franchise, operating without an official club nickname (the press would dub them the "Blue Shirts" or "Torontos",[1] and in 1948 the NHL would engrave "Toronto Arenas" on the Stanley Cup as the 1917–18 winner) and without a formal organization separate from the Toronto Arena Company that managed theArena Gardens. Despite this, the team came together to win the first NHL Championship, competing against existing teams that had transferred directly from theNational Hockey Association (NHA). Toronto would go on to win theStanley Cup by defeating thePacific Coast Hockey Association championVancouver Millionaires – the first Stanley Cup for an NHL team and the second Cup for a Toronto team after theToronto Blueshirts' victory in the1913–14 season of the NHA. To this day, the Toronto Arenas are the only team in the four major North American sports to win the title in their first season as a franchise.
A series of disputes in the NHA withToronto Blueshirts ownerEddie Livingstone led the owners of the other four NHA clubs to create the NHL for the 1917–18 season. They didn't invite Livingstone to join them, effectively leaving him in a one-team league.
The owners turned down a proposal from the management of the Toronto Arena Company to create a new Toronto-based franchise to join the other former NHA teams in a five team NHL.[2] When theQuebec Bulldogs announced they didn't have enough financing to ice a team for the NHL's first season, the NHL granted a temporary franchise to the Toronto Arena Company, maintaining a balanced four-team league and providing representation to the second largest market in Canada. The Arena Company was required to return their temporary franchise to the league if they could not resolve the dispute by the end of the season.
The Toronto Arena Company reached an agreement to lease most of Livingstone's NHA players. The Toronto Arena Company paid players on a cash basis, and many players played without a contract. The players used the same uniform as the previous NHA season – blue with a white 'T'. As a result, while this team did not have an official name, fans and reporters called them "the Torontos" or even "the Blueshirts."
While agreement was reached on leasing the players, financial terms were not settled and this would lead to Livingstone filing a post-season lawsuit against the Toronto Arena Company.[2] This dispute included a disagreement regarding the distribution of revenues from the Toronto Stanley Cup games in 1917, resulting in the Toronto club never engraving their name on the Cup to memorialize their series victory. In 1948, the NHL engraved "1918 Toronto Arenas" on the Cup, using the official nickname of the closely related1918–19 Toronto franchise.
Following the season, the Arena Company returned its temporary franchise to the NHL. However, in response to the lawsuit, instead of returning the players to Livingstone, or even paying Livingstone, the Arena Company immediately formed a new club, the Toronto Arena Hockey Club, popularly known as the Toronto Arenas. The new club was a standalone corporation that could exist separate from any legal action. The NHL duly admitted the Arenas as a full member in good standing. After only one season, the Arenas filed for bankruptcy, and were sold to new owners who changed the team's name to theToronto St. Patricks. Midway through the 1926-27 season, the St. Pats adopted their current name, theToronto Maple Leafs.
While the Maple Leafs claim the 1917-18 Torontos season as the first season in their history, they do not claim the history of the NHA Blueshirts as their own even though the 1917-18 Torontos were a nearly complete (though unpaid) leasing of the 1916–17 Blueshirts. The NHL was formed to eject Livingstone from the NHA, and the Blueshirts franchise formally ceased to exist. For that reason, the Maple Leafs could not claim the NHA Blueshirts' legacy.
The Toronto team (the 'Torontos' for the remainder of this article),Montreal Canadiens,Montreal Wanderers, andOttawa Senators were the original four teams of the league. The Wanderers would not finish the season, as theMontreal Arena burned down on January 2, 1918, and the club would fold after just six games.[3]
The Torontos would finish the first half of the season with an 8–6–0 record, finishing second to the Montreal Canadiens, however, the Torontos put up a league best 5–3–0 record in the second half of the season, earning a spot in theO'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.[4]
During a game on January 28, 1918,Alf Skinner of the Torontos andJoe Hall of theMontreal 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.[5]
Reg Noble led the Torontos with 30 goals, which placed him third in the league, whileCorbett Denneny had 20 goals, andHarry Cameron scored 17 goals.Alf Skinner,Ken Randall, andHarry Meeking would each get into double digits with goals, scoring 13, 12, and 10 respectively. Randall led the club with 55 penalty minutes, whileRusty Crawford earned 51 penalty minutes in only 9 games after being acquired from Ottawa.[6]
In goal,Hap Holmes played the majority of games, earning a club high 10 victories, while backupArthur Brooks posted a team best 4.00 GAA.[7]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 81 | 47 | +34 | 20 | Qualification for theplayoffs |
| 2 | Toronto Hockey Club | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 71 | 75 | −4 | 16 | |
| 3 | Ottawa Senators | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 67 | 79 | −12 | 10 | |
| 4 | Montreal Wanderers | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 35 | −18 | 2 | Withdrew from the season[a] |
"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." — Holzman.[8]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto Hockey Club | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 37 | 34 | +3 | 10 | Qualification for theplayoffs |
| 2 | Ottawa Senators | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 8 | |
| 3 | Montreal Canadiens | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 34 | 37 | −3 | 6 |
| 1917–18 NHL Records[9] | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | MTL | MTW | OTT | TOR | ||||||||
| M. Canadiens | — | 2–0 | 6–4 | 5–5 | ||||||||
| M. Wanderers | 0–2 | — | 0–2 | 1–1 | ||||||||
| Ottawa | 4–6 | 2–0 | — | 3–7 | ||||||||
| Toronto | 5–5 | 1–1 | 7–3 | — | ||||||||
| 1917–18 regular season[10] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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First half
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Second half
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Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Torontos qualified for the post-season as they had the best record in the league in the second half of the season, and faced theMontreal Canadiens, who were qualifiers from the first half-season, in a two-game total goal series.
In the first game at Mutual Street Arena, withHap Holmes in goal for the Torontos, againstGeorges Vezina of the Canadiens. Toronto took an early 1-0 lead on a goal byHarry Meeking five minutes into the game. The TorontosKen Randall gave the club a 2-0 heading into the second period. Montreal cut into Toronto's lead, asNewsy Lalonde scored four minutes into the second period, however, a minute later, the Torontos restored their two-goal lead asHarry Meeking scored his second goal of the game. In the third period,Harry Meeking scored his third of the game to give Toronto a 4-1 lead.Bert Corbeau cut the Torontos lead down to 4-2 after he scored two minutes later, however, two quick Toronto goals, one byJack Adams and another byHarry Cameron gave the team a commanding 6-2 lead.Newsy Lalonde scored his second of the game a minute after Cameron's goal, cutting the lead to 6-3, but the Torontos responded on a goal byHarry Mummery, giving them a 7-3 win.
The series moved to theJubilee Arena for the second game, withHap Holmes getting the start for Toronto againstGeorges Vezina of Montreal.Reg Noble scored the only goal of the first period, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead. In the second period, Montreal tied the game on a goal byJoe Malone, and took a 2-1 lead after a goal byJack Mcdonald. The TorontosRusty Crawford tied the game 2-2 late in the period. The CanadiensNewsy Lalonde scored early in the third, giving Montreal a 3-2 lead, however,Rusty Crawford tied it for Toronto midway through the period. Two and a half minutes later,Newsy Lalonde gave Montreal a 4-3 lead, however, that was all the Canadiens could do, as Toronto defeated Montreal 10-7 in the two game total goal series.
The Toronto club would face theVancouver Millionaires of thePCHA to determine the winner of the1918 Stanley Cup Finals in a best of 5 series, with all games being played atMutual Street Arena. The Torontos took the series opener by a 5–3 score, with the Millionaires earning 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 with 2–1 victory, as Corbett Denneny scored the winning goal of the series.[11]
| 1918 Stanley Cup playoffs[10] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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NHL championship vs. Montreal Canadiens – Toronto wins 10 goals to 7 goals
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Stanley Cup Finals vs. Vancouver Millionaires – Toronto wins 3–2
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Legend: Win Loss | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reg Noble | 20 | 30 | 10 | 40 | 35 |
| Corb Denneny | 21 | 20 | 9 | 29 | 14 |
| Harry Cameron | 21 | 17 | 10 | 27 | 28 |
| Harry Meeking | 21 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 28 |
| Alf Skinner | 20 | 13 | 5 | 18 | 28 |
| Ken Randall | 21 | 12 | 2 | 14 | 96 |
| Harry Mummery | 18 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 41 |
| Rusty Crawford | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 51 |
| Jack Coughlin | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Jack Adams | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| Art Brooks | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sammy Hebert | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hap Holmes | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Marks | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | T | GA | SO | GAA |
| Arthur Brooks | 4 | 220 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 4.00 |
| Hap Holmes | 16 | 965 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 76 | 0 | 4.73 |
| Sammy Hebert | 2 | 80 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 7.50 |
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.
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