Historic Hockey Highlights

Feeling the Heat in Montreal

In 1917 the NHL was in its inaugural season with four teams at the ready. Sam Lichtenhein, owner of the Montreal Wanderers, identified himself as a sore loser before the games even began. He demanded three players from each of the other teams in the league be sent to the Wanderers, because he felt that his squad was at a competitive disadvantage. But that would prove to be the least of his worries after his Montreal Arena exploded in 1918 and burned to the ground. To learn more about the early struggles of the NHL, read Ryan Kessler’s “Early NHL: Montreal 1917-1918.”

Who Cancelled the Stanley Cup?

In March 1919 the Montreal Canadiens were set to play the Seattle Metropolitans in game six of the Stanley Cup finals — but the Spanish Flu put majority of the Canadiens in the hospital. The Canadiens’ owner, George Kennedy, tried to forfeit the Cup to Seattle, but Pete Muldoon, manager-coach of the Metropolitans, refused the forfeit. The game was never rescheduled. To learn more about the deadly Spanish Flu, listen to this podcast featuring Eric Zweig, author of Fever Season.

Canada Mines Olympic Gold

The first Olympic hockey tournament took place at the 1920 Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. The Winnipeg Falcons represented Canada and they easily won the gold medal against the United States. To learn more about Winnipeg’s rich hockey history, watch this heritage minute or read Forgotten Heroes: Winnipeg’s Hockey Heritage, by Richard Brignall.

A Surprise Defeat

Remember when the Toronto Maple Leafs were perennial contenders for the Stanley Cup? We don’t either. But in 1938, they were clear favourites, which made it all the more shocking when they fell to the underdog Chicago Black Hawks. To learn more about the early days of the Black Hawks, read Ryan Kessler’s “Early NHL: The Underdog Black Hawks. Meanwhile, Leafs fans can relive the glory days by reading A Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs & the Rise of Professional Hockey by Stephen J. Harper.

Canada’s “Goal of the Century”

All Canadians of a certain age remember where they were when — with thirty-four seconds left in the final game — Team Canada’s Paul Henderson scored to defeat the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summit Series. Unbelievably, Henderson has not yet been admitted into the Hockey Hall of Fame for single-handedly saving Canadian hockey. To learn more about the Summit Series, read editorial cartoonist Terry “Aislin” Mosher’s first-hand account of the Summit Series, “On Thin Ice.”