March 13, 1918: The National Hockey League's 1st Championship is decided -- although the Stanley Cup Finals were yet to come. Fittingly, it is decided between the 2 teams that have won the most NHL Championships.
The NHL had been founded on November 26, 1917, to replace the National Hockey Association. The NHL was founded because Eddie Livingstone, owner of the Toronto Blueshirts, 1914 Stanley Cup winners, was driving the other 5 team owners nuts. Since they couldn't get rid of him, they got rid of themselves, founding a league, and leaving Livingstone with control of a league with one team in it. The other owners "didn't take their ball and go home," they just left Livingstone with nobody to play with.
World War I was on, and the manpower drain meant that the Quebec Bulldogs, 1912 and 1913 Stanley Cup winners, had trouble fielding a team that season. The Montreal Wanderers, Stanley Cup winners in 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910, could field a team. But their arena burned down on January 2, 1918, taking their office, documents, uniforms and other equipment, and they never played another game.
That left 3 teams: The Toronto Arenas; the Montreal Canadiens, 1916 Stanley Cup winners; and the Ottawa Senators, Stanley Cup winners in 1903, 1904, 1905, 1909 and 1911. The League had a split-season format: Montreal had the best record in the 1st half, Toronto the best in the 2nd half. So 2-games, total-goals series was set up.
On March 11, they played at the Mutual Street Arena in Toronto. The Arenas won, 7-3. Two days later, at the Montreal Arena -- not the one that burned down, although it also would, 2 years later -- the Canadiens could only win, 4-3, and Toronto were the Champions.
They then faced the Vancouver Millionaires, 1915 Stanley Cup winners and Champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, for the Stanley Cup. All the games were played at the Mutual Street Arena. Toronto won Game 1, 5-3. Vancouver won Game 2, 6-4. Toronto won Game 3, 6-3. Vancouver won Game 4, 8-1. Game 5, on March 30, decided it. At 10:30 of the 3rd period, Corbett "Corb" Denneny scored to give Toronto a 2-1 lead, and that held up, making them "World Champions" and giving them the Cup.
Hail the Champions: Goalkeeper Harry "Hap" Holmes; defensemen Harry Cameron, Ken Randall (also the Captain) and Harry Mummery; centers Reg Noble, Corb Denneny and Jack Adams; and wingers Alf Skinner, Russell "Rusty" Crawford, Jack Coughlin, Harry Meeking and Jack Marks. Their head coach was Dick Carroll.
Holmes, Cameron, Noble, Adams and Crawford would all go on to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as players. But Adams is better known as the man who led the Detroit Red Wings to 7 Stanley Cups as general manager, the 1st 3 as their head coach. The NHL's Coach of the Year award is named for him.
In 1920, to try to draw more fans from Toronto's Irish community, the Arenas changed their name to the Toronto St. Patricks, and switched to green uniforms. Under this name, they won the Stanley Cup again in 1922.
In 1927, they were bought by a syndicate led by Conn Smythe. Of wholly English descent, and a Canadian nationalist, Smythe didn't like the Irish, so he renamed the team the Toronto Maple Leafs, and switched back to their former blue color scheme. In 1931, he opened their new arena, Maple Leaf Gardens.
From 1942 to 1979, of the 38 Stanley Cups awarded, 28 were awarded to either the Leafs or the Canadiens. In total, the Canadiens have won it 24 times, the Leafs 13. The Red Wings are next-best, with 11. However, the Leafs haven't even reached the Stanley Cup Finals since 1967; the Canadiens haven't won since 1993, and have reached the Finals only once since. But their rivalry remains as hot as ever.
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March 13, 1918 was a Tuesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. And the NBA hadn't been founded yet. So this was the only score on this historic day.
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