March 3, 1920: The NHL's Biggest Blowout

Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde

March 3, 1920: The biggest blowout in the history of the National Hockey League occurs. It was only the League's 3rd season, but in over 100 seasons since, it hasn't been topped.

The game was played at the Quebec Arena, in Quebec City. It was built in 1913, on the heels of back-to-back Stanley Cup wins by the Quebec Bulldogs. But World War I and the 1917 move from the National Hockey Association to the NHL hurt the team.

Although Joe Malone had scored 7 goals in a game, just 32 days earlier, in an 11-3 Bulldogs win over the Montreal Canadiens, that was only the 2nd game the Bulldogs had won in the 1919-20 season, and they'd only won 1 since. Meanwhile, the Canadiens had bounced back, and were challenging for the League title.

This game would be an embarrassment for the Provincial capital club. Didier Pitre had a hat trick, 3 goals, before the 1st period was out. Odie Cleghorn added another, and the period ended 4-0 to Montreal. Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde, the Canadiens' player-coach, and Harry Cameron made it 6-0, before Thomas McCarthy finally got the Bulldogs on the board, at the 9:25 mark of the 2nd period.

Les Habitantes were unfazed. Just 40 seconds later, Lalonde got his 2nd of the game. A minute and a half later, Cleghorn got his. Amos Arbour (apparently, no relation to later New York Islanders coach Al) scored, then Lalonde got his 3rd of the game, and Cameron got his 2nd. The period ended 11-1 Montreal.

Lalonde scored a 4th goal 2 minutes into the 3rd, before Harry Mummery pulled one back for the Bulldogs, making it 12-2. But Cameron scored a 3rd goal, so did Cleghorn, and Arbour got a 2nd. Malone finally got on the board, before Cameron scored a 4 with 27 seconds left.

Final score: Montreal 16, Quebec 3. Goals for the Canadiens: Lalonde 4, Cameron 4, Pitre 3, Cleghorn 3, Arbour 2. Four different Canadiens scored hat tricks. It's enough to ask whether Bulldog goalie Frank Brophy was hurt. Had to say: Although his goals-against average for the season was 7.11, he was the winning goalie in 3 of the team's 4 wins that season.

The season was split into 2 halves. Since the Ottawa Senators won each half -- the 1st by 2 over the Canadiens, and the 2nd by 6 over the Toronto St. Patricks (forerunners of the Maple Leafs) -- they were declared NHL Champions, without a playoff being necessary. They went on to beat the Seattle Metropolitans, Champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, for the Stanley Cup, starting a dynasty where they won 4 Cups in 7 seasons.

The Canadiens would be back. The Bulldogs wouldn't: Before the start of the 1920-21 season, they moved to Hamilton, Ontario, and became the Hamilton Tigers. After the 1925 season, that team was dissolved, and replaced with the New York Americans. Quebec City wouldn't get another NHL team until 1979, when the NHL took on the WHA's Quebec Nordiques. They moved in 1995, becoming the Colorado Avalanche, and since then, the capital of the Province of Quebec has been without an NHL team again.

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March 3, 1920 was a Wednesday. Elsewhere in Canada, in Vancouver, James Doohan was born. The Irish-Canadian was a hero of D-Day, and later played Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott in the Star Trek franchise.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. And professional basketball barely existed. There was 1 other NHL game played that day: The Senators beat the St. Patricks, 7-4 at the Ottawa Arena. Cy Denneny scored 2 goals, so did Eddie Gerard, and Cleghorn's brother Sprague Cleghorn scored 1.