Changing the Game Read online

  Comfortable at both centre and right wing, he went scoreless in the team’s first outing, but managed a power-play goal and an assist against Toronto on December 3, 1924. A month later, he had a pair of tallies against Clint Benedict of the Montreal Maroons, but it was not enough in a 4–3 loss. That game marked a five-game point streak, and for the rest of the season he scored at a frantic pace. At the conclusion of his rookie campaign, Herberts ranked seventh among all NHL players in goals and number 10 in points.

  Jimmy Herberts

  Carson Cooper

  The Bruins looked as if they had potential from the beginning of their first season because Carson Cooper was in the lineup. He had just ended a great senior hockey career with the Hamilton Tigers and was expected to score some goals.

  Cooper started the season with a bang by assisting on the franchise’s first-ever goal and ensured its first victory with a game-winning tally against Clint Benedict of the Maroons on December 1, 1924. Nine days later, however, he was forced out of action with a knee injury during Boston’s 7–1 loss to the NHL’s version of the Hamilton Tigers. By the time he returned, it was too late for the first-year club and he was left looking at the next season.

  Carson Cooper

  George Redding

  A small but versatile player who could play left wing and defence, Redding came from the same Hamilton Tigers senior club as teammate Carson Cooper and was one of Boston’s most thrilling players in the team’s first season.

  The strange thing is that he had second thoughts about turning pro — even after signing a contract with the Bruins. When he tried to return to Hamilton, the Ontario Hockey Association turned him away and he was forced to play in the NHL. Although his offensive numbers were weak, he accomplished a rare feat when penalties forced him to take over in net after Hec Fowler let in nine goals by the Toronto St. Patricks on December 22, 1924. In the crease for 11 minutes, “Shorty” let in just one goal by Babe Dye (who had already scored four that evening) and secured a place in league history.

  Lionel Hitchman

  Lots of talent on the blue line in Ottawa allowed the Bruins to acquire Hitchman in exchange for cash on January 10, 1925. He became one of the club’s most beloved players.

  A defensive specialist, Hitchman did not put up huge numbers for his new team, but there was a noticeable decline in the number of goals opposing teams scored after his arrival. His third goal of the season helped force overtime in what eventually became a 2–1 victory over the Maroons on February 24.

  Lionel Hitchman

  Hec Fowler

  Art Ross wanted a solid veteran netminder for Boston’s first season in the NHL and he was able to get one of hockey’s best in Fowler. But it was not exactly a match made in heaven.

  Fowler was sold to the Bruins by the Victoria Cougars of the PCHA on October 29, 1924. His arrival in Beantown was heralded as a move that could provide the new club with stability between the pipes. The relationship began well with a win over Boston’s expansion cousins, the Montreal Maroons, on December 1, but the next three weeks were hell on earth for the goalie as he lost six straight. The final straw came during the disheartening 10–1 loss to Toronto on December 22. He gave up nine goals before being relieved by George Redding, and that marked the end of his time with the Bruins.

  After securing his release from the club, Fowler signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the WCHL on January 28, 1925. He stuck around the game for a couple more seasons before fading into obscurity. For fans in Boston, however, he was the goalie who started a fine tradition that spawned many Hall of Famers and memorable characters over the years.

  Charles Stewart

  After Boston’s failed experiment with Hec Fowler as their starting goaltender, “Doc” Stewart was called in to breathe some life into the club’s woeful defence. According to the box scores after his arrival with the team, he brought the club back from the brink.

  Stewart was a veteran of senior hockey in Toronto and Hamilton and was part of the Tigers team that produced a few other members of the original Bruins roster. He signed a pro contract on December 24, 1924, and made his debut in a 5–0 loss to the Canadiens the next night.

  The club’s early games were marked by incredibly high scores by the opposition, but Stewart cut the other teams down to a little more than three goals per game for the rest of the schedule. He was relieved by Howard Lockhart for a couple of games, but the team was beginning to slowly turn things around. His best outings during the expansion season were shutouts against the Maroons on February 7, 1925, and against the big-league version of the Hamilton Tigers a month later.

  Charles Stewart

  EXPANSION YEAR RECORD: 9–19–2

  (20 points — fifth in NHL)

  COACH: Eddie Gerard

  FIRST GAME: December 1, 1924 —

  2–1 loss vs. Boston Bruins

  FIRST GOAL: December 1, 1924 by Charles Dinsmore

  MONTREAL

  MAROONS

  After the Montreal Wanderers shut down following an arena fire early in the NHL’s first season of 1917–18, the city’s Anglophone hockey fans no longer had a team to call their own. Sure, the Canadiens had some success in the early 1920s, but as they prepared to move into the new Montreal Forum in 1924, there was an opportunity for another team to come to town.

  Luckily, the NHL was prepared to expand for the first time and when they admitted their first American-based team in the Boston Bruins, they also said yes to the Montreal Professional Hockey Club, headed by James F. Strachan. Strachan had owned the Wanderers nearly 20 years earlier and he intended as team president to bring back the old name but could not obtain the rights. As a result, the club had no official nickname, but the main colour of their uniforms eventually led the press and fans to dub them the Maroons.

  The Canadiens received most of the $15,000 expansion fee, but the Maroons were willing to spend freely and signed several senior and amateur players and purchased a pair of stars in Punch Broadbent and veteran goaltender Clint Benedict from the Ottawa Senators. Their most intriguing acquisition was Dunc Munro, who had helped Canada to a gold medal at the 1924 Winter Olympics. The local press did a great job of getting fans excited about the new team in the weeks leading up to their debut.

  The Montreal Maroons started the year on the road in Boston against their first-year contemporaries, but they lost by a tight 2–1 margin on December 1, 1924. They jumped out to a 1–0 lead on a first period goal by Charles Dinsmore but fell behind for good in the next stanza. Two days later, they opened their home schedule against the Hamilton Tigers but were shut out by goalie Jake Forbes.

  Undaunted by their rough start, the Maroons were pumped for the anticipated arrival of the Senators on December 5, and both Broadbent and Benedict starred in the 2–1 triumph. Over the first half of the season, they managed to win back-to-back games on three occasions, but a brutal month-long 10-game slump from January 24 to February 24, 1925, undid what momentum they had going. By the end of the year, they ranked second-last in the league — surpassing only the Bruins, who had a horrendous record of their own.

  Regardless of their rank, the Maroons succeeded at the box office and added some prime talent before beginning their second season. Strengthened by newcomers Nels Stewart and Babe Siebert, they went all the way to the Stanley Cup in 1925–26. Over the next decade, they proved to be one of the most successful franchises in the league and missed the playoffs only once during that period. Another championship followed in 1934–35, but the financial realities of the Great Depression meant the Maroons had the lowest attendance in the league for several years running and had to sell off several star players.

  By the beginning of the 1937–38 season, there were rumours that the Maroons would be relocated, and they ended up with their worst record since their first year in the NHL. The league allowed them to suspend operations for the next year. St. Louis seemed a possible destination for the struggling franchise, but unfortunately, the costs of travel weighed to
o heavily against relocation.

  Len Peto, director of the Canadiens, offered a glimmer of hope after he got the franchise transferred to Philadelphia, but no suitable arena could be found even after several years. By 1947, the franchise was officially folded. It was another 20 years before the NHL operated with more than six teams.

  Sam Rothschild

  Punch Broadbent

  Broadbent was one of the NHL’s top-scoring stars during its formative years and whenever he was healthy he put up strong numbers with the Ottawa Senators. He led the league with 32 goals and 46 points during the 1921–22 campaign, establishing a still-unbroken league standard by scoring a goal in each of 16 consecutive games.

  After a rough 1923–24 season, the pioneer power-forward’s days in the nation’s capital were numbered. Even though he had helped the Sens to a pair of Stanley Cup titles, the team deemed him expendable. The Maroons received Broadbent, along with fellow veteran Clint Benedict, in a cash deal on October 20, 1924. Their arrival gave the new club instant name recognition.

  On December 5, Broadbent scored a pair of goals against his old club in a 3–1 victory. He also scored the game-winner against them 18 days later. His best performance of the year, the club’s greatest highlight during the first season, came when he scored five goals against Jake Forbes of the Hamilton Tigers on January 7, 1925.

  Punch Broadbent

  Reg Noble

  Noble’s lengthy pro career began in the old National Hockey Association before he spent several seasons with the Toronto Arenas and St. Patricks, winning a pair of Stanley Cups along the way. His tenure there ended December 9, 1924, when he was sold to the Maroons for $8,000.

  Arriving in Montreal for their first matchup against the Canadiens the following day, Noble instantly became one of the club’s veteran leaders. On December 13, he got an assist against his old team. His biggest goal of the season led to a 2–0 victory over the Boston Bruins on January 20, 1925.

  Dunc Munro

  Munro spent several years playing senior hockey with the Toronto Granites club and was there when they won the Allan Cup and earned the right to represent Canada at the 1924 Winter Olympics. A respected defenceman and all-around athlete, he also played on the first Memorial Cup–winning squad at University of Toronto a few years earlier.

  After winning the gold medal at the Olympics in Chamonix, France, Munro had a reputation as the best amateur defenceman around and was highly sought after. The new Montreal team made the offer that most appealed to him, but the press prematurely reported the signing. He addressed the matter personally in the Montreal Gazette: “I have signed nothing yet, but after a long-distance phone conversation with James Strachan of Montreal, yesterday, during which he raised the ante, I wired Strachan that I would accept his terms. I am getting a salary beyond anything I thought any team would go for my services, and in addition, the people behind the Montreal team, who are among the strongest men financially in Montreal, have offered me business opportunities, which I would be foolish to turn down. St. Pats made me a flattering offer yesterday, but they cannot do for me in a business way what these Montreal gentlemen are doing for me, so I have decided to go to Montreal, give them what hockey I have, and get myself established in a real business.” Though Munro lacked even a lick of pro experience, the Maroons named him team captain. His first two goals of the season came in the 6–2 win over fellow expansion club, the Boston Bruins, on December 17, 1924. His second tally of the night came when the Maroons were shorthanded.

  Clint Benedict

  Benedict revolutionized the way goalies played the game. His propensity to hit the ice to make a save, even when threatened with a fine, eventually forced rule changes that benefited netminders. A native of Ottawa, he had played for his hometown Senators for more than a decade and backstopped them to Stanley Cup glory.

  But Alex Connell was vying for the starting job in Ottawa, so the team sold “Praying Benny” to the new Montreal club along with veteran Punch Broadbent. They were two of the first players the Maroons signed to contracts.

  After leading the NHL in victories for six straight seasons, Benedict was in for a shock. As part of the expansion club, he ended up, for the only time in his career, losing more games than any other netminder.

  He was, however, still keeping the puck out of the net, as his goals-against average rose only slightly, to 2.12. He registered the team’s first shutout on January 20, 1925, against the Boston Bruins, and he blanked the league-leading Hamilton Tigers on February 28. Despite the lack of offensive power in front of him, Benedict kept the Maroons alive in many games and his future with the club remained bright even though he was in his early 30s. His understudy during the 1924–25 season, Eric Lehman, was more than a decade younger and the nephew of Hall of Fame goalie Hugh Lehman, but he never saw a second of NHL action.

  Clint Benedict

  EXPANSION YEAR RECORD: 12–20–4

  (28 points — fifth in NHL)

  COACH: Tommy Gorman

  FIRST GAME: December 2, 1925 —

  2–1 win vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

  FIRST GOAL: December 2, 1925 by Billy Burch

  NEW YORK

  AMERICANS

  On the advice of a newspaper writer named Bill MacBeth, who believed that big-league hockey could be a hit on Broadway, notorious bootlegger Bill Dwyer purchased an option for an NHL expansion club from Tom Duggan, the owner of the Mount Royal Arena in Montreal. The league approved the franchise on April 17, 1925, and it was set to begin play at Madison Square Garden in 1925–26.

  Instead of putting their roster together from scratch, the New York club had a stroke of good fortune that ensured their team was going to be competitive. The players of the Hamilton Tigers were suspended for going on strike at the end of the 1924–25 campaign, so the future of that particular club looked bleak. Dwyer was able to come in and purchase their players for something between $75,000 and $80,000. Once the players individually apologized to the league, they were reinstated and many of them were given even higher salaries than before. The Tigers officially ceased to be a part of the NHL on September 22, 1925, but the league did not publicly acknowledge Dwyer as the owner of the New York club; their officers were named as Duggan, Tommy Gorman and Madison Square Garden’s Colonel John Hammond.

  The Americans are officially considered an expansion team by the NHL, even though most of their original lineup were Tigers players. The roster was loaded with some promising talent like Billy Burch, who was born locally, and brothers Red and Shorty Green. Gorman served as coach and general manager after selling his interest in the Ottawa Senators.

  The Amerks, as they were known, started the season with a four-game road swing that included a 3–1 overtime victory in their debut against their expansion cousins, the Pittsburgh Pirates, on December 2, 1925. They also got a win over the Montreal Canadiens, but lost to the same club in their home opener on December 15. An opulent affair that brought out members of high society, the game was an excellent way to showcase some of the sport’s top talent in Howie Morenz and Aurel Joliat and ensure that fans went home feeling they had witnessed something special.

  Later in the month, New York had a three-game winning streak, but as the season moved on, the losses began to pile up. Goalie Jake Forbes was put to the test on many nights, and Burch recorded a career-best 22 goals, but even with four wins in a row from February 19 to March 2, 1926, it was not enough to make it into the playoffs.

  Despite their promising beginnings, the Amerks faced direct competition in their second season in the league when Madison Square Garden brought in a team of their own called the Rangers. In their early years, the Americans didn’t improve much, but at least they didn’t have a problem drawing a crowd. One of their best acquisitions came in the form of diminutive Roy Worters. His strong MVP performance in 1928–29 led them to a second-place finish in the Canadian Division and to the playoffs for the first time.

  For the next six seasons, the Americans had their share
of decent stars, but the team was usually near the bottom of the standings and crowds began to get smaller as the Rangers won the hearts of local fans. The end of Prohibition in the United States also did not help the organization, as Dwyer’s revenues dried up dramatically. At one point, the league even turned down an idea to merge the team with the Ottawa Senators.

  In 1935–36, Dwyer finally decided to cut his losses and sell the team. But no buyer could be found, so he ended up abandoning the Amerks, and the NHL took control for the following season. Lawsuits ensued and eventually team executive and original member Red Dutton took over the operation. Even with some playoff appearances, the debt was tough for Dutton to manage, and many top players were sold off before the war broke out.

  By the start of the 1941–42 season, Dutton was at the end of his rope. He decided to change the team’s name to the Brooklyn Americans in time for their first home game. While the renaming may have seemed gimmicky, he actually intended to move his club out to the borough once a suitable arena could be built. At the end of the season, however, Dutton made a request to suspend operations. The franchise remained in limbo until 1946, when the league backed away from its promise to let the team back in after the war. Dutton was justifiably miffed and held a grudge for the rest of his life.

  Charlie Langlois

  Billy Burch

  Burch emerged as a top star with the Hamilton Tigers in 1924–25 when he scored 20 goals for the first time in his career and, despite leading his team into a strike with Shorty Green, was voted the second-ever recipient of the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player.

  Burch’s presence on the debuting New York Americans club went a long way toward establishing a fan base in the Big Apple. It also helped that he was born in Yonkers, New York. He grew up in Toronto, but that did not stop the crowd from cheering him on. In the season opener on December 2, 1925, he scored the first-ever NHL goal in the city of Pittsburgh. Six days later he had a three-point night, scoring the winning goal against the Montreal Canadiens.