| Home > The Toronto Arenas > 1917-18 Season In Review |
In November of 1917 reports out of Montreal indicated that the new professional hockey league to rise from the ashes of the old National Hockey Association was to be called the Eastern Canada Hockey League and that it would be comprised of four teams.
The sure bets to get into the new establishment were Ottawa, Canadiens and Wanderers. If Quebec could not ice a team then the fourth franchise would be awarded to Toronto. By November 19 it seemed that Quebec was in. They were reportedly signing players to contracts and were ready to go when they were replaced at the last minute by the interests representing Toronto. The feeling was that it would be better to keep Quebec and drop the Wanderers who were facing a shortage of players but in the end it was the Quebec team that was on the outside looking in when the new National Hockey League was formed.
The local papers announced that the first appointment to the new Toronto team was in the name of Jimmy Murphy as manager. He had prior experience in managing lacrosse teams and was to be granted full control of the team by the Arena Company of Montreal who were bankrolling the outfit. Murphy either resigned, was let go, or the deal was never made because two-weeks prior to the start of the season the team turned to Charlie Querrie, another lacrosse man, to guide them through their initial campaign.
The team held its first practice on December 6, 1917, at the Arena Gardens. Players out for the practice included goalies Arthur Brooks and Sammy Hebert, Ken Randall, Harry Cameron, Corb Denneny, Reg Noble, Alf Skinner and Harry Meeking. It was spectulated that Toronto would negotiate with the Ottawa Senators for the services of their star player Frank Nighbor. Nighbor was stationed in Toronto at the time with the Royal Flying Corps.
The Wanderers player troubles continued to the extent that they announced their intention to suspend operations if not supplied with the surplus players from the other teams in the league. The shortage of quality players due to World War 1 was affecting all teams but the Wanderers seemed to be red-headed stepsons of the group. They had the nerve to ask the cross-town Canadiens for the rights to Joe Malone and Bad Joe Hall. The Canadiens offered no sympathy to the Wanderers, "Let Wanderers get out. Who cares?" said Candiens owner George Kennedy, "The time to complain about scarcity of players was before the schedule was made up, not now."
The Wanderers would hang around for awhile though, just about long enough in fact to defeat Toronto by a score of 10-9 in opening night action on December 19, 1917 at Montreal. A crowd of 700 spectators witnessed the first NHL goal ever scored. Dave Ritchie of Montreal beat Toronto starter Sammy Hebert at the one-minute mark of the opening period. Hebert became the first NHL goalie to be replaced in a game due to poor performance. At the start of the second period the Toronto goaltending duties were handed over to Arthur Brooks. Both goalies allowed five goals in the game. Toronto's Reg Noble scored four goals in a losing cause.
In their home opener at the Arena Gardens on December 22, 1917, Toronto pasted the Ottawa Senators by a score of 11-4 before an estimated crowd of 2,500. The Toronto attack was lead by three individuals; Reg Noble, Corb Denneny and Harry Meeking each scored three goals in the game. Noble now had 7 goals in two games.
Manager Querrie was looking to add stability to the goaltending situation around Christmas with the addition of NHA vetran Harry Holmes. Holmes had backstopped the Toronto Blueshirts of the NHA to the Stanley Cup in 1914 and was a teammate at that time of current Toronto defenseman Harry Cameron. The Wanderers claimed to hold the NHL rights to Holmes and wanted Reg Noble in return. Querrie declined the offer.
Toronto defenseman Harry Cameron scored 4 goals in a 7-5 home-ice win against the Montreal Canadiens on December 26. Cameron would match his mark for most goals in a game by a defenseman on March 3, 1920, as a member of the Canadiens. This NHL record performance had been previously equalled by Sprague Cleghorn, Johnny McKinnon and Hap Day before being eclipsed by Ian Turnbull's five goal performance on February 2, 1977, against the Detroit Red Wings.
When Toronto boarded the train for a game with the Canadiens in Montreal to be played on December 29, they did so without being accompanied by their manager Querrie. A report stated that Querrie had resigned but when reached for comment he would niether confirm or deny the rumor. The crux of the problem seemed to be control. said Querrie, "When I accepted the management of the Torontos it was with the understanding that I was to have absolute authority. I have not had a free hand to the extent that it was promised me."
The new year started on a sour note when the Westmount Arena in Montreal burned to the ground. Home to the NHL's Wanderers and Canadiens, the arena was constructed in 1898 and had been used for hockey since 1912. In addition to the Wanderers and Canadiens, the Westmount ice had also been used by the Montreal AAA and the Montreal Shamrocks hockey clubs.
The smoke from the fire had not yet cleared when word came that the Wanderers would not continue the season. The Montreal Canadiens would continue on, now playing out of the Jubilee Ice Rink. The Wanderers players were distributed by the NHL to the three remaining teams; Toronto was finally able to secure the services of Harry Holmes.
Toronto's quest to sign Ottawa's Frank Nighbor continued early into the new year. With Nighbor's military committments it was thought that he would only be able to appear in games played in Toronto. An offer made by the Sens to trade Nighbor for Corb Denneny and $250 cash was turned down by the Toronto side.
The game at the Arena Gardens against the Wanderers originally scheduled for January 5 was awarded to Toronto by default. Toronto threatened a lawsuit for the Wanderers failure to show up and play the game. The open date was filled with an OHA Junior game between the Beaches and De La Salle.
January 5 also marked the return of manager Charlie Querrie to the team. Querrie had apparently resigned 10 days earlier due to issues surrounding control of the team. He returned after receiving promises that he was indeed the man in charge.
Toronto finished the first half of the schedule with a perfect 6-0 record at home but were able to manage only one win on the road in their seven games away from the Arena Gardens. By virtue of their first-place finish during the first half of the schedule the Montreal Canadiens had assured themselves of a berth in the NHL Finals. Toronto would have to win the second half of the season schedule in order to qualify for the NHL championship series.
The NHL's second-half schedule had been re-vamped to accomodate the three remaining teams and the Toronto portion of the schedule resumed on January 9, 1918, at home against the Canadiens. Newly acquired goaltender Harry Holmes was the star of the game for Toronto and he was especially sharp in the second period, holding the Montreal snipers to just one goal while facing a high number of shots. Toronto appeared to have solved their troubles in goal and were now poised to take a run at winning the second-half of the schedule.
Upon returning to Montreal following their 6 to 4 loss in Toronto the Canadiens' manager George Kennedy charged the Toronto police with using intimidation tactics. He claimed that two officers were continually stationed behind the penalty bench and would warn the penalized Montrealers not to repeat the offence or arrests would follow. Kennedy noted that he would not be surprised if some grudges were aired when Toronto were next due in Montreal for a game on January 19. As is usually the case in such over-hyped grudge matches nothing eventful transpired in the contest, which was easily won by the Canadiens by a score of 5 to 1.
In the January 16, 1918, edition of "The Globe", Sarnia senior forward Jack Adams was at a loss to explain the rumours suggesting that he was about to turn pro with Toronto. Adams claimed that he had never spoken to Toronto manager Charles Querrie in his life and that he had never entertained the idea of turning pro. The paper dutifuly reported that Adams would remain with Sarnia and not be with the Toronto pros in the year of 1918. Three weeks later, on February 9, 1918, Adams did indeed sign a professional contract with Toronto and appeared in 8 regular season games.
Shortly after the start of the third period of the game between Toronto and the Canadiens on January 28, 1918, Montreal's "Bad" Joe Hall and Alf Skinner of the home squad got into a battle that left Skinner unconscious and both players arrested by Toronto police on charges of disorderly conduct. In addition, each player was later fined $15 by league president Frank Calder as a result of their actions.
The rumour mill was hot in early February 1918. The press had Ottawa's Frank Nighbor all set to transfer to Toronto many times over until a February 1st transfer deadline applied. A player added to the roster after the February 1st deadline would not be allowed to compete for his new team in the Stanley Cup Finals against the PCHA champions in March.
There was some talk that manager Querrie was negotiating with Sprague Cleghorn in an effort to get him to come and play for Toronto. This never materialized but future HHoF'er did eventually play 13 games for Querrie's Toronto St. Pats during the 1920-21 season.
Toronto forward and leading scorer Reg Noble was put on the trading block and was fined $100 for "breaking training rules" in Montreal prior a game there on February 2nd; the Canadiens bombed the Torontos 11-2. Evidently the Torontos were not the only thing getting bombed in Montreal that weekend, hence the disciplinary action against Noble. The speculation was that Noble would be traded to Ottawa for Nighbor but that rumour was quashed when Nighbor suited up for his first game of the season with Ottawa on February 6th at home against Montreal. Nighbor would end his Hall of Fame career 13 seasons later as a member of the 1929-30 Toronto Maple Leafs.
| Home > The Toronto Arenas > 1917-18 Season In Review |