1919–20 NHL season

1919–20 NHL season
League	National Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	December 23, 1919 – March 13, 1920
Number of games	24
Number of teams	4
Regular season
Top scorer	Joe Malone (Athletics)
League
Champions	Ottawa Senators
Runners-up	Montreal Canadiens Toronto St. Patricks

The 1919–20 NHL season was the third season of the National Hockey League (NHL). A Quebec team was activated by the NHL, increasing the number of teams to four. Following changes in its ownership, the Toronto NHL franchise adopted the Toronto St. Patricks name. The four teams played 24 games in a split-schedule format. The Ottawa Senators won the league championship by winning both halves of the split-season. The Senators went on to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since the Cup challenge era ended and their eighth time overall, by defeating the PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans three games to two in a best-of-five series in the Stanley Cup Finals.

League business

The NHL approved the name change of Toronto's franchise to Tecumsehs on December 6, 1919, a previous name of a Toronto franchise in the NHA. Several days later the franchise was transferred from the Arena to private investors, which named the club the Toronto St. Patricks. The group paid $5,000 to the NHL for the franchise.

Since the NHL had cancelled the previous Quebec franchise after Percy Quinn tried to use the franchise to resurrect the NHA, Quebec was without a franchise. By agreement with the NHL franchise's previous owners, a new Quebec franchise was approved on December 16, 1919. Quebec, which did not ice teams in the first two seasons of the NHL, finally iced a team, although they were not successful.

Arena changes

• The Montreal Canadiens' home arena, Jubilee Rink, burned down during the off-season in April 1919, forcing the team to play on the road at the start of the 1919–20 season until Mount Royal Arena was completed in January 1920.
• The new Quebec Athletics team played their home games at Quebec Arena.

Regular season

Highlights

The Montreal Canadiens had their home opener January 10 in brand new Mount Royal Arena and Newsy Lalonde used the occasion to celebrate with six goals in a 14–7 drubbing of the Toronto St. Patricks. The combined total of 21 goals by both teams set the NHL record.

Jack Darragh of Ottawa had a chance to play in goal when Toronto defeated Ottawa 5–3 on January 24. He took over when Clint Benedict was penalized. He did not surrender any goals during the two minutes.

Despite a dismal record of 2–10 in both halves of the season, the Quebec Athletics' Joe Malone scored seven goals in one game on January 31, 1920. As of 2020, it is still the NHL record for most goals in one game. An eighth goal was disallowed on an off-side call. Malone was later quoted "the thing I recall most vividly is that it was bitterly cold." He nearly equalled the record on March 10 when he scored six goals in a 10–4 win over the Ottawa Senators. Malone led the league in goals with 39. But by surrendering 7.18 goals against per game, a record that stands today, Quebec finished dead last.

With the war now over, players came home and fans were now coming in larger numbers to see games. On February 21, 1920, a record crowd of 8,500 fans came to see Ottawa play Toronto at the Arena Gardens.

Final standings

First half

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Ottawa Senators	12	9	3	0	18	59	23
Montreal Canadiens	12	8	4	0	16	62	51
Toronto St. Patricks	12	5	7	0	10	52	62
Quebec Athletics	12	2	10	0	4	44	81

Second half

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Ottawa Senators	12	10	2	0	20	62	41
Toronto St. Patricks	12	7	5	0	14	67	44
Montreal Canadiens	12	5	7	0	10	67	62
Quebec Athletics	12	2	10	0	4	47	96

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Playoffs

Because the Ottawa Senators won both halves of the split regular season, there was no need for an NHL playoff. The Senators were named NHL champions and given a spot in the Stanley Cup championship series. Representing the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) was the Seattle Metropolitans, which battled in a tight PCHA, in which two wins separated its three teams. A problem arose as Seattle's green, red, and white uniforms looked similar to Ottawa's black, red, and white uniforms. The Senators agreed to play in white sweaters. The five-game series was scheduled to be played in Ottawa, but unseasonably warm weather forced the final two games to Toronto's Arena Gardens.

Stanley Cup Finals

Main article: 1920 Stanley Cup Finals

Games one, three and five were played under NHL rules (without a rover), while games two and four were played under PCHA rules (with a rover).

March 22	Seattle Metropolitans		2–3		Ottawa Senators	Arena Gardens	Recap
Frank Foyston (1) – 10:25		First period			No scoring
Frank Foyston (2) – 06:45		Second period			14:15 – Frank Nighbor (1)
No scoring		Third period			10:00 – Frank Nighbor (2) 16:00 – Jack Darragh (1)
Hap Holmes		Goalie stats			Clint Benedict

March 24	Seattle Metropolitans		0–3		Ottawa Senators	Arena Gardens	Recap
No scoring		First period			14:00 – Jack Darragh (2)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			06:00 – Eddie Gerard (1) 19:00 – Frank Nighbor (3)
Hap Holmes		Goalie stats			Clint Benedict

March 27	Seattle Metropolitans		3–1		Ottawa Senators	Arena Gardens	Recap
Frank Foyston (3) – 09:00		First period			06:00 – Buck Boucher (1)
Frank Foyston (4) – 12:00		Second period			No scoring
Roy Rickey (1) – 09:30		Third period			No scoring
Hap Holmes		Goalie stats			Clint Benedict

March 30	Ottawa Senators		2–5		Seattle Metropolitans	The Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			03:00 – Frank Foyston (5) 08:00 – Bobby Rowe (1)
Frank Nighbor (4) – 02:00 Frank Nighbor (5) – 11:00		Second period			08:00 – Jack Walker (1)
No scoring		Third period			02:00 – Roy Rickey (2) 05:00 – Frank Foyston (6)
Clint Benedict		Goalie stats			Hap Holmes

April 1	Ottawa Senators		6–1		Seattle Metropolitans	The Arena	Recap
Buck Boucher (2) – 14:00		First period			10:00 – Bobby Rowe (2)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
Jack Darragh (3) – 05:00 Eddie Gerard (2) – 10:00 Jack Darragh (3) – 13:00 Jack Darragh (4) – 14:00 Frank Nighbor (6) – 14:30		Third period			No scoring
Clint Benedict		Goalie stats			Hap Holmes

Ottawa won series 3–2

Awards

• NHL champion – Ottawa Senators

Note: The O'Brien Cup, still considered the championship of the NHA, was not awarded in 1920. It remained under the care of the Canadiens who had won it in 1917, until the death of their owner, George Kennedy in 1921, when the NHL made arrangements to re-use the trophy. The Hockey Hall of Fame lists Ottawa as the winner for 1919–20.

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Joe Malone	Quebec Athletics	24	39	10	49	12
Newsy Lalonde	Montreal Canadiens	23	37	9	46	34
Frank Nighbor	Ottawa Senators	23	26	15	41	18
Corbett Denneny	Toronto St. Patricks	24	24	12	36	20
Jack Darragh	Ottawa Senators	23	22	14	36	22
Reg Noble	Toronto St. Patricks	24	24	9	33	52
Amos Arbour	Montreal Canadiens	22	21	5	26	13
Cully Wilson	Toronto St. Patricks	23	20	6	26	86
Didier Pitre	Montreal Canadiens	22	14	12	26	6
Punch Broadbent	Ottawa Senators	21	19	6	25	40

Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

GP = Games Played, Mins = Minutes played, GA = Goals Against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals Against Average

Name	Team	GP	Mins	W	L	T	GA	SO	GAA
Clint Benedict	Ottawa Senators	24	1443	19	5	0	64	5	2.66
Jake Forbes	Toronto St. Patricks	5	300	2	3	0	21	0	4.20
Ivan Mitchell	Toronto St. Patricks	16	830	6	7	0	60	0	4.34
Georges Vezina	Montreal Canadiens	24	1456	13	11	0	113	0	4.66
Howard Lockhart	Toronto,Quebec	8	370	4	3	0	36	0	5.84
Frank Brophy	Quebec Athletics	21	1249	3	18	0	148	0	7.11

Source: NHL

Coaches

• Montreal Canadiens: Newsy Lalonde
• Ottawa Senators: Pete Green
• Quebec Athletics: Mike Quinn
• Toronto St. Patricks: Frank Carroll

Milestones and records

• January 31 – Quebec Athletics' Joe Malone scores seven goals in one game (record for most goals in one game by a player)
• March 3 – Montreal Canadiens defeat Quebec Athletics 16–3 (record for most goals by one team)

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1919–20 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Player	Team	Notability
Babe Dye	Toronto St. Patricks	Hockey Hall of Fame (1970)

The last remaining active player to kick off their NHL career this season was Jake Forbes, who played his final NHL game in the 1932–33 season, although he missed the 1921–22 season.

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1919–20 (listed with their last team):

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1919–20 NHL Transactions
• List of pre-NHL seasons
• 1919–20 PCHA season

References

• Coleman, Charles (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol. 1, 1893–1926 inc.
• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Hockey. Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X.
• Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5.
• Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000). Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9.
• Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (2003). The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Publications International Inc. ISBN 0-7853-9624-1.
• McFarlane, Brian (1973). The Story of the National Hockey League. New York, NY: Pagurian Press. ISBN 0-684-13424-1.
• Wong, John Chi-Kit (2005). Lords of the Rinks. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-8520-2.

Notes