Toronto Arenas

This article is about a predecessor club of the Toronto Maple Leafs

NHL Team | CAN_eng=1
team_name = Toronto Arenas
bg_color = #003876
text_color = white
logo_

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founded = 1917
history = Toronto 1917-18
Toronto Arenas 1918-19
Toronto St. Patricks 1919-27
Toronto Maple Leafs 1927 to present
arena = Arena Gardens
city = Toronto, Ontario
team_colors = Blue
owner = Toronto Arena Company 1917-18 Hubert Vearncombe1918-19
stanley_cups = 1917-18

The Toronto Arenas, or Torontos professional men's ice hockey team played in the first two seasons of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was operated by the owner of the Arena Gardens, the Toronto Arena Company. (Arena Co.) As the ownership of the National Hockey Association (NHA) Toronto franchise was in dispute, a temporary franchise was operated in the NHL while the dispute was settled. The NHL itself was intended to only be a one-year entity until the NHA could be reactivated, although it never was.

For the first season, the team operated without an official club nickname, as the 'Toronto Hockey Club', although the press would dub the team the "Blue Shirts" or "Torontos" [Citation |title=The Toronto Blue Shirts a.k.a. The Torontos, the NHL's first Stanley Cup champions 1917-1918| last=Morrison |first=John |last2=Mclatchy |first2=Doug |publisher=Hockey Information Service Inc. |year=1996 |isbn=1894014006] as they had done with the original Toronto HC. The dispute dragged into the 1918-1919 season, so for the 1918-1919 season the Toronto Arena Hockey Club was formed to operate the temporary franchise. After the 1918-19 season, the dispute was still unresolved, so a new permanent franchise would be sold for Toronto. This new franchise was named the Toronto St. Pats, and would later become the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1927.

Franchise history

1917-18 season

Prior to the 1917 season, the NHA, through a majority vote of its board of directors, suspended operations. At the same time, those same teams (Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators and Quebec Bulldogs), minus the Toronto Blueshirts, formed the NHL.

Since Quebec would not operate, a solution with a Toronto club was needed to make it a four-team 'even numbered' league. So, by order of NHA/NHL President Frank Calder all players of the NHA Toronto Blueshirts were assigned to a 'temporary' Toronto franchise to be operated by Arena Co., who also owned Montreal Arena. Mr. Calder had given the owner of the Blueshirts an order to sell the team, although the owner Eddie Livingstone did not want to sell. Toronto Arena Co. was to 'solve' the situation with Mr. Livingstone or lose the franchise.

As the Arena was the only suitable place to play at the time, the players had little choice but to play, if they wanted to play in the NHL. The NHL had also announced that there was an agreement to buy out Livingstone, though this never took place. Despite this uncertainty, the team was successful from the start. The team won the second half of the 1917-18 NHL season, leading to a playoff against the Montreal Canadiens. The Torontos won the playoff and would then face off against the Vancouver Millionaires for the Stanley Cup. Toronto then won the best-of-five series 3-2.

After the Cup win, the team did not engrave its name on the Stanley Cup. The NHL would later engrave "Toronto Arenas 1918" in 1947. In many books, the name Toronto Arena is listed as the Stanley Cup champion for 1918, but this is technically incorrect because the Toronto Arena Hockey Club was formed after the season.

1918-1919 season

On October 19, 1918, Hubert Vearncombe, treasurer of the Arena Co. formed the Toronto Arena Hockey Club Company and applied for a 'permanent' NHL franchise. This was done so that the Hockey Club could operate separately, without the legal action which was brought against Arena Co., threatening to stop NHL play in Toronto. The Stanley Cup run had been lucrative for the Arena Co., and they had refused to pay any of the revenues to Livingstone, whose players they had used.

The owners paid nothing for this new temporary franchise; there was an agreement to split profits with the league until $5000 was received by the league. The players now knew that the club was in trouble, and several signed contracts with both Livingstone and Vearncombe, not knowing who would win out. Those players eventually would be sued by Livingstone as well.

This year, the club was not successful, falling to 5 wins and 13 losses, finishing last in both halves of the season. Attendance was especially poor, recorded as only hundreds for a February 4, 1919 game against the Canadiens. Several players left the team, including Harry Holmes, Harry Meeking and Dave Ritchie. This was partly due to the operations of the team, as most players were without legal contracts, as they were really still 'property' of the Blueshirts, and were being paid in cash.

The team wrote to Calder to end the season early, and the season ended after each team had played 18 games. The Toronto Arenas then officially withdrew from the league on February 20, 1919. [cite book |title=The Official National Hockey League 75th anniversary commemorative book |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |location=Toronto |last=Diamond |first=Dan |year=1991 |pages=pg.26 |isbn=0771067275] This left the two remaining teams, Montreal and Ottawa, to play a play-off for the league championship.

1919-1920 season

On December 13, 1919, the NHL, under the direction of Frank Calder transferred the Toronto franchise, this time to the Toronto St. Pats group, for the fee of $5,000. While the money was to go to Eddie Livingstone to settle his NHA club, it never was received by Mr. Livingstone and appears to have been appropriated by Mr. Calder. [ [Holzman] , pg.212] The incorporation date of the club was December 22, 1919, and listed Fred Hambly, Percy Hambly, Paul Ciceri and Charlie Querrie with 99 shares each, and Richard Greer with 4 shares.

Players

* LW 4 REG NOBLE
* LW 5 CORB DENNENY
* D 2 HARRY CAMERON
* LW 7 HARRY MEEKING
* RW 6 ALF SKINNER
* RW/D 3 KEN RANDALL
* D 10 HARRY MUMMERY
* LW RUSTY CRAWFORD
* F 8 JACK COUGHLIN
* C JACK ADAMS
* RW JACK MARKS
* G 1 HARRY HOLMES
* G 1 ARTHUR BROOKS
* G 9 SAMMY HEBERT

Prominent players

* Jack Adams - Hall of Fame player, later Detroit coach and general manager
* Hap Holmes - Hall of Fame goaltender
* Harry Meeking
* Dave Ritchie

Coaches

* Dick Carroll

ee also

*
* Eddie Livingstone
* Toronto Maple Leafs
* Toronto St. Pats
* History of the National Hockey League
* History of the Toronto Maple Leafs
* List of Stanley Cup champions
* 1918 Stanley Cup Finals

References

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