Hamilton Tigers

NHL Team | CAN_eng = 1
team_name = Hamilton Tigers
text_color = #FFC824
bg_color = #2C2B2B
logo_

founded = 1920
history = Quebec Bulldogs 1888 – 1920
Hamilton Tigers 1920 – 1925
arena = Barton Street Arena
city = Hamilton, Ontario
team_colors = Black, Gold, and whiteThe Hamilton Tigers were a professional ice hockey team, and a member of the National Hockey League (NHL), based in Hamilton, Ontario that played from 1920 – 1925.

Franchise history

The origins of the team go back to the old Quebec City, Bulldogs team which started play in 1888 in the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada and different leagues thereafter (including the NHL in 1920). Their last season in Quebec (1919–20) was a dismal one as they finished last in the NHL with a horrible four wins and twenty losses in 24 games.

After the 1919–20 season, the NHL took back the Quebec Bulldogs franchise and sold the team to Percy Thompson of the Abso Pure Ice Company of Hamilton, Ontario. Percy Thompson was also the manager of the Barton Street Arena. The club was moved to Hamilton for the 1920–21 season, renamed the Hamilton Tigers. This prevented the startup of a rival league at the time, which was trying to land a club in Hamilton. (see Eddie Livingstone)

Hamilton at the time (1920) was the fifth-largest population in Canada (Hamilton-114,200/ Toronto-521,900) and considered a vital market.

The move to Hamilton did not rejuvenate the team. Despite earning a shutout in their first game, a 5–0 win over the Montreal Canadiens on December 22, 1920, being the only team to ever do so, it was plain that the Tigers didn't have a team that could compete. As a result, the NHL ordered the other three teams to supply players to the Tigers. Despite receiving quality players from the other teams and the signing of Joe Malone four games into the season, Hamilton still finished with the worst record at 6 wins, 18 losses, and 0 ties in 24 games. Even with Malone managing to score 30 goals in only 20 games, they couldn't climb out of the cellar.

The next three seasons were just as dreadful as the first one as the Tigers finished last in each of those three seasons making a total of 5 straight (counting the one season as the Bulldogs) with last place finishes. During these dreadful years, the Tigers attempted a rebuilding phase to bring the team up to par. After the 1921–22 NHL season, they had hired Art Ross as their new coach and made many player changes, including trading superstar Malone to the Montreal Canadiens for Bert Corbeau and Edmond Bouchard. The fans were outraged at seeing Malone leave, but felt vindicated when Malone -- at the end of the line -- only scored one goal in twenty games in one season for Montreal.

Prior to the 1922–23 season, the NHL would hold it's governors meeting at the Royal Connaught Hotel on King Street, where visiting teams stayed as well.

After four years of futility, things started to come together in the 1923–24 NHL season with another new coach (Percy LeSueur) and the signing of four players from the Sudbury Wolves of the NOHA: Brothers Red and Shorty Green, Alex McKinnon, and Charlie Langlois. This year saw the Tigers achieve a team high of nine wins in 24 games. It was the next season, though, that saw the results of the previous years' wheelings and dealings.

Players Revolt

With yet another new head coach (Jimmy Gardiner) the Hamilton Tigers roared off to an impressive 10–4–1 start in the 1924–25 NHL season. Only half way through the season, they had more wins than any other season in their NHL history. The team slumped somewhat in the second half of the season but still managed to finish first overall with a record of 19 wins, 10 losses, and 1 tie, just ahead of the Toronto St. Patricks. It looked like the Hamilton Tigers were going to have a chance at winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since they won it as the Quebec Bulldogs over a decade prior in 1913.

But it was not to be. While the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto St. Patricks were playing their semi-finals series to see who had the right to play the Tigers for NHL Finals, the Tigers' players went to their general manager, Percy Thompson, and demanded $200 extra pay for the six extra games they played that season. The NHL had increased the number of games played that year from 24 to 30, but the players didn't get more money for more games. The players' contracts stated that they were to receive the same amount of money no matter how many games were played. Despite what their contracts said, the players demanded the $200 anyway and they said that if they didn't get more money, they wouldn't play in the NHL Finals.

NHL President Frank Calder was not amused. He stated that if they refused to play, he would suspend them all. The players refused to play and true to his word, the finals were cancelled, the players were all fined $200 and suspended. The league title was awarded to the Montreal Canadiens (who had beat the Toronto St. Patricks in the semi-finals). The Montreal Canadiens went on to play the Victoria Cougars for the Stanley Cup but lost. That marked the last time that an NHL team had lost the Stanley Cup to a rival league.

Takeover by New York

Meanwhile, in the league meeting of April 17, 1925, a New York bootlegger named "Big Bill" Dwyer was granted an expansion franchise for New York and named it the New York Americans. Although Dwyer wished to purchase the Hamilton players, for a little while it seemed that Hamilton might remain in the NHL as Abso-Pure talked about building a new arena. The arena was not built and Dwyer bought the rights to the Tigers' players from Thompson for $75,000, and gave the players raises, some as high as 200% of their previous salary. The Hamilton franchise was officially revoked at the September 22 league meeting in the same year, and the matter of the players' suspensions and fines dropped with little additional comment.

The last active Tigers player was Billy Burch, who retired in 1933.

The OHA Tigers

At the time, the city had another Tigers hockey team. Hamilton's senior amateur OHA team was also named the Tigers and also wore the same colours and were just as popular. When the newspapers reported about "the Tigers" it was usually in reference to the amateurs, the NHLers were called "the Professionals."

eason-by-season record

"Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes"

Notable players

=Hall of Famers=

*Billy Burch
*Babe Dye
*Shorty Green
*Joe Malone

Team captains

Team Coaches

* 1920–21 No Coach (Percy Thompson Owner / Manager)
* 1921–22 No Coach (Joe Malone Player / Manager)
* 1922–23 Art Ross
* 1923–24 Percy Lesueur
* 1924–25 Jimmy Gardner

ee also

*Quebec Bulldogs
*New York Americans
*List of Hamilton Tigers players
*List of NHL players
*List of NHL seasons
*List of defunct NHL teams
*List of ice hockey teams in Ontario

References

* [http://hamiltontigers.blogspot.com Hamilton Tigers (c. 1920; 20??)]
* [http://hockeysweatermuseum.my100megs.com/teampages/nhlheritage/hamilton.htm Hamilton Tigers Jersey Images]
*http://www.geocities.com/hamiltontigers/mainpage.html
*http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nhl/hamilton/hamtigers.html
* "Trail of the Stanley Cup", Vol I., Charles Coleman (Kendall/Hunt, 1966)
* "Hamilton's Hockey Tigers", Sam Wesley w/ David Wesley (James Lorimer & Company Ltd., 2005)
* "20th Century Hockey Chronicle", Stan Fischler, Shirley Fischler, Morgan Hughes, Joseph Romain, James Duplacey (Publications International Ltd., 1999)
* "Dictionary of Hamilton Biography", Vol III.(1925–39), Thomas Bailey Melville (W.L. Griffin Ltd., 1981)
* Hamilton Herald Newspaper articles, (1920–1925)