1918 Stanley Cup Finals

Infobox Stanley Cup Final
year=1918
team2=Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA)
team2_short=Vancouver
team1=Toronto (NHL)
team1_short=Toronto
format=best-of-five
team2_1=3
team1_1=5
team2_2=6
team1_2=4
team2_3=3
team1_3=6
team2_4=8
team1_4=1
team2_5=1
team1_5=2
gm5_ot=*
team2_tot=2
team1_tot=3
dates=March 20 – 30
location1=Toronto, ON (Arena Gardens) (1–5)
team1_coach=Dick Carroll
team2_coach=Frank Patrick
series_winner=Corb Denneny (10:30, 3rd)The 1918 Stanley Cup Finals were played from March 20 to March 30 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The National Hockey League (NHL) champion Toronto defeated the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Vancouver Millionaires three games to two in the best-of-five game series to win the Stanley Cup.

Paths to the Final

Prior to the 1917–18 season, the National Hockey Association (NHA) had suspended operations as the result of a power play to oust Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone. The remaining clubs then met in November 1918 to form the NHL, using the exact constitution and playing rules of the NHA. The NHL took the NHA's place in competing for the Cup in a playoff with the PCHA.

The Toronto NHL players were assigned from the Toronto NHA franchise, and played for a 'temporary' Toronto NHL franchise, operated by the Toronto Arena owners. This is why it is often called the 'Arenas' although no Arena hockey club existed until after the 1917–18 season. The team at the time used no nickname; and it was often referred to at the time as the "Blueshirts', the nickname of the NHA franchise, as it was announced by the NHA that the franchise had been sold, although this had not been agreed to by Eddie Livingstone, who wanted to resume his franchise, or be compensated under his terms. [cite book |title=Deceptions and Doublecross |last=Holzman |first=Morey |year=2002]

Despite this black cloud over it, Toronto won the second half of the split regular season while the Montreal Canadiens won the first half. Toronto then won the NHL title by defeating the Canadiens in a two-game total-goals series, 10–7.

Meanwhile, Vancouver finished the 1917–18 PCHA regular season in second place with a 9–9 record behind the 11–7 Seattle Metropolitans. However, Vancouver beat Seattle in that league's two-game total-goals finals, 3–1, with a 1–0 game two victory.

The series

As with the three previous NHA-PCHA Cup Final series, the series alternated between the NHL champion and the PCHA champion each year, while the differing rules for the leagues alternated each game. This meant that all of the games for the 1918 championship series were played at Toronto's Arena Gardens.

Two of the major differences between the two leagues' rules proved to be a major factor in the series. The PCHA allowed forward passing and played with seven players per side; the NHL did not adopt forward passing until the following season, and only played with six players. In every game, the winner was the one playing under its league's rules. The Torontos won Games 1 and 3 with victories of 5–3 and 6–3, and the Millionaires recorded 6–4 and 8–1 wins in Games 2 and 4. Because game five was played under NHL rules, it helped Toronto's Corbett Denneny to score the series winning goal in a 2–1 victory. The Torontos outscored the Millionaires by a combined total of 13–7 in the three games played under NHL rules. Conversely, Vancouver recorded a 14–5 margin in the games under PCHA rules.

Toronto goaltender Hap Holmes recorded a 4.20 goals-against average during the series, while Alf Skinner led Toronto with eight goals. Cyclone Taylor scored nine goals for Vancouver.

Torontos 1918 Stanley Cup champions

Stanley Cup champion
goaltenders=*1 Harry Hap Holmes
*1 Arthur Brooks(sub)
defence=*2 Harry Cameron
*3 Ken Randall‡
*7 Harry Mummery
centers=*4 Reg Noble‡
*5 Corb Denneny
*9 Jack Adams
wingers=*6 Alf Skinner
*8 Rusty Crawford
*8 Jack Coughlin
*10 Harry Meeking
* Jack Marks
non-players=
*Charlie Querrie (President/Manager), Dick Carroll (Coach)
*Frank Carroll (Trainer)‡ Played Rover a position in the Stanley Cup Finals
engraving-notes=

Even though they officially did not win the Cup during this season, the Vancouver club had the words "Vancouver/Defeated Seattle/1917–18/Score 1–0" engraved on the Cup after winning the PCHA championship over the Metropolitans, who won the previous year's Cup finals. This was similar to the practice prior to 1915 when the trophy was officially passed on to the winner of the league championship of the previous Cup champion's league.

However, the Toronto club never did engrave their name on the Cup to memorialize their series victory over Vancouver. At the time, the NHL club was in a dispute with the owner of the NHA Toronto franchise holder over the Stanley Cup revenues. In 1948, the NHL engraved "1918 Toronto Arenas" on the Cup.

References

*cite web | url=http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SilverwareTrophyWinner.jsp?tro=STC&year=1917-18 | title=1917-18 Stanley Cup Winner: Toronto Arenas | publisher=Hockey Hall of Fame | accessdate=2006-07-03
*cite web | url=http://www.hockeyleaguehistory.com/Pacific_Coast_Hockey_Association%20_1911.htm | title=hockeyleaguehistory.com - Pacific Coast Hockey Association | accessdate=2006-07-03
*cite book | last=Podnieks | first=Andrew | coauthors=Hockey Hall of Fame | title=Lord Stanley's Cup | year=2004 | publisher=Triumph Books| id=ISBN 1-55168-261-3 | pages=12, 50
*cite book | editor=Dan Diamond (ed.) | title=The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book | year=1992 | publisher=Firefly Books| id=ISBN 1-895565-15-4 | pages=49-50

ee also

* 1917–18 NHL season
* 1917–18 PCHA season
* List of Stanley Cup champions