The 1915 Stanley Cup Finals was played from March 22–26, 1915. The Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Vancouver Millionaires swept the National Hockey Association (NHA) champion Ottawa Senators three games to none in a best-of-five game series. The finals were played in Vancouver, with games one, three and five played under PCHA rules. The Millionaires became the first team from the PCHA to win the Cup. This was the second Stanley Cup championship series between the champions of the NHA and the PCHA and the first held in a PCHA rink.
| 1915 Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||||||
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 The Stanley Cup in 1921. It would have looked the same in 1915. | ||||||||||||||||
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| PCHA rules: 1,3 NHA: 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Location(s) | Vancouver: Denman Arena | |||||||||||||||
| Format | best-of-five | |||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Vancouver: Frank Patrick Ottawa: Frank Shaughnessy (mgr.) | |||||||||||||||
| Dates | March 22–26, 1915. | |||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Barney Stanley (5:30, second) | |||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Millionaires: Si Griffis (1950) Hughie Lehman (1958) Mickey MacKay (1952) Frank Nighbor (1947) Frank Patrick (1950, builder) Barney Stanley (1963) Cyclone Taylor (1947) Senators: Clint Benedict (1965) Punch Broadbent (1962) Jack Darragh (1962) Eddie Gerard (1945) Art Ross (1949) Coaches: Frank Patrick (1950) | |||||||||||||||
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Paths to the Finals
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In 1914 the PCHA and NHA agreed to a yearly challenge series between the two teams that won each league for the right to hold the Stanley Cup, effectively ending the challenge era for the Cup.[1]
Vancouver finished the 1914–15 PCHA regular season in first place, and thus winning that league's title, with a record of 13–4.[2] Meanwhile, Ottawa and the Montreal Wanderers both finished the 1914–15 NHA regular season tied for first place with identical 14–6 records, and thus had to play a two-game total goals series to determine the NHA champion. Ottawa won this series 4–1 to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.[3] Ottawa left for Vancouver, which hosted the series that year, on March 15.[4] Vancouver captain Si Griffis missed the series due to a broken leg from an exhibition series against NHA all-stars held while waiting for the Finals to start.[5]
Game summaries
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All games of the championship finals were played at Vancouver's Denman Arena, the home of the PCHA champion Millionaires.[3] Vancouver ended up sweeping the series with victories of 6–2, 8–3, and 12–3, scoring 26 total goals while limiting the Senators to just eight overall. Former Senator Cyclone Taylor led the Millionaires with six goals. Future Hockey Hall of Famer Barney Stanley scored five goals, including three in the second period of game three. The Cup was not brought west to Vancouver by the Senators, so was not immediately presented to the winners.[6]
| Game-by-Game | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Rules Used | Location | |
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| 1 | March 22 | Vancouver Millionaires | 6–2 | Ottawa Senators | PCHA | Denman Arena, Vancouver |
| 2 | March 24 | Vancouver Millionaires | 8–3 | Ottawa Senators | NHA | |
| 3 | March 26 | Vancouver Millionaires | 12–3 | Ottawa Senators | PCHA | |
| Millionaires win best-of-five series 3–0 | ||||||
- Vancouver Millionaires PCHA champions - Starting Lineup - Hugh Leahman goalie, Lloydy Cook point, Frank Patrick (manager-coach/owner) cover point, Fred "Cyclone" Taylor rover-center, Duncan "Mickey" MacKay center-left wing, Frank Nighbor right wing, Russell "Barney" Stanley left wing - subs Kenny Mallen defence, Jim Seanboar defence, Silas "Si" Griffis (captain) defence - Spare - Jean "Johnny" Matz - Center
- Ottawa Senators NHA champions - Starting Lineup - Clint Benedict goalie, Horace Merrill point, Art Ross cover point, Eddie Gerard (Captain) - left wing-rover, Angus Duford center, Harry "Punch" Broadbent right wing, Leth Graham left wing - subs Jack Darragh right wing-center, Hamilton "Hamby" Shore left wing - Spares - Bill Bell center, Fred Lake defence, Ed Lowrey center, Art Sullivan center, Sammy Herbert - goalie, Frank Saughneesy (Manager), Alf Smith (Coach).
Stanley Cup engraving
editThe 1915 Stanley Cup was presented by the trophy's trustee William Foran.
The following Millionaires players and staff were eligible to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup
1914–15 Vancouver Millionaires
Players
- Frank Nighbor
- Russell Barney Stanley
- Lloyd Cook
- Si Griffis (captain)
- Ken Mallen
- Frank Patrick (owner/president/manager/coach/defence)
- Jim Seaborn
Coaching and administrative staff
- None (see Frank Patrick)
‡ Played rover, a position between both defencemen and behind the center.
Stanley Cup engraving
The Senators had the words "Ottawa/NHA Champions/1914–15" engraved on the base of the trophy's original bowl even though they did not win the Cup final. This was similar to the practice prior to the NHA-PCHA agreement when the trophy was officially passed on to the winner of the league championship of the previous Cup champion's league. The previous Cup winner was the 1913–14 NHA champion Toronto Blueshirts.
After the series, "Vancouver B.C./1914–15/Defeated Ottawa/3 Straight Games" was added to the Cup. Eight players' names and the manager's name were also engraved inside the bowl along the fluted sides.
Kenny Mallen played 14 of 16 regular season games, and two of three games in the finals. Mallen's name was left off by mistake. Johnny Matz who played one game in the regular season before being released, was not on the Cup either.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Wong 2005, p. 69
- ^ Coleman 1964, p. 277
- ^ a b Jenish 1992, p. 84
- ^ Kitchen 2008, p. 183
- ^ Zweig 2012, p. 279
- ^ Bowlsby 2012, p. 80
Bibliography
edit- Bowlsby, Craig H. (2012), Empire of Ice: The Rise and Fall of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, 1911–1926, Vancouver: Knights of Winter, ISBN 978-0-9691705-6-3
- Coleman, Charles L. (1964), The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Volume 1: 1893–1926 inc., Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing, OCLC 957132
- Diamond, Dan, ed. (1992). The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book. Firefly Books. p. 46. ISBN 1-895565-15-4.
- Jenish, D'Arcy (1992), The Stanley Cup: A Hundred Years of Hockey at its Best, Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart Inc., ISBN 0-7710-4406-2
- Kitchen, Paul (2008), Win, Tie, or Wrangle: The Inside Story of the Old Ottawa Senators 1883–1935, Manotick, Ontario: Penumbra Press, ISBN 978-1-897323-46-5
- Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. pp. 12, 47. ISBN 1-55168-261-3.
- Wong, John Chi-Kit (2005), Lords of the Rinks: The Emergence of the National Hockey League 1875–1936, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, ISBN 0-8020-8520-2
- Zweig, Eric (2012), Stanley Cup: 120 Years of Hockey Supremacy, Richmond Hill, Ontario: Firefly Books, ISBN 978-1-77085-104-7