Toronto St. Patricks

Toronto St. Patricks
Founded	Toronto Blueshirts 1917–18 Toronto Arenas 1918–19 Toronto St. Patricks 1919–27 Toronto Maple Leafs 1927–present
Home arena	Arena Gardens
City	Toronto, Ontario
Colors	Green, white
Owner(s)	Toronto St. Patricks partnership (Fred Hambly, Percy Hambly, Paul Ciceri, Charlie Querrie, Richard Greer)
Stanley Cups	1 1922

The Toronto St. Patricks were a professional men's ice hockey team which began playing in the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1919. The Toronto NHL franchise (league membership) had previously been held by the Arena Company (and the team called the "Arenas"), but despite winning the Stanley Cup the team was bankrupt and pulled out of the league after just two seasons. The rights to the Toronto franchise was purchased by a group of investors with links to an amateur club called the "St. Patricks". The new owners renamed the NHL franchise after the amateur club, and as the St. Patricks the team won the Stanley Cup in 1922. The name remained until 1927, when the franchise was sold to a partnership of Conn Smythe and other Torontonian investors and renamed the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Club history

Early years

The St. Pats organization had operated amateur hockey clubs in the Toronto area since the first decade of the 1900s, including the senior amateur St. Patricks team in the Ontario Hockey Association.

The Toronto franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL), since the NHL's founding in 1917, had been operated by the Arena Company, operators of the Arena Gardens in Toronto. The Arena Company had been granted a temporary franchise for the 1917-18 season, and leased the players from the Toronto Blueshirts from owner Eddie Livingstone while litigation was underway between Livingstone and the NHL. This temporary franchise won the Stanley Cup in 1918. However, instead of returning the players to Livingstone, the Arena Company formed the Toronto Arena Hockey Club, popularly known as the Toronto Arenas, with Arena Company auditor Hubert Vearncombe as team president. This new organization was duly admitted to the NHL as a full member in good standing, touching off a new round of litigation with Livingstone which forced the Arenas to unload most of their stars. They only won five games in 1918-19, and were forced to suspend operations in February.

Livingstone won a $20,000 judgment against the Arena Company, which declared bankruptcy to avoid paying the bill. Before the 1919–20 season, general manager Charlie Querrie learned that the Arena Company wanted to sell.^[1] As an interim measure, Querrie changed the team name to the Tecumsehs on December 7, 1919.^[2] The following day, Querrie reached agreement with the owners of the amateur St. Patrick's club to purchase the franchise. Frank Heffernan was named as manager.^[3] On December 13, 1919, the NHL transferred the Toronto franchise to the Querrie-St. Patricks group, for the fee of $5,000. The incorporation date of the club was December 22, 1919, and listed Fred Hambly, Percy Hambly, Paul Ciceri and Querrie with 99 shares each, and Richard Greer with 4 shares. This move was possible because the Arena Hockey Club was a self-contained corporation, and was therefore beyond the legal reach of Livingstone.

Although Querrie returned, player turnover was nearly 100%, partly because the Quebec NHL franchise was activating for this season, and the players that had been loaned to the Arenas and other NHL teams had been returned to Quebec. Additionally, with the poor performance of the previous season, and the turnover in franchise management, the franchise essentially started over. The club improved to second and third-place finishes in the halves of the schedule.

In 1920–21, the club placed second and first in the schedule halves, enough to make a playoff appearance. Unfortunately, the 'Super Six' of Ottawa would dominate the club 7–0 in a two-game total goals playoff. The experience would be helpful in the following season, however.

1922 Stanley Cup champions

In the 1921–22 season, the St. Pats made their first and only appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. After placing second in the league standings, the club upset first place Ottawa to win the NHL championship and face Vancouver in the final. A fifth and deciding game five was necessary in this series to determine who would win the Cup. After Vancouver won game one, 4–3, Babe Dye scored 4:50 into overtime of game two to give Toronto a 2–1 win. Then in game three, goaltender Hugh Lehman led the Millionaires to a 3–0 shutout win. However, the St. Patricks tied the series in game four, 6–0, as John Ross Roach became the first rookie goaltender to record a Stanley Cup shutout. game five belonged to Toronto as Dye scored four goals in a 5–1 victory to clinch the Cup. For the series, Dye scored nine of the St. Pats 16 goals, while Roach posted a 1.80 goals-against average.

Later years

In the following two seasons, the St. Pats would miss the playoffs with third-place finishes. In 1924–25, the club would place second and play off against the Montreal Canadiens. While Hamilton had played first, the club was on strike, making the St. Pats-Canadiens semi-final the de facto final. The Canadiens would win the playoff to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

In 1925–26, the club struggled to a sixth placing, finishing behind the expansion Pittsburgh and New York clubs. Top scorer Babe Dye struggled and the club finished sixth out of seven teams. The Canadiens had lost their top goalie Georges Vezina and placed last. In 1926–27, the club finished fifth and last in the new Canadian division. Dye was sold to the new Chicago Black Hawks team for cash.

Franchise sale to Smythe

The club was in trouble in 1927, both on the ice and legally. Querrie lost a lawsuit to Livingstone and decided to put the St. Pats up for sale. He gave serious consideration to a $200,000 bid from a Philadelphia group. However, Toronto Varsity Graduates coach Conn Smythe put together an ownership group of his own and made a $160,000 offer for the franchise. With the support of St. Pats shareholder J. P. Bickell, Smythe persuaded Querrie to reject the Philadelphia bid, arguing that civic pride was more important than money.

Seasons

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes, TG = Playoff series decided on total goals

Prominent players

• Harry Cameron
• Babe Dye

Coaches

• Frank Heffernan 
• Harvey Sproule
• Frank Carroll
• George O'Donoghue
• Charlie Querrie
• Eddie Powers
• Mike Rodden

See also

• Holzman, Morey (2002). Deceptions and Doublecross. Dundurn Press. 
• Eddie Livingstone
• Toronto Maple Leafs
• History of the National Hockey League
• History of the Toronto Maple Leafs
• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1922 Stanley Cup Finals

References

• Coleman, Charles (1966). Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol. 1, 1893-2926 inc. 
• Holzman, Morey (2002). Deceptions and Doublecross. Dundurn Press.