Vancouver Millionaires' 1915 Stanley Cup Victory Set Hockey's Future

The year is 1915. The Stanley Cup is played for in Vancouver, where the local Millionaires hockey team hosts the legendary Senators from Ottawa.

Yes, the Stanley Cup was the prize, but something much, much more important was at stake. The future of hockey - hockey as we know it today - was cemented by the city of Vancouver's only Stanley Cup championship.

In 1914-15, Vancouver playing manager/coach Frank Patrick had put together a powerhouse team that dominated the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.

The Vancouver Millionaires had Hughie Lehman in nets, acquired from the New West Royals. Si Griffis, the team captain, anchored the defense, while forward stars Frank Nighbor, Mickey McKay, Barney Stanley and hockey's very first superstar Cyclone Taylor took care of the offense. Vancouver very much was a juggernaut designed to change the course of hockey history.

The season was capped off successfully on February 28th, 1915 when the Millionaires defeated the Portland Rosebuds by a convincing score of 11-3 to capture the PCHA championship. They finished the season with a record of 12 wins and 4 losses, outscoring the opposition mightily 101-40.

The season was not done yet, though. This was the first season of a new NHA/PCHA agreement. The Stanley Cup championship would be played between the winner of each league. By winning the western Canadian championship meant that for the very first time Vancouver was going to play for the Stanley Cup!

The Millionaires would face Cyclone Taylor's old team, the Ottawa Senators. The Sens defeated the Montreal Wanderers 4-1 in a two game, total goals series to win the NHA championship. The NHA, based in Eastern Canada, was the forerunner to the NHL.

While the Senators were slowly making their way across Canada by rail, the Millionaires headed south to Portland to played two exhibition games to stay sharp. In theory it was a great idea, although it almost proved disastrous. Griffis, the team's undisputed leader, badly twisted his ankle and would not be able to play in the Stanley Cup finals. Frank Patrick proposed his legendary brother Lester Patrick substitute in for Griffis, but the Senators would not agree to that. Little known rookie Lloyd Cook would fill in admirably. Lester would man the bench, allowing Frank to concentrate on the game, too.

The series between the Sens and Millionaires was to be a best of five, with three games under western rules (seven player rules) and two games under Eastern rules (six player rules). And that is where the future of hockey was set.

The PCHA introduced many of the rules we take for granted today. Perhaps the most important rule they used that the NHA did not was the use of the forward pass. The NHA did not, and as a result their game was more of rugby-on-ice strategy as compared to the modern game. In fact the NHA absolutely detested the forward pass.

The series would be a short one. Even with the loss of captain Griffis, Vancouver walloped the Easterners. Fans who paid as much as $14 a ticket (have tickets always been ridiculously overpriced in Vancouver?) witnessed hockey history.

Vancouver skated to an easy 6-2 win in game one, with Cyclone Taylor scoring twice. Ottawa admitted after the game that the Western rules confused them, particularly the use of the forward pass at center ice. But Vancouver loved it. Cyclone Taylor said in an interview "...it makes the game twice as fast. A man doesn't have to slow up and wait for his teammates in starting a rush down the ice. The referees have less to worry about and it gives the forwards better chances. Frank Patrick did a great stroke of hockey business when he decided to accept the forward pass."

Using Eastern rules in game two did not seem to help Ottawa, however. Despite jumping out to a 2-0 first period lead, Ottawa would be humiliated by the Millionaires. Vancouver exploded for 6 goals in the second period alone en route to a 8-3 drubbing. Ottawa resorted to assaulting Taylor, who had three goals in the game.

The third and final game was even less of a contest, with Vancouver winning easily 12-3. Barney Stanley scored 4 times. The game was so far out of reach so early that Vancouver never made a single substitute during the entire game, using the same 7 skaters for all 60 minutes.

The Stanley Cup had come to Vancouver! The players collected $300 bonus cheques and were treated like royalty.

Harry "Rat" Westwick

Here's a story you certainly do not hear about nowadays.

In 1894-95 Ottawa born Harry Westwick tried making the Ottawa Hockey Club as a goaltender. After two games - a win and a loss with 6 goals against total - he was dropped in favour of another goaltender named Fred Chittick.

But Westwick was undeterred. He simply took off the rudimentary goalie pads of the day, grabbed a regular players stick embarked on a 12 year career as a rover/forward that would land him four Stanley Cup championships and enshrinement in the Hockey Hall of Fame!

Westwick landed the job as rover on the powerful Ottawa hockey team because of his skating ability and all around play. He was small but a speedy and shifty skater, able to scurry around the ice all night. He was not Ottawa's top offensive threat (Frank McGee, Tommy Smith) or even the team's top defensive presence (Harvey Pulford). But he was a good glue guy who could do everything well.

He was also a bit of a nasty piece of work, earning the nickname "Rat" in very similar fashion to the modern day comparable Ken Linseman who was also dubbed "Rat." A Quebec journalist colourfully tagged Westwick as "miserable, insignificant rat" and nickname stuck.

Westwick was also a noted lacrosse star, winning three national lacrosse championships. He worked as a book binder while playing, and later took a job with the printing bureau of the Canadian government. He had a leg amputated above the knee in 1949, with one source attributing that to old hockey injuries.

Harry Westwick died at the age of 80 in 1957. In 1963 he was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Ottawa's Heritage Jersey?

Could this be Ottawa's new alternative jersey? There's a group of Ottawa fans who are trying to make it happen.

By the way, third jerseys will return in 2008-09, with speculation running rampant about the new designs. Icethetics, formerly NHL Tournament Of Logos, has all the speculation and facts covered nicely.

Ottawa Senators: Hockey's First Dynasty

Long before Montreal, Toronto or Detroit, Ottawa won three Cups in four seasons, making them professional hockey’s earliest dynasty. The team officially known as the Ottawa Hockey Club, although they were known by the unofficial nicknames "Silver Seven" and "Senators."

Ottawa was hockey’s earliest dynasty. From 1903 through 1927 Ottawa won 11 Stanley Cup championships, including 4 championships in the 1920s as a member of the National Hockey League.

Not that anyone remembers that today. The Ottawa Senators faded from memory after a disastrous financial slide and move to St. Louis in 1935. No one remembers the exploits of players like Jack Darragh or those Stanley Cup championships.

The first Ottawa team was formed at the 1884 Montreal Winter Carnival. By 1890 they were dubbed the "Generals" or "Capitals." The team was instrumental in the formation of the Amateur Hockey Association (AHA), the first major league circuit in Canada. The team would challenge Montreal AAA for the first two Stanley Cup championships, but would fall just short of winning Lord Stanley's mug.

The team was restructured at the turn of the 20th century, complete with the official nickname of Senators. Back then teams put seven players on the ice, including the now-extinct rover. As a result, the Ottawa media and fans dubbed their team the Silver Seven despite the official Senators nickname.

These Ottawa teams, led by the likes of team captain Harvey Pulford, One Eyed Frank McGee, Harry Westwick, Bowse Hutton and coach Alf Smith, won the Stanley Cup four years running, from 1903 to 1906.

As the rover position was eliminated, the popular Silver Seven nickname subsided. Ottawa would win Cup in 1909 as a member of the Eastern Canadian Hockey Association, a year before joining the NHA, the forerunner to the NHL.

Despite the uncertainties of teams folding, teams starting, owner infighting and World War I, the Senators obtained some of the greatest players in the early era of professional hockey. Frank Nighbor, Jack Darragh, Harry “Punch” Broadbent, Art Ross, Cy Denneny, and Sprague Cleghorn all played for Ottawa. It was a team of hometown heroes.

The Senators won their first NHL-era cup in 1920 after beating the Seattle Metropolitans. After Game 4, in which the Senators were beaten 5-2, Jack Darragh declared, “I’ve had enough hockey for this winter. You will have to get along without me in the final game.” He then promptly called a cab and headed home, but was convinced to return in time for the final game.

Interestingly, the final two games of the 1920 finals were played in Toronto, as the Sens' ice was quickly deteriorating due to unusually hot spring weather that year.

The Sens won again in 1921 after beating the Vancouver Millionaires. After this victory, the team lost several of its stars. Jack Darragh decided to retire. Frank Gorman didn’t want to deal with Cleghorn anymore, so he walked away and was assigned to play for the Hamilton Tigers. Cleghorn was promptly traded to Montreal.

But as the Senators lost or traded these stars, they also signed two rookies who would go on to have stellar careers: Frank “King” Clancy and Frank Boucher, though Boucher was traded after one season.

The Senators won again in 1923. This was the first time in NHL history brothers squared off against each other in the Stanley Cup final. Not only were Cy and Corb Denneny on opposing sides, but George and Frank Boucher as well.

Jack Darragh decided to come out of retirement for the 1922-23 season. He played on that championship team, played one more season and retired once more. He did not get to enjoy that retirement much. In July 1924, he died of peritonitis.

By the time Ottawa claimed another Cup victory in 1927, the lineup had changed somewhat. This time, they had Jack Adams, Hooley Smith and Hec Kilrea in addition to Nighbor, Denneny, and Clancy.

1927 marked the first all-NHL Stanley Cup Finals, as the Senators took on the Boston Bruins, with the Sens prevailing with a 2-0-2 record in the mandatory 4 game series. After the final game Billy Coutu assaulted a referee in the arena corridors, and was subsequently suspended for life.

Unfortunately, the team never really made money. Even in a winning season like 1926-27, the Senators lost $50, 000. Owner Frank Ahearn began selling off players. The team’s winning ways slowed, then stopped. In the 1930-31 season, the Senators only won ten games. The following year team operations were suspended.

The team was resurrected in 1932, but finished last in the 1932-33 and 1933-34 seasons. In the middle of the 1934-35 season, the team relocated to St. Louis and became known as the Eagles. That season, they only won 11 of 48 games; at the end of the season, the team folded and it was the official end of the Senators.

In December of 1990, the NHL board of governors met to hear pitches for the first expansion teams since the admittance of ex-WHA teams in 1979. One of the contenders for a new franchise was Ottawa.

To make sure the league understood just how serious Ottawa was, they brought along the last surviving player of the original Senators: Frank “Shawville Express” Finnigan. Frank was 87, and his mind was still as sharp as ever. He cornered then-president John Ziegler at a function and instructed Ziegler to give Ottawa a franchise. “You’re going to give those boys in Ottawa a chance,” Frank declared.

The next day, Ziegler did just that and once again the Senators were back in the league, beginning with the 1992-93 season.

-- Contributed by Jennifer Conway