Toronto St. Patricks
NHL team that became the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Toronto St. Patricks, often called the St. Pats, were a professional hockey team that joined the NHL in 1919. The Toronto NHL franchise had originally belonged to the Arena Company, whose team—the Arenas—won the Stanley Cup but went bankrupt and left the league after only two seasons. A group of investors with ties to an amateur club named the St. Patricks bought the franchise rights. They renamed the NHL team after that amateur club, and in 1922, the St. Pats won the Stanley Cup. In 1924, J.P. Bickell invested in the team as a favor to Charlie Querrie. By 1927, Querrie and other investors wanted out, so Bickell arranged for new Toronto investors. He first hired referee and sports writer Mike Rodden to run hockey operations, but that didn’t work out. Bickell then brought in Conn Smythe as Managing Partner. The team was renamed the Toronto Maple Leafs later that same 1926–27 season.
Quick Facts
- Can Eng
- 1
- Team Name
- Toronto St. Patricks
- Text Color
- #000000
- Founded
- Toronto Hockey Club / 1917–1918 / Toronto Arenas / 1918–1919 / Toronto St. Patricks / 1919–1927 / Toronto Maple Leafs / 1927–present
- Arena
- Arena Gardens
- City
- Toronto, Ontario
- Team Colors
- Green, white / #046A38 #FFFFFF
- Owner
- Toronto St. Patricks partnership · (Fred Hambly, Percy Hambly, Paul Ciceri, Charlie Querrie, Richard Greer)
- Stanley Cups
- 1 (1922)
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The St. Patricks organization had operated amateur hockey clubs in the Toronto area since the first decade of the 1900s, including a senior amateur team in the Ontario Hockey Association. The NHL franchise was originally held by the Arena Company, which won the Stanley Cup in 1918 but went bankrupt after two seasons. In December 1919, general manager Charlie Querrie reached an agreement with the owners of the amateur St. Patrick's club to purchase the franchise for $5,000. The new owners renamed the NHL team after the amateur club. The St. Patricks won the Stanley Cup in 1922, defeating the Vancouver Millionaires in a five-game final. Babe Dye scored nine of the team's 16 goals in the series, and goaltender John Ross Roach became the first rookie to record a Stanley Cup shutout. In 1924, J.P. Bickell invested in the team as a favour to Charlie Querrie. By 1927, Querrie and other investors wanted out, and Bickell arranged for other Toronto investors to buy the team. After initially hiring referee and sports writer Mike Rodden to run hockey operations—which did not work out—Bickell hired Conn Smythe as Managing Partner. Smythe renamed the team the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1926–27 season, choosing the maple leaf as a symbol of Canadian soldiers from his World War I experience.
Reader's Guide
The Toronto St. Patricks represent a transitional phase in the history of the Toronto NHL franchise, bridging the bankrupt Arenas and the long-lived Maple Leafs. The team's 1922 Stanley Cup victory was its only championship, and it featured standout performances by Babe Dye and rookie goaltender John Ross Roach. The franchise's sale in 1927, driven by legal troubles and financial losses, nearly resulted in relocation to Philadelphia before J.P. Bickell and Conn Smythe kept the team in Toronto. Smythe's renaming to the Maple Leafs established a brand that would become one of the NHL's most iconic. The NHL uses the abbreviation TSP to distinguish player records of the St. Patricks from those of the Arenas (TAN) and Maple Leafs (TOR). The team's legacy is thus as a short-lived but pivotal predecessor to a storied franchise.
More in Defunct Ice Hockey Teams 1-24
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