Toronto St. Patricks

Lore & Background

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 NHL franchise had originally been held by the Arena Company, which operated the Arena Gardens. The Arena Company was granted a temporary franchise for the 1917–18 season and leased players from the Toronto Blueshirts while litigation was underway between owner Eddie Livingstone and the NHL. That temporary franchise won the Stanley Cup in 1918, but the Arena Company formed the Toronto Arena Hockey Club, which was admitted as a full NHL member. Litigation with Livingstone forced the Arenas to unload most of their stars, and they won only five games in 1918–19 before suspending operations in February.

Livingstone won a $20,000 judgment against the Arena Company, which declared bankruptcy. Before the 1919–20 season, general manager Charlie Querrie learned the Arena Company wanted to sell. As an interim measure, Querrie changed the team name to the Tecumsehs on December 7, 1919. The following day, Querrie reached agreement with the owners of the amateur St. Patrick's club to purchase the franchise. On December 13, 1919, the NHL transferred the Toronto franchise to the Querrie-St. Patricks group for $5,000. The incorporation date was December 22, 1919, listing Fred Hambly, Percy Hambly, Paul Ciceri, Querrie, and Richard Greer as shareholders. Player turnover was nearly 100% from the previous season.

In 1921–22, the St. Pats made their only Stanley Cup Final appearance. After placing second in the league, they upset first-place Ottawa to win the NHL championship and faced Vancouver in the final. A deciding fifth game was necessary; after Vancouver won game one 4–3, Babe Dye scored in overtime of game two to give Toronto a 2–1 win. Vancouver won game three 3–0, but the St. Patricks tied the series with a 6–0 shutout in game four, as John Ross Roach became the first rookie goaltender to record a Stanley Cup shutout. In game five, Dye scored four goals in a 5–1 victory to clinch the Cup. Dye scored nine of the St. Pats' 16 goals in the series, while Roach posted a 1.80 goals-against average.

Reader's Guide

The Toronto St. Patricks represent a transitional period in the history of the Toronto NHL franchise, bridging the bankrupt Arenas and the long-lived Maple Leafs. The team's significance lies in its 1922 Stanley Cup victory, which was the second Stanley Cup won by a Toronto NHL team and the only one under the St. Patricks name. The franchise's survival was precarious: after two seasons of missing the playoffs and losing money due to poor attendance, the Hamblys sold their shares to Nathan Nathanson and J. P. Bickell in December 1924. In 1927, after Querrie lost a lawsuit to Livingstone and decided to sell, a $200,000 bid came from a Philadelphia group. However, at Bickell's direction, Conn Smythe headed an ownership group and made an offer for majority ownership. With Bickell's support, the Philadelphia bid was rejected, Smythe arguing that civic pride was more important than money. After taking control on February 14, 1927, Smythe renamed the team the Toronto Maple Leafs, after the national symbol of Canada, attributing his choice to his experiences as a Canadian Army officer and prisoner of war during World War I. The NHL uses the abbreviation TSP to distinguish player records of the Toronto St. Patricks from the previous Arenas (TAN) and subsequent Maple Leafs (TOR).

Did You Know?

• The St. Patricks won the Stanley Cup in 1922, their only championship under that name.
• Goaltender John Ross Roach became the first rookie to record a Stanley Cup shutout, doing so in game four of the 1922 final.
• The franchise was purchased from the bankrupt Arena Company for $5,000 in December 1919.
• Conn Smythe renamed the team the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 14, 1927, after taking control.