1927 Stanley Cup

Lore & Background

The series was originally intended to be a best-of-three series. After the first game was declared a draw, NHL president Frank Calder ruled that the series would go no more than five games, with overtimes limited to 20 minutes. If the teams were tied after five games, they would share the championship. In the end, the series went four games because of two ties. These were the last ties in Stanley Cup history, notwithstanding the unfinished 3–3 match between Edmonton and Boston on May 24, 1988. Rough play marred the series: in the final game, Lionel Hitchman and George Boucher were ejected for a wild fight which Ottawa police had to break up. Hooley Smith butt-ended Boston's Harry Oliver, and Eddie Shore fought with Smith in retaliation; both Smith and Shore were ejected. After the game, Billy Coutu assaulted referee Jerry Laflamme, tackled referee Billy Bell and started a bench-clearing brawl. Coutu was barred from the league for life, Smith was given a one-month suspension effective in the 1927–28 season, while Boucher, Hitchman and Jimmy Herbert were all fined.

In Their Own Story

The air in the Montreal Forum was thick with tension and the smell of stale tobacco smoke. It was Game Three of the Stanley Cup Finals, and the score hung at 1-0 in favor of Ottawa. The New York Rangers pressed forward, their skates carving deep grooves into the ice as they sought a breakthrough. Clint Benedict stood tall between the pipes, his pads seemingly impenetrable against the barrage of shots. With seconds ticking away on the clock, a Ranger winger tried to slip a puck past him, but Benedict's glove hand shot out like lightning, freezing the puck dead. The final horn blared, echoing off the wooden rafters as the Senators players collapsed onto the ice in exhaustion and relief. The sixth banner was theirs.

Reader's Guide

Game one ended in a scoreless draw after two ten-minute overtime periods. In the overtime, the condition of the ice became unplayable and Calder called the game. There were two disallowed goals, one by each team, both by off-sides. Before the next game, Calder decided the series would play to five games if necessary, with overtimes limited to 20 minutes. Game two: Senators changed tactics, going on the offensive. King Clancy and Cy Denneny scored in the first period. In the third period, Harry Oliver scored for the Bruins, but Denneny scored again in the final minute. Game three: The series switched to Ottawa. Jimmy Herbert scored for Boston in the first period. Denneny tied it in the second. Neither team broke the tie in the third or two overtimes. Game four: Senators started substitutes Frank Finnigan and Hec Kilrea. Finnigan and Denneny scored in the first period for a 2–0 lead. Denneny scored again in the third for 3–0. After rough play, Oliver scored with six minutes left. Hooley Smith butt-ended Oliver, leading to ejections. After the game, Coutu attacked referee Laflamme.

Did You Know?

• Ottawa's Frank Nighbor was playing in his sixth Stanley Cup series, while Boston's Sprague Cleghorn and Billy Coutu were playing in their fifth.
• The April 13, 1927, game at the Ottawa Auditorium was the last Stanley Cup Final game in Ottawa until Game 3 of the 2007 Final, played at Scotiabank Place between the current Senators and the Anaheim Ducks on June 2, 200
• With the win, Hooley Smith became the fourth player to have won Olympic gold and the Stanley Cup; he won gold at the 1924 Olympics with the Toronto Granites.