The 1922–23 NHL season was the sixth

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL). Four teams played 24 games each. The

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

defeated the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

for the NHL championship, and then defeated Vancouver and Edmonton to win the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

Regular season

At the start of the season,

Newsy Lalonde Édouard Cyrille "Newsy" Lalonde (October 31, 1887 – November 21, 1970) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward in the National Hockey League (NHL) and a professional lacrosse player. Lalonde is regarded as one of hockey's and lacrosse ...

found himself moving west as the

traded him to the

Saskatoon Sheiks The Saskatoon Sheiks were a professional ice hockey team in the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) and Prairie Hockey League (PrHL) from 1921 to 1928. The team played their home games at the Crescent Arena in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Hist ...

of the

Western Canada Hockey League The Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), founded in 1921–22 WCHL season, 1921, was a major professional ice hockey league originally based in the prairies of Canada. It was renamed the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1925 and disbanded in 1926. ...

for a rising young star named Aurel Joliat. Joliat would help the Canadiens win the second playoff spot over the St. Patricks. Joliat scored two goals in his first game with the Canadiens, but

Babe Dye Cecil Henry "Babe" Dye (May 13, 1898 — January 3, 1962) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Toronto St. Patricks/ Maple Leafs, Hamilton Tigers, Chicago Black Hawks, ...

had five goals in the

Toronto St. Patricks The Toronto St. Patricks (colloquially known as the St. Pats) were a professional 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 Aren ...

' 7–2 win. Joliat finished with 12 goals and 21 points in 24 games. The Canadiens sent

Bert Corbeau Bertram Orion "Pig Iron" Corbeau (February 9, 1894 – September 21, 1942) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played ten seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, Hamilton Tigers, Toronto St. Pats and T ...

and Edmond Bouchard to Hamilton in exchange for

Joe Malone Maurice Joseph Malone (February 28, 1890 – May 15, 1969) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre. He played in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and National Hockey League (NHL) for the Quebec Bulldogs, Montreal Canadiens, and Hamilt ...

, now in the twilight of his great career. On January 31, 1923, the Montreal Canadiens and Hamilton Tigers played the first penalty-free game in NHL history, a 5–4 Montreal victory. On February 14, 1923, CFCA, the radio station of the

Toronto Daily Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands division. The newspaper was establis ...

, broadcast the third period of the Senators-St. Patricks game in Toronto. This was the first radio broadcast of an NHL game. The broadcaster has not been identified, but it may have been Norman Albert who broadcast the Midland-North Toronto game February 8 from the Toronto Arena. On February 17, 1923,

Cy Denneny Cyril Joseph Denneny (December 23, 1891 – September 10, 1970) was a Canadian ice hockey forward who played for the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League from 1917 to 1929 and the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hock ...

of Ottawa scored his 143rd goal, surpassing

as the all-time goal-scoring leader as the Ottawa Senators shut out the Montreal Canadiens 2–0.

Standings

Playoffs

This was the second year in which the Stanley Cup playoffs involved three leagues. The previous year saw all three second place teams win their respective leagues. This year, it was all the first place teams. The NHL ''total goals'' playoffs for the O'Brien Cup were won by the Ottawa Senators 3 goals to 2. The

Pacific Coast Hockey Association The Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) was a professional ice hockey league in Western Canada and the Western United States, which operated from 1911 to 1924 when it then merged with the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). The PCHA was cons ...

abandoned its seven-man hockey in favour of the six-man rules used in the NHL and the

. This allowed the PCHA and the WCHL to play interleague games. Despite playing interleague games, the two separate leagues kept their own standings. The newly renamed

Vancouver Maroons The Vancouver Millionaires (later known as the Vancouver Maroons) were a professional ice hockey team that competed in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and the Western Canada Hockey League between 1911 and 1926. Based in Vancouver, British ...

won the PCHA championship and the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...

won the WCHL championship.

NHL Championship

In the O'Brien Trophy playoffs, the first-place

, played off against the second-place

in a

two-game total-goals In sports (especially association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum of ...

series.

Stanley Cup playoffs

The Stanley Cup playoffs were played in Vancouver. There, the WCHL champions received the privilege of battling the winner between Ottawa and Vancouver. In the end, Ottawa prevailed over both Western opponents to win their eighth

(third as a member of the NHL). Injuries had thinned the Senators line-up, and after seeing the gritty show put on by the undermanned Senators, Vancouver head coach Frank Patrick called them the greatest team he had ever seen.

Stanley Cup Finals

NHL Playoff scoring leader

''Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points''

Awards

O'Brien Cup The O'Brien Trophy, or O'Brien Cup, as labelled on the trophy itself, is a retired trophy that was awarded in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) ice hockey leagues of North America from 1910 to 1950. It was ...

— Ottawa Senators

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

''Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; PIM = Penalties in minutes; Pts = Points'' Source: NHL

Leading goaltenders

''GP = Games Played, GA = Goals Against, Mins = Minutes played, SO =

Shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

s, GAA =

Goals Against Average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

'' Source: NHL

Coaches

* Hamilton Tigers:

Art Ross Arthur Howey Ross (January 13, 1885 – August 5, 1964) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and corporate officer, executive from 1905 until 1954. Regarded as one of the best defenders of his era by his peers, he was one of the first t ...

* Montreal Canadiens:

Leo Dandurand Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to: * Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky * Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac * Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually mas ...

* Ottawa Senators: Pete Green * Toronto St. Patricks: George O'Donoghue

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1922–23 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs): *

Billy Burch Harry Wilfred Burch (November 20, 1900 – November 30, 1950) was an American-born Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Hamilton Tigers, New York Americans, Chicago Black Hawks, and Bo ...

, Hamilton Tigers * Aurel Joliat, Montreal Canadiens * Lionel Hitchman, Ottawa Senators

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1922–23 (listed with their last team): *

Didier Pitre Joseph George Didier "Cannonball" Pitre (September 1, 1883 – July 29, 1934) was a Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey player. Nicknamed "Cannonball," he was renowned for having one of the hardest shots during his playing career. One of t ...

, Montreal Canadiens *

Eddie Gerard Edward George Gerard (February22, 1890August7, 1937) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, and manager. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he played for 10 seasons for his hometown Ottawa Senators. He spent the first three years of his p ...

, Ottawa Senators *

Harry Cameron Harold Hugh Cameron (February 6, 1890 – October 20, 1953) was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman who played professionally for the Toronto Blueshirts, Toronto Arenas, Ottawa Senators, Toronto St. Pats, and Montreal Canadiens. Cameron won three ...

, Toronto St. Patricks

Free agency

Transactions

References

* * * * * * * * ;Notes

External links

*
NHL.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1922-23 NHL season

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...