1925 ice hockey championship series
The
1925 Stanley Cup Finals
saw the
Western Canada Hockey League
(WCHL) champion
Victoria Cougars
defeat the
National Hockey League
(NHL) champion
Montreal Canadiens
three games to one in a best-of-five game series. The Canadiens were substitute NHL representatives, as the final series to decide the NHL champion was not played.
The Cougars were the last non-NHL team to win the Cup as the WCHL (renamed the Western Hockey League for the
1925?26 season
) folded after
1926
, leaving the Stanley Cup to become the NHL's
de facto
championship trophy. The Cougars would also be the last team based west of
Chicago
to win the Cup until the
Edmonton Oilers
won the trophy in
1984
. These were also the last Stanley Cup Finals games to be played in Western Canada until the
Vancouver Canucks
qualified for the
1982 Finals
. Games one, three, and four were held in Victoria. Game two, held in Vancouver, was the last neutral site game in Stanley Cup Finals history that did not involve the
New York Rangers
until the
2020 Stanley Cup Finals
.
Path to the Finals
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Prior to the season, the
Pacific Coast Hockey Association
(PCHA) folded and two of its teams, the Cougars and the
Vancouver Maroons
joined the WCHL. Victoria finished the
1924?25 WCHL regular season
in third place, but eventually upset the
Calgary Tigers
in the two-game total goals WCHL championship series by a combined score of 3?1.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens also finished the
NHL regular season
in third place. In the NHL playoffs, Montreal went on to beat the second place
Toronto St. Patricks
, 5?2, in a two-game total goals series. The winner of that series was to go on and play the first place
Hamilton Tigers
. However, the Tigers were suspended after Hamilton players staged a
strike
in an attempt to receive more compensation because the league extended the regular season from 24 to 30 games. As a result, the Canadiens were declared the 1924?25 NHL champions.
Bracket
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| League Semifinals
| | | League Championships
| | | Stanley Cup Finals
| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | N1
| Hamilton Tigers
| ?
| ?
| ?
| | |
| N2
| Toronto St. Patricks
| 2
| 0
| 2
| | | N3
| Montreal Canadiens
| ?
| ?
| ?
| |
| N3
| Montreal Canadiens
| 3
| 2
| 5
| | | | | | NC
| Montreal Canadiens
| 2
| 1
| 4
| 1
| ?
| 1
| |
| | | | | | WC
| Victoria Cougars
| 5
| 3
| 2
| 6
| ?
| 3
| |
| | | | W1
| Calgary Tigers
| 1
| 0
| 1
| | | | |
| W2
| Saskatoon Sheiks
| 1
| 3
| 4
| | | W3
| Victoria Cougars
| 1
| 2
| 3
| |
| W3
| Victoria Cougars
| 3
| 3
| 6
| | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
Game summaries
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With the demise of the PCHA, the Stanley Cup playoffs reverted to a single best-of-five series to determine the champion. However, the Cup Finals still annually rotated between the east and the west, and thus all of the games in the 1925 Finals were played on the West Coast. Games one, three, and four were played at the 4,200 seat
Patrick Arena
in Victoria; game two was played at the
Denman Arena
in Vancouver.
[1]
The decision to use the larger Denman Arena (10,500 seats) for game two was based on the huge demand for tickets.
[2]
The Cougars jumped to a two games to none series lead with 5?2 and 3?1 victories, but the Canadiens won game three, 4?2. In game four,
Gizzy Hart
scored the game-winning goal in Victoria's 6?1 win to clinch the Cup.
[3]
Cougars goaltender
Hap Holmes
recorded a 2.00 goal-against average for the series.
Jack Walker
led Victoria in goals with four, while
Frank Fredrickson
scored three. Overall, eight different player combining for the Cougars' 16 goals.
Stanley Cup engraving
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The 1925 Stanley Cup was presented to Cougars captain Clem Loughlin by the trophy's trustee
William Foran
, following the Cougars 6?1 win over the Canadiens in game four.
The following Cougars players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup
1924?25 Victoria Cougars
Players
Coaching and administrative staff
- Lester Patrick
(Owner-President/Manager-Coach)
- Larry Brunnell (Trainer)&
&-name is missing from the Stanley Cup.
Stanley Cup engraving
- After the series win, a new angled ring with the words "Won/By/'Cougars' Victoria, B.C. 1925" was added between the original bowl of the Cup and the original first ring of the base. All players and the manager were included on the new ring, but trainer Larry Brunnell was left off.
- Victoria players Frank Fredrickson and Haldor Halderson became the first players to win both an Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup. Fredrickson and Halderson had been members of the
Winnipeg Falcons
who won gold at the
1920 Olympic Games
.
See also
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]
References
[
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]
- Notes
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Stanley Cup awarded on challenge basis 1893?1914, by prearranged inter-league competitions 1915?1926, to NHL playoff champion since 1927
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Franchise
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History
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Personnel
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Arenas
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Rivalries
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