The 1923 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the NHL champion Ottawa Senators and the WCHL champion

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 the Brick Field at Commo ...

. The previous WCHL-PCHA playoff format was abandoned, and the Ottawa Senators now had to play first the PCHA champion

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 Col ...

, followed by the WCHL champion Edmonton Eskimos in the Finals. This was the last Finals series until the

1983 Stanley Cup Finals The 1983 Stanley Cup Finals was the Stanley Cup Finals, championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1982–83 NHL season, 1982–83 season, and the culmination of the 1983 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Campbell Confer ...

to be contested by a team from Edmonton. Both games were played in Vancouver, making this the last Finals until 2020 played entirely at a neutral site (the

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

and

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

Finals each featured one neutral site game).

Paths to the Finals

In the NHL playoff, the Senators defeated the Montreal Canadiens in a 2-game total-goal series by a close 3–2 score in the series. The playoff format of the previous year where the PCHA champion met the WCHL champion prior to playing the NHL champion was abandoned. Therefore, for this year, the PCHA champions were given the chance to play the NHL champion in a best-of-three series. The Senators then defeated Vancouver 3 games to 1 in the semi-finals.

Game summaries

In the first game, Edmonton was leading 1–0, on a goal by

Crutchy Morrison John William "Crutchy" Morrison (March 4, 1895 - March 14, 1956) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 18 games in the National Hockey League during the 1925–26 NHL season, 1925–26 season with the New York Americans. The re ...

, before

Lionel Hitchman Frederick Lionel Hitchman (November 3, 1901 – January 12, 1969) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins. Forming one of the greatest def ...

scored in the third period to tie the game. Duke Keats of Edmonton was awarded a penalty shot during the game, but failed to score.

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

scored after two minutes of overtime to win the game for the Senators. In the second game, the Senators got a first-period goal from Harry Broadbent and made it stand to the end of the game, playing six-man defence. The shots were recorded; 21, 14 and 13 for a total of 48 by the Senators, and 25, 18, and 25 for a total of 68 by Edmonton. Several players could not play the whole game, including Eddie Gerard and Georges Boucher.

played the game with his broken nose in a plaster.

Harry Helman Harold Herbert Helman (August 28, 1894 – April 22, 1971) was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played 3 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators between 1922 and 1925. He won the Stanley Cup in 1923. He wa ...

played despite a cut to his face from

Frank Nighbor Julius Francis Joseph "Pembroke Peach" Nighbor (January 26, 1893 – April 13, 1966) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played primarily for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and National Hockey Leagu ...

's skates, incurred in practice. Cy Denneny had been cut in the leg by the skate of Vancouver's Smokey Harris. 'Super-sub' King Clancy took a turn in all positions, including goal for Clint Benedict in the third period for two minutes when Benedict was serving a penalty. At the time goalies had to serve their own penalties. This is only time that a player played all six positions in a Stanley Cup Finals game.

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1923 Stanley Cup was presented by the trophy's trustee

William Foran William Michael Foran (February 4, 1871 – November 30, 1945) was an ice hockey executive, Stanley Cup trustee and government official. For over 50 years, he was secretary of the Board of Civil Service Examiners and its follow-up organizatio ...

. The Senators never did engrave their name on the Cup for their championship season. It was not until the trophy was redesigned in 1948 that the words "1923 Ottawa Senators" was put onto its then-new collar. The following Senators players and staff were members of the Stanley Cup winning team. 1922–23 Ottawa Senators

References

* * Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). ''Lord Stanley's Cup''. Bolton, Ont.: Fenn Pub. pp 12, 50. * {{Ottawa Senators (original) Stanley Cup Finals Stanley

Stan Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...

Western Canada Hockey League postseason Ottawa Senators (original) games

March 1923 sports events Sports competitions in Ottawa Sports competitions in Edmonton 1923 in Ontario 1920s in Ottawa

Paths to the Finals

Game summaries

Stanley Cup engraving

See also

References