The 1923 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the NHL champion
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...
and the WCHL champion
Edmonton Eskimos. 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 championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1982–83 season, and the culmination of the 1983 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Campbell Conference champion Edmonton Oilers in their ...
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 holds ...
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** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria.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 Itali ...
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, before
Lionel Hitchman scored in the third period to tie the game.
Duke Keats
Gordon Blanchard "Duke, Iron Duke" Keats (March 1, 1895 – January 16, 1972) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played for the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association (NHA), Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Canada Hocke ...
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 As ...
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
Edward George Gerard (February 22, 1890 – August 7, 1937) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, and manager. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, he played professionally for 10 seasons for his hometown Ottawa Senators. He spent the ...
and
Georges Boucher
John Georges "Buck" Boucher (August 19, 1895 – October 17, 1960) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Maroons, and Chicago Black Hawks in the National Hockey Association and National Ho ...
.
Lionel Hitchman played the game with his broken nose in a plaster.
Harry Helman 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 Leag ...
's skates, incurred in practice. Cy Denneny had been cut in the leg by the skate of Vancouver's
Smokey Harris
Thomas Wilfred "Smokey, Fred" Harris (October 11, 1890 – June 4, 1974) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Harris played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Western Canada Hockey L ...
.
'Super-sub'
King Clancy
Francis Michael "King" Clancy (February 25, 1902 – November 8, 1986) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, referee, coach and executive. Clancy played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Ottawa Senators and Toronto ...
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
See also
*
1922–23 NHL season
*
1922–23 Ottawa Senators season
*
1922–23 PCHA season
*
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 ...
*
Western Canada Hockey League
The Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), founded in 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.
The WCHL's Victoria C ...
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
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