1919–20 NHL season

The 1919–20 NHL season was the third season of the National Hockey League. Four teams each played 24 games. The NHL's Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup by defeating the PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans three games to two in a best-of-five series.

League Business

The NHL approved the name change of Toronto's franchise to Tecumseh on December 6, 1919, a previous name when the franchise was in the NHA. [cite news |work=The Globe |title=NHL Drafts Its Schedule |page=14 |date=December 8, 1919] Several days later the franchise was transferred from the Arena to private investors, which named the club the Toronto St. Patricks. [cite news |work=The Globe |page=12 |title=Tecumseh Club Disposes of Franchise Secured From Arenas] The group paid $5,000 to the NHL for the franchise.

The Quebec Athletic Club was also approved to play on December 16, 1919 by the NHL. Quebec, which did not ice teams in the first two seasons of the NHL due to financial concerns, finally iced a team, although they were not successful.

Regular season

Highlights

The Montreal Canadiens had their home opener January 10 in brand new Mount Royal Arena and Newsy Lalonde used the occasion to celebrate with six goals in a 14–7 drubbing of the Toronto St. Patricks.

Jack Darragh of Ottawa had a chance to play in goal when Toronto defeated Ottawa 5–3 onJanuary 24th. He took over when Clint Benedict was penalized. He did not surrender any goals during the two minutes.

Despite a dismal record of 2–10 in both halves of the season, the Bulldogs' Joe Malone scored seven goals in one game on January 31, 1920, a mark that still stands today. He nearly equalled the record on March 10 when he scored six goals in a10–4 win over the Ottawa Senators. He led the league in goals with 39. But by surrendering 7.18 goals against per game, a record that stands today, Quebec finished dead last.

With the war now over, players came home and fans were now coming in larger numbers to seegames. On February 21, 1920, a record crowd of 8,500 fans came to see Ottawa play Toronto at the Arena Gardens (also known as Mutual Street Arena).

On March 3, the Montreal Canadiens pummeled the Quebec Bulldogs 16–3, setting an all-timerecord for goals by one team.

Final Standings

"GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against"
"Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold"

Leading goaltenders

"GP = Games Played, TOI = Time On Ice (minutes), GA = Goals Against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals Against Average"

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1919–20 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
*Babe Dye, Toronto St. Patricks

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1919–20 (listed with their last team):

ee also

*List of Stanley Cup champions
*List of pre-NHL seasons
*1919 in sports
*1920 in sports

References

* [http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/nhl19271920.html Hockey Database]