Good Tuesday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a good Presidents Day.
I’m back again this fine day with the one and only Leo Strawn, Jr. Last week, Leo brought us a fun one featuring Rock Stars in sports uniforms, but this time around he turns his attention to the frozen water.
There’s a lot to get to, so I’m just going to turn it over to Leo right now as he brings you…
On Ice, Volume 1
by Leo Strawn, Jr.
I’m Leo…welcome to my world!
In August of last year, I said, “While waiting for WWIII to start, I’ve been…cleaning out my sports photo files.” I’ve been collecting these for many years and for the most part, they have been the source of the Leo’s World editions I’ve produced since then.
The reason I’m bringing this up is that I noticed when trying to collect some photos to fill in gaps on some articles that there are AI enhanced photos all over the internet now. Digital pics that haven’t been retouched are going to become increasingly rare, so I’m glad I did this because, without intending it, this has kind of become a way to preserve some unadulterated sports history by sharing it with you all. Hopefully, some UW readers are downloading some of these photos for posterity, as well.
Now, on to the ice. Once upon a time, there was the National Hockey Association…
This is the first team photo for Les Canadiens, from that league’s inaugural season. The Canadiens are the only NHA club still in existence and are the oldest continually operating professional hockey club in the world.
Rare bit of hockey history here: The following are two uncut sheets of hockey cards from the NHA’s first season in 1910 and the second season, 1910-11. Some of the following references come from the back of the sheets, but they are pretty blurry and I have trouble even reading most of it so I didn’t bother posting the backs.
Aside from the three at the bottom, the sheet on the right side of the photo are cards from the 1910 NHA season. The fourth card from the middle of the top row, the sixth player in the second row and one player of the four pictured on the bottom row of that uncut sheet are wearing a similar sweater. It’s hard to read due to blurriness, but on the back of those cards it looks like all three of those played for “Shamrock”, so those must have been Montreal Shamrocks jerseys from that season.
Players with the “H” on the front of maroon hoops are Haileybury Comets. The skater on the second row in that sweater is the legendary Art Ross, who is also in a button up sweater with an “H” monogram on the top row. Players from the Cobalt Silver Kings are, of course, the ones pictured in sweaters that spell out “Cobalt”. The blue jerseys with the white “C” and white shoulders and chest striping are wearing Les Canadiens sweaters pictured above. Montreal Wanderers jerseys sport a “W” inside a shield and those with an Old English “R” are sweaters of the Renfrew Creamery Kings (the player on the top row is Hall of Famer Frank Patrick). The button up sweater on the top row with the “O” is Percy LeSueur from Ottawa, and the red, white and black bar jersey is also Ottawa.
The cards on the left are from the second season of the NHA, 1910-11, as are the three on the bottom right. The clubs pictured are: Quebec Bulldogs (top row), Ottawa Hockey Club, a.k.a., Senators (starting on the second row), Renfrew Creamery Kings (starting on the third row), Montreal Wanderers (starting toward the end of the fourth row) and the Montreal Canadiens (most of the sixth row and the three extras on the bottom right). Be honest: How many of you knew the Canadiens once wore green on their sweaters?
Note: Chris Weir’s Collector’s Corner from last Thursday had a card from this set, listed on the website link as “1911-12”, though PSA listed it on the card holder as “1911”. The person who posted these uncut sheets said they were “1910-11”. Renfrew wasn’t in the league in 1911-12, so while these are photos from the 1910-11 season on the sheet on the left, I can’t really say for certain that they weren’t printed and sold the following season, 1911-12, in spite of the Creamery Kings no longer being a part of the NHA. Need an expert on vintage hockey cards to weigh in…
Also, once upon a time, there was the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. The two leagues agreed to have their champions vie annually for Lord Stanley’s Cup starting in 1915, ending the Challenge Cup era. Vancouver Millionaires from the PCHA are pictured below in a team photo from the 1913-14 season.
The Seattle Metropolitans joined that league in 1915.
In 1917, the two Montreal clubs from the NHA, Canadiens and Wanderers, along with the Quebec Bulldogs and Ottawa Senators voted to disband the association due to issues with the Toronto Blueshirts owner, leading to the formation of the National Hockey League. Quebec was unable to put a team on the NHL ice and the three remaining teams voted to allow the Toronto Arenas to round out the new league. The Arenas would later become the St. Patricks and eventually the Maple Leafs. This is the Arenas inaugural NHL team photo.
The PCHA would merge with the Western Canada Hockey League for the 1924-25 season. The last non-NHL club to win the Stanley Cup was the Victoria Cougars in 1925.
The following season the Maroons won the Stanley Cup against the Cougars from the newly-renamed Western Hockey League which folded at the end of that season. That left only NHL clubs to contest the cup beginning in 1927, with the American Division champs facing off against the Canadian Division champs in 1927 & 1928. This is the 1925-26 champion Maroons team photo.
The New York Americans and Pittsburgh Pirates became the second and third U.S. based teams to join the NHL in 1925, following the Boston Bruins who had joined a season before. These are the 1925-26 Americans and Pirates sweaters. (Note: The NHL Uniform Database lists that Americans jersey as being worn after their first season, but in the photo of the display, the Hockey Hall of Fame says it was worn by Jake Forbes during New York’s inaugural season, 1925-26.)
This is from the last season Toronto’s NHL club was known as the St. Pats, 1926-27. Conn Smythe bought the franchise after that season and changed the name to Maple Leafs.
1926-27 was also notable for being the first season of the Rangers and this photo is from their first ever practice at Madison Square Garden. You can clearly see the gray floor beneath the ice in this pic. It wasn’t until the 1949-50 season that the NHL painted the ice white to make the puck more visible for spectators.
Here’s a photo of the 1928-29 Pittsburgh Pirates sweater.
The last photo in this edition is an awesome pic of the Leafs in training camp prior to the 1928-29 season.
Until next time…
Cheers!
Readers? What say you?
NHL Uniform Database is a great resource for seeing some of these jerseys in color. Not actual photos. Like “Dressed to the Nines” for hockey. link
It only includes NHL uniforms dating from the 1917-18 season.
GTGFTU:
Strong educated guess would be 1993 NHL All Star game at the Montreal Forum with the final score being Wales Conference 16, Campbell Conference 6. Noteworthy events include a tribute to Mario Lemieux who was undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s disease. Mike Gartner would take MVP honors with 4 goals scored.
The Kraken need to do the Christmas sweater with the meandering Seattle lettering as an alternate immediately.
Oh my, yes.
The NHL likes to do the Winter Classic with always American teams (except Toronto a couple of times) and Heritage Classics always Canadian teams.
It would be a shame not to see a Seattle vs. Vancouver outdoor game sometime in the future. A PCHL rematch of the Vancouver Millionaires and Seattle Metropolitans. Get Seattle in the green and red for the game. Whether it is in Vancouver or Seattle, flocks of visiting fans will travel.
GTGFTU:
No centennial patch so better educated guess would be 1991 NHL All Star game at Chicago Stadium with the final score being Campbell Conference 11, Wales Conference 5. Vincent Damphhousse would take MVP honors with 4 goals scored.
GTGFTU is actually the 1990 NHL All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, with the Wales team winning 12-7 and Penguins and Wales captain Mario Lemieux (center, high-fiving Ray Bourque) being named MVP.
Why 1990:
1) Wales team in white, Campbell (Wayne Gretzky shown) in black, both teams have orange numbers. 1989 and 1991 were both hosted by Campbell Conference teams, so Gretzky’s team would be in white for those games.
2) Orange numbers on both teams’ jerseys. After the 1947-59 throwbacks in 1992, this jersey style was only worn one more time, in 1993 in Montreal, but the NHL had changed the number colors to be black on the white backgrounds and white on the black backgrounds.
3) Mario Lemieux did not play in the 1993 game as he was out treating his Hodgkin lymphoma.
4) Mario is still wearing his Cooper SK2000 helmet. By 1993 he’d switched to the Jofa 366 (and as mentioned, he missed the 1993 game anyway).
GTGFTS: 1975 ALCS, Game 1 at Fenway Park. The Red Sox would tack on 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th to win 7-1, and go on to sweep the defending three-time champion A’s before taking the Big Red Machine to the distance in the World Series.
You beat me to it- as a Pens fan I knew this game immediately. I watched my recorded VHS version of it until it fell apart.
Man, I miss that NHL All-Star game look.
Best All-Star uniforms were the 1984-86 suits; worst were the 1982 uniforms with the zillions of tiny stars and triangular blocks of color at the sides of the sweater. Woof!
Seeing the Vancouver Millionaires sweaters makes me think the Flying V’s are in pretty good company. When the Golden Knights put a huge “V” on their fauxback sweaters, it chuffed me to realize that Vancouver has admirers.
Leo, that is terrific! Really enjoyed it. Thanks!
You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed it, Marty.
Cheers!
“Once upon a time,” the PCHA created the following: allowing goalies to drop down to make a save, the forward pass, penalty shots, numbered jerseys, on-the-fly line changes, assists, the blue line, and the first artificial ice hockey rink. The PCHA basically invented the game as we know it.
Great stuff, Leo!
Thanks!
Great job, Leo. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Pete.
Cheers!
Hey, Leo! Great stuff! I can look at these old hockey uniforms all day! Thanks for putting them all in one place and adding your always insightful analysis!
You’re welcome, Kary. More to come…
Cheers!
That Maple Leafs picture looks like they’re trying out for the Rockettes.
Great stuff once again, Leo. That final Leafs pic is hilarious, I should get a copy, frame it and put it on my wall.
Really cool review, Leo! The item that gained my intrigue is the Les Canadiens team photo, with the mug photo on the bottom, second from left, looks like it says “Ed. Millaire MD.” And I’m sure that there’s more history to confirm my wonderment, but to have a player-team physician, or maybe he just liked moonlighting on the hockey rink, is
Is what?!
Sorry, to finish the thought, it’s just a pretty neat situation to discover inside your find.
Thanks, Terry. Glad you enjoyed.
Cheers!
The wordmark on that Pirates sweater must have been the basis for the baseball Pirates wordmark about 70 years later:
link