Victoria Cougars

Last updated
Victoria Cougars
Victoria Cougars logo.svg
City Victoria, British Columbia
League PCHA (1911–1924)
WCHL (1924–1926)
Operated1911–1926
Home arena Patrick Arena
ColoursBlue and Yellow
  
Head coach Lester Patrick
Franchise history
1911–1913Victoria Senators
1913–1916Victoria Aristocrats
1916–1917 Spokane Canaries
1918–1922Victoria Aristocrats
1922–1926Victoria Cougars
Championships
Stanley Cups1 (1925)
Playoff championships4 (1913, 1914, 1925, 1926)

The Victoria Cougars were a major league professional ice hockey team that played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) from 1911 to 1924 under various names, and (after the PCHA's merger with the Western Canada Hockey League) in the Western Hockey League (WHL) from 1924 to 1926. The team was based in Victoria, British Columbia, and won the Stanley Cup in 1925, becoming the final non-NHL team to win the Cup.

Contents

History

The original Victoria franchise of the PCHA, the Victoria Senators, were formed in 1911, and became the Victoria Aristocrats in 1915. [1] The Aristocrats challenged the Toronto Blueshirts for the Stanley Cup the following year, but lost. In 1916 the team was forced to move to Spokane, Washington, after having their arena (Patrick Arena) commandeered by the Canadian military. The club folded the following year as the Spokane Canaries. [2]

1914-15 Victoria Aristocrats. Victoria Aristocrats.jpg
1914–15 Victoria Aristocrats.

A new team was formed in 1918 and again were dubbed the Victoria Aristocrats, with players from the folded Portland Rosebuds. In 1922 they changed their name to the Victoria Cougars. Led by coach Lester Patrick, the Cougars would win the Stanley Cup in 1925 against the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Cougars were the last non-NHL team to hoist the Stanley Cup as well as the last west coast team to win it until the Anaheim Ducks did so in 2007. They would attempt to repeat as champions in 1926 but they were unsuccessful as they lost the final series to the NHL's Montreal Maroons.

The WHL dissolved after the season. That spring, a group of businessmen from Detroit won an NHL expansion franchise and bought the rights to many of the players from the Stanley Cup finalist Cougars. The new NHL franchise would retain the nickname "Cougars" in tribute. The Detroit Cougars would later be renamed the Detroit Falcons, and would ultimately be renamed the Detroit Red Wings.

Among the notable players who played for the Cougars were Hall of Famers Hec Fowler (goaltender), Frank Foyston, Frank Fredrickson, Hap Holmes (goaltender), Clem Loughlin, Harry Meeking and Jack Walker.

Seasons

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against

SeasonNameLeagueGPWLTGFGAFinishPlayoffs
1912 SenatorsPCHA1679081903rd-
1912–13 15105068561st-
1913–14 Aristocrats15105080671stLost Stanley Cup playoff to Toronto Blueshirts
1914–15 174130641163rd-
1915–16 185130741024th-
1916–17 Canaries248150891434th-
1918–19 Aristocrats20713044813rd-
1919–20 221012057713rd-
1920–21 241013121723rd-
1921–22 241112161713rd-
1922–23 Cougars301614094852ndLost in PCHA playoff
1923–24 3011181781033rd-
1924–25 WCHL281612084633rdWon WCHL, Won Stanley Cup
1925–26 WHL301511468533rdWon WHL, Lost Stanley Cup Finals

Victoria Cougars: 1925 Stanley Cup champions

Players

   Centres
   Wingers
   Defencemen
   Goaltenders

Coaching and administrative staff

  • Lester Patrick (Owner-President/Manager-Coach)
  • Larry Brunnell (Trainer) - name is missing from the Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup engraving

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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 considered to be a major league of ice hockey and was important in the development of the sport of professional ice hockey through its innovations.

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The 1926–27 NHL season was the tenth season of the National Hockey League. The success of the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Pirates led the NHL to expand further within the United States. The league added three new teams: the Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Cougars, and New York Rangers, to make a total of ten, split in two divisions. This resulted in teams based in Canada being in the minority for the first time. To stock the teams with players the new teams brought in players from the Western Hockey League, which folded in May 1926. This left the NHL in sole possession of hockey's top players, as well as sole control of hockey's top trophy, the Stanley Cup, which was won by the Ottawa Senators. This was the original Senators' eleventh and final Stanley Cup win. The Senators' first was in 1903.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Foyston</span> Ice hockey player

Frank Corbett "Flash" Foyston was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. Foyston was a member of Stanley Cup championship teams three times: with the Toronto Blueshirts in 1914, the Seattle Metropolitans in 1917, and the Victoria Cougars in 1925. While with the Metropolitans, he twice led the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) in goals. After his retirement from playing, Foyston became a minor league head coach. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.

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Patrick Arena (1911–1929) was the main sports arena located in the Greater Victoria, British Columbia area. The wood construction, brick-faced arena was located in the suburb municipality of Oak Bay, on the northeast corner of Cadboro Bay Road and Epworth Street. Built in 1911 at a cost of $110,000 with a capacity for 4,000 spectators, it officially opened with public skating on December 25, 1911. More than 600 skaters enjoyed the thrill of opening day. The owners, Frank and Lester Patrick, built the arena primarily to accommodate their hockey team in the newly formed Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). The Patrick Arena was destroyed by fire in 1929.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clem Loughlin</span> Ice hockey player

Clement Joseph Loughlin was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played hockey for the Victoria Cougars of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and the Western Canada Hockey League, and the Detroit Cougars and Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League. He was captain when the Victoria Cougars won the Stanley Cup in 1925. Clem Loughlin also coached the Chicago Black Hawks for three seasons starting with the 1934–35 season.

The 1926–27 Detroit Cougars season was the first season of National Hockey League (NHL) hockey in Detroit, Michigan. The Detroit Cougars scored 28 points, finished at the bottom of the American Division as well as the league and failed to make the playoffs in their inaugural year.

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The 1914 Stanley Cup Finals was a series between the Victoria Aristocrats, champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), and the Toronto Hockey Club, champions of the National Hockey Association (NHA). The Torontos defeated the Aristocrats in three games to win the best-of-five series. It was the first officially sanctioned series for the Stanley Cup between the two leagues, starting the "World's Series" era where the NHL champion played off against a PCHA or Western league champion annually for the Stanley Cup. It was also the final series of the "challenge" era, where inter-league series for the Stanley Cup were sanctioned by the Stanley Cup trustees. An anticipated follow-on challenge series between Toronto and Sydney, champions of the Maritime League did not take place as Sydney abandoned their challenge for the Cup.

Portland Rosebuds was the name of two professional men's ice hockey teams in Portland, Oregon. Both teams played their home games at the Portland Ice Arena. The first Rosebuds are notable for being the first American based team to be allowed to compete for the Stanley Cup. The second Rosebuds are notable in that their roster was used to build the NHL expansion Chicago Blackhawks.

References

  1. MacLeod 2021 , p. 65
  2. MacLeod 2021 , p. 97

Bibliography

See also

Preceded by Stanley Cup Champions
1925
Succeeded by
Preceded by WCHL Champions
1924–25
Succeeded by
Preceded by WHL Champions
1925–26
Succeeded by