This article is about the professional Victoria Cougars ice hockey team that existed from 1911 to 1926. For other uses, see Victoria Cougars (disambiguation).
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.
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 won 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 attempted to repeat as champions in 1926 but 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 adopted the nickname "Cougars" in tribute. The Detroit Cougars were later renamed the Detroit Falcons, and were ultimately renamed the Detroit Red Wings.
Larry Brunnell (Trainer) - name is missing from the Stanley Cup.
Stanley Cup engraving
After the series win, a new angled ring with the words "Won/By/'Cougars' Victoria, B.C. 1925" was added between the original bowl of the Cup and the original first ring of the base. All players and the manager were included on the new ring, but trainer Larry Brunnell was left off.
Bowlsby, Craig H. (2012), Empire of Ice: The Rise and Fall of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, 1911–1926, Vancouver: Knights of Winter, ISBN978-0-9691705-6-3
MacLeod, Alan Livingstone (2021), Capitals, Aristocrats, and Cougars: Victoria's Hockey Professionals, 1911–1926, Victoria: Heritage House, ISBN978-1-77203-373-1
Whitehead, Eric (1980), The Patricks: Hockey's Royal Family, New York City: Doubleday, ISBN0-385-15662-6
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