Chasing the Cup: 1923

[Sturminator]

I'm starting a new research project with nothing less than the goal of documenting the entire playoffs for every season from the beginning of the split-league era (1914) to the beginning of the second world war (essentially the beginning of the O6 era). It's an ambitious project and I'm sure there will be holes that cannot be filled, but I think 90% of the information I need is out there; I've gotten pretty good at working with Google News searches.

So anyway, I'm starting with 1923 for no better reason than that I already had a bunch of links to the playoff games from this season from my research into Hugh Lehman's career last year. I have tried to show each game of each series from the perspective of both the home and visiting team and mostly succeeded, but there are a few holes. So without further ado...1923.

Click to read more...

 

[Sturminator]

Western Canada Hockey League Playoffs: Game One

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=PLWDSxI5WzYC&dat=19230315&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

The Calgary Daily Herald - March 15th, 1923:

Eskimos Take One Goal Lead in First Game of Series for Championship

The Edmonton Eskimos took a one-goal lead on the Regina Caps last night in the first game of the home-and-home series to decide the championship of the Western Canada Hockey League. Art Gagne, leading scorer of the league, sagged the twine for the only goal of the game after five minutes of play in the third period, taking a perfect pass from Duke Keats, who in turn got a pass from Trapp in one of the most perfect three-man rushes ever seen here. Laird, who put up a sensational game on the whole never had a chance to save the wicked flip from Gagne's stick, a flip that has dimmed, but not wholly extinguished, Regina's hopes for the championship.

Against the dashing individual style of the Caps, the Eskimos matched a perfect combination game...

The second period was a fifty-fifty proposition so far as the run of play was concerned...The outstanding play of the period was the great effort of Joe Simpson when he corkscrewed through the Caps to within four feet of the net and had Laird out for an easy counter, but Dick Irwin (sic), who was giving of his wonderful best, darted in and, carrying Simpson clean off his feet, batted the puck out of danger. Irvin's save was second in brilliance only to Simpson's great effort.

A few minutes later Irvin again swept through the Eskimos and whipped a hard shot at the net that had Winkler beaten hands down, had it gone but a fraction of an inch to the right. It struck the goal post and bounded out.

In the third period the Eskimos steadied down and staked everything on a combination game. Wave on wave, three men at a time, they surged up the ice while the Caps defense worked heroically to meet the tantalizing rushes. Moran, who had played up to his best form the greater part of the game, weakened noticeably and was far from effective in these last few minutes. Hay, Irvin, Stanley broke away repeatedly only to come to grief on the Trapp-Simpson stonewall, while Keats, Gagne, and Arbour seized every opportunity, broke away at every opening, three in a row, snapping the puck back and forth in dazzling fashion.

Hay and Irvin, on whom Regina fans based their hopes in the series, put up wonderful hockey. Both of them played at top form and both got through for shots on the Edmonton net, close in and from every angle, more times than could be kept track of, but their shots were turned aside by Hal Wilkler and his [winglike Ganges?].

From that same sportspage

Tigers Have Little Trouble Trouncing the NHL Champions

Maybe Ottawa, champions of the NHL and candidates for the world's premier hockey award, were train weary; maybe they didn't exert themselves; maybe they are crippled as a result of the grueling ordeal through which they passed in beating the Canadiens for the title; maybe eastern critics admit that the Senators are clever and systematic performers, but they failed to impress Calgary last night. The Tigers mauled the same Ottawa club in two periods and beat them 4-0. The local lads skated the visitors dizzy and mussed up the greater part of their efforts to rally.

One surprising feature of the Senators was the loose defense in last night's game. The Tigers ripped it wide open and three of the four goals were tallied when Benedict was pulled out of his cage after local attackers had drifted all the way through. Benedict was as busy with his hands, feet, pads and stick as a ten-year-old in an unprotected pie shop...

Ottawa didn't back-check to speak of after the first ten minutes or so. They couldn't skate as fast as the Tigers, but depended on their steady, consistent system of play to drill through, but they didn't do much after the first period...

Right now let us say that unless Ottawa was holding back at least fifty percent against Calgary, the Senators have no chance in the Stanley Cup series. Vancouver can beat that club with ease, judging from the appearance of the two teams and making allowance for the fact that last night's game was only an exhibition.

Ottawa did not show the same clean running system of combination as the Tigers here, and it is generally conceded that Vancouver produced a more finished style of play than Calgary when they performed in this city. It will come as a distinct surprise to local students if the Maroons don't clean up on Ottawa three straight in the semi-final of the Stanley Cup.

Edmonton, from all appearances the prairie league standard-bearer in the world's series final, can outskate, outcheck, and in fact turn in an all round smarter system of hockey than the NHL champions. However, there is little chance of Ottawa being the opposing faction when the Eskimos rattle off to the Pacific seaboard to engage in the title series.

- looks like a bit of gamesmanship on the part of Green, Gorman and the Sens.

- this article gives us a clear view into just how little the leagues knew of one another, and just how much partisanship existed among local sportswriters.

 

[Sturminator]

Western Canada Hockey League Playoffs: Game Two

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=PLWDSxI5WzYC&dat=19230317&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

The Calgary Daily Herald - March 17th, 1923:

Keats Scores Penalty Shot to Break up Overtime Game when Regina Ties

When the history of 1923 is written, the chroniclers, the savants and the learned men of letters may pass lightly over a certain epoch-making event that happened on the 16th day of the third month of the year. They may even overlook the momentous happening altogether, but seven thousand Edmonton citizens will tell their children, and their children's children, that it was on this night that the Eskimos emblazoned their names large on the pages of hockey history by winning the championship of the Western Canada Hockey League in the most thrilling contest in the annals of the game, in Edmonton. The score at the end of last night's titanic struggle was 3-3 for the round; Eskimos 4; Regina 3

Just thirty minutes and twenty-five seconds of as sensational overtime play as the most rabid fan could imagine had been reeled off with the fans gasping in their seats and the players reeling from exhaustion, when little Ty Arbour sky-rocketed through the Regina defense as though he had been shot from a catapult, there was only one thing for Laird, the Regina goalie to do and he did it. He dropped his stick, sailed out of the net and sent Arbour sprawling to save his goal and the championship. The offense, whether intentional or not, looked so flagrant that Referee Poulin promptly awarded a penalty shot. Enter Duke Keats, Edmonton centre and captain, as the hero of the night. Skipper Duke's shot was clean and true, and whizzed into the net for the goal that gave Edmonton the championship.

It was a night that Edmonton fans will not soon forget. Sitting pretty with a one-goal lead, gained in Regina last Wednesday evening, the record breaking crowd of over 7,000 fans settled back comfortably in their seats with the feeling that the Keats klan would speedily sew up the old game and the championship. The comfortable feeling passed into gurgles of positive delight when Keats slammed home the first goal of the night and put the home crew up two on the round. Any little feeling of uneasiness that arose when George Hay put the Capitals in the running a couple of minutes later passed away when Brandow rapped home a counter before the period ended, putting the Eskimos in front 3-1 on the round.

From the beginning of the second period, the whole complexion of the game changed and until the glorious finale the fans were on the anxious seat every moment of the way. Things began to look black, when Irvin scored the only goal of the second period, and the outlook grew positively dismal when Stanley and Dutowski combined in the third for the goal that put Regina in front 3-2 and tied up the series at 3-3.

Summarizing the night's play, the Eskimos had the better of the play in every period except the second. The Caps showed at their best in this period, and in the last ten minutes of the third period when they staged a desperate onslaught against the Eskimo citadel...

"Duke" Keats was the star of the night. The Edmonton pilot was in the thick of almost every play, kept his men going at top speed, gave a marvellous exhibition of stickhandling and generally put up his best game of the year. The Duke scored two goals and got credit for a well-timed assist. It was fitting that the Edmonton skipper should score the goal that gave his team the championship after the wonderful game he put up all night. Ty Arbour was next in the honor list to the captain, with a performance that stamps him as one of the gamest little players in the business.

Barney Stanley was the outstanding star of the Regina team, and it looked on numerous occasions as though the ex-Eskimo would send his former teammates down to defeat.

- the grandiosity of the writing is amusing.

- Keats seems to have been the dominant player in this series.

 

[Sturminator]

NHL Playoffs Game One:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=QBJtjoHflPwC&dat=19230308&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

Ottawa Citizen - March 8th, 1923:

Ottawa Hockey Team Shut out Canadiens in First Game 2 to 0 in Unusually Rough Battle

As a hockey exhibition, tonight's struggle was really a disappointment. Though the ice was hard and fast, the teams adopted such stubborn defensive tactics early in the match that there was little brilliancy to the play. In fact the checking was so close that there were few combination attempts. Canadiens, instead of carrying the play to Ottawa, as had been expected, threw three men across the ice at the commencement of play and refused to be drawn out.

They evidently took it for granted that they would get a break and then secure a lead. On the other hand the Ottawa team refused to be outgeneraled. They also adopted defensive tactics, holding Frank Nighbor back and depending on Broadbent and Denneny to carry the puck...

Bad blood was evident between the teams from the start and Canadiens made the mistake of thinking that they could make the Ottawa players stop up. In the second period Ottawa assumed the aggressive against the fast tiring Canadien team and after Sprague Cleghorn had gone to the bench for slashing George Boucher, Cy Denneny went down with Boucher, took the latter's pass and shot a beautiful goal through Vezina's legs, while Ottawa supporters went wild with joy. As Denneny scored, Billy Couture, the Canadien defenseman, deliberately slugged him over the head. Cy went down in a heap and then rolled around on the surface with blood streaming from the back of his head. Smeaton immediately gave him a match foul, which sent him out of the game altogether and which forced Canadiens to play a man short for twenty minutes. Denneny had to be assisted off the ice. He collapsed in the Ottawa dressing room and had several stitches drawn to close the wound given by Couture's cowardly blow from behind. Denneny was out for the balance of the match.

Several hundred followers came down with the Ottawas and they went wild with delight as Ottawas held the Canadiens throughout the first period, outplayed them in the second, during which they scored their first goal, and then skated them into submission in the third, when they sewed up the verdict by getting their second goal. This was scored by the veteran Jack Darragh, who took a pass from Eddie Gerard, circled in on top of Vezina and slapped the puck into the nets from a sharp angle. Ottawa would have had several more goals had it not been for the brilliant work of Vezina in the Canadien nets.

In the third period, Canadiens were a badly beaten team. They seldom carried the puck past center and Frank Nighbor, swinging all over the ice with his poke-check, had them completely smothered...Gerard and Boucher formed a grand defense and each assisted in scoring one of the Ottawa goals. Their defensive work was superb and on the offensive they were also great. Frank Nighbor played a typical Nighbor game at center. He had Odie Cleghorn faded and when Joe Malone came on, Nighbor just toyed with the Quebec veteran. Until he was cut down by Couture after scoring the first goal, Cy Denneny was the most dangerous man on the Ottawa attack. He had it all over Billy Boucher. Broadbent carried out Ottawa's plans to perfection and again smothered Joliat, who has not scored a solitary goal against the Senators this year.

- unfortunately, big chunks of the article are unreadable.

- looks like the Sens just ate the Habs up defensively.

- there appears to have been a huge Cleghorn freakout in this game, but that section of the text is unreadable.

 

[Sturminator]

NHL Playoffs Game Two:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=QBJtjoHflPwC&dat=19230310&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

Ottawa Citizen - March 10th, 1923:

Champions Leave Tonight for Coast to Defend Stanley Cup

Senators won the National Hockey League championship last night over the Canadiens, but not until after being given a large sized scare by Leo Dandurand's make-shift team. As it was Canadiens won the match 2 to 1, but the Ottawa team went into the game with a two goal lead gained in the memorable match in Montreal Wednesday night, and therefore take the round 3 to 2, qualifying to make the jaunt out to the Pacific coast tonight as Stanley Cup holders, the trophy they will defend against the winner of the Vancouver-Victoria series.

The Canadiens team had a strange appearance at the line-up. Sprague Cleghorn and Billy Couture, "bad men" of Wednedsay night's game in Montreal, were missing, although Couture came over from Montreal with the team, and about one hundred supporters. He was not in uniform, however, so the fans had no opportunity of giving him a razzing.

There players were suspended by their manager, Leo Dandurand, and not by President Calder, so there was nothing to prevent them from playing had Dandurand wished to lift the suspensions, but the Little Napoleon displayed windom in keeping them out of the public's gaze and rely upon the remainder of his team to score a victory.

As a hockey match, it was not among the best seen on local ice this season, despite the close score. Senators played far below the form they are capable of showing, and gave the impression that they were overconfident, especially in the opening period, when there was considerable indifferent play on the part of the whole team. At that, they had much the best of the play, although Canadiens got all the goals, and in the third and final period, the locals struck their strides and pulled the championship out of the fire.

There were visions of the match ending 2 to 0 in favor of Canadiens, which would have necessitated another game, on neutral ice, but these were dispelled when good little Cy Denneny, badly cut head and all, took advantage of Frank Nighbor's great play in carrying the puck through Canadiens' defense, scored the goal that made Senators NHL champions, five minutes after play began in the third period.

Captain Eddie Gerard played his usual dashing game, and was very effective, and Nighbor gave a regular display of blocking at center ice, but the others have all played much better games this season, both at home and abroad. They were overconfident, that's the answer...Old Didier Pitre, the 44 year old veteran, who played on the Canadien defense alongside Odie Cleghorn, turned in a grand game, and was one of the outstanding players. He and Odie blocked well, and Billy Boucher and Aurele Joliat on the wings were always dangerous. It was at centre ice that Canadiens were shaded. There, Nighbor had much the better of Joe Malone and Louis Berlinquette, who were opposed to him at different times.

Pitre and Broadbent had a mild tangle, but little happened to attract attention. Darragh and Broadbent combined and just missed out, and then Berlinquette relieved Malone at center. He immediately pepped up the Canuck attack, and on his second try, was run into the corner by George Boucher. He swiped the puck out in front and Joliat drifted in back into the net for the first tally, in sixteen minutes flat.

Joliat relieved at the defense and swung in the center with Billy Boucher flanking him. He went between Gerard and George Boucher and when he passed to the wing, brother Bill grabbed the disc and slid right in on Benedict to pick a corner for the second goal, in 3:15. This tied the score on the series, and the crowd went into wild uproar as Ottawas seemed unable to rally under the red white and blue attack.

Denneny drew a magnificent reception when he appeared with the locals at the opening of the second period. His head was plastered, and as he warmed up at the south end, the stands went wild...

Third Period...Nighbor checked Pitre and was run into the corner. He escaped and circled for the front of the net to be body checked by Cleghorn. The puck went loose, Denneny, pouncing on it like a hawk, drifted it into the right hand lower corner for the goal that gave Ottawa the title. The time was 5:05.

- Denneny is pretty clearly the hero of this series.

- interesting that Dandurand held out Couture and Cleghorn even though they were not suspended by the league.

 

[Sturminator]

Pre-Series Talk

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=PLWDSxI5WzYC&dat=19230316&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

The Calgary Daily Herald - March 16th, 1923:

Ottawa Loss Here Hurts the Betting

The Ottawa Senators are here for the semi-final series of the Stanley Cup hockey draw, for the world's championship. Tonight they engage the Maroons in the first game. The locals are big favorites over the NHL champions, the 4-0 decision in favor of Calgary the other night in an exhibition game reflecting strongly against the easterners.

Boucher Cannot Play; Patrick is Emphatic

"If it is true that Denneny, of the Ottawa hockey team has a fractured skull, however slight the fracture may be, he will not be permitted to play here tonight in the first game of the playoff series with the Vancouver Maroons, for the Stanley Cup," declared Frank Patrick, president of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.

"We are not going to take any chances whatever of a player sustaining permanent injury - or death, perhaps - by going on the ice when not in good physical condition. Denneny will be examined by our club doctor before he gets into a uniform," he said.

On the subject of playing Boucher of the Canadieny, Patriick was equally emphatic. The answer to Mr. Gorman is "No!"

PCHA vs. NHL Playoffs: Game One

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=PLWDSxI5WzYC&dat=19230317&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

The Calgary Daily Herald - March 17, 1923:

Ottawa Wins Opening Game at Vancouver

Will wonders ever cease in hockey? This pastime is getting about as bad as horse racing for upsets.

Ottawa, aided and abetted by all the lucky gods of hockey, beat Vancouver by one goal to nothing last night, after the Maroons had bombarded Clint Benedict from every possible angle unsuccessfully every few seconds during a solid hour's play. The Senators are thus one up on the series and they demonstrated that they are a very formidable aggregation. Playing a similar form Monday night, though, Vancouver should win handily.

Ottawa are the same masters of craft, which they proved to be two years ago. With one notable difference, Broadbent, fat faced and somewhat lazy in action, packs the wickedest and the most accurately propelled shot that Lehman has faced this year. On last night's form he was the most dangerous man on the ice.

Strictly on the basis of exchanges, Vancouver should be a game to the good on the series by about a four goal margin. Broadbent's goal was unexpected and to nobody was it a bigger surprise than to the gentlemen from the east who watched the game from the player's bench and the press box. As a matter of cold dispassionate fact they did not figure their team was fast enough to beat the Maroons, they are not convinced yet that they have an edge. They admit they were lucky.

Monday's game should be the thriller. It will be played under eastern rules, but the western code proved no handicap to the Senators last night. They were more adept at kicking the puck than were the Maroons, the anti-defense rule did not trouble them and the delayed penalty rule is neither here nor there in a short series.

Benedict was crowned during the evening by an accidental swing off Skinner's stick as he fell in a melee at the goalmouth. He should also be crowned with the wreath which someone presented to Eddie Gerard for he certainly saved the game for his club...Benedict is much like Lehman, when he is good he is well-nigh unbeatable. He was simply unbeatable last night.

Broadbent's goal came with five men aside on the ice. Hitchman subbing for George Boucher, who was doing time, skated off with the puck, got behind the goal and the puck flashed out to Broadbent from a scrimmage. Like a flash, he drove it at Lehman and scored the only goal of the night.

First Period

A dangerous rush by MacKay was cut short when Nighbor body-checked him...

Gerard's heavy body-checking stopped many of the rushes of the Vancouver forwards. Ottawa found Vancouver's defense equally difficult to pass. Broadbent hooked through from the right wing and had drawn Lehman out from the net for what seemed like a sure goal, when Cook's hook check saved the situation.

Second Period

In the last minutes of play a straight shot from Nighbor went between the Vancouver defense, and headed for the corner of the Vancouver net. Lehman did not see it until it was a few inches from him, but managed to save...

Both teams appeared to have an even break on the play. Lehman had more shots to handle in this period, and the Ottawa players appeared to have recovered their shooting eye, for their marksmanship left nothing to be desired. End second period, no score.

Third Period

Denneny rushed the length of the ice and was herded into a corner by the Vancouver defense. He fought his way clear with magnificent stickhandling, but was checked before he could shoot...

Frank Boucher worked his hook check with deadly effect on the Ottawa attack. The Ottawa players possessed the knack of following through with the puck, and picking it up again with their skates after it had been hooked away from them. Duncan, who was playing in splendid form, broke through for a shot from the left wing. The angle, however, was too great for success...

Vancouver forwards depended on individual play, whereas the Ottawa players used centre ice for snappy combination, which gained them much valuable ground. Nighbor and Clancy broke through for two dangerous shots. Gerard and Harris staged a bumping contest in the Ottawa area and were both banished. The teams played with five men...

Broadbent secured the puck at the blueline, stickhandling by Duncan and scored the first goal of the match.

- we begin to see the first signs of Ottawa's questionable health in the postseason this year. It will get worse.

- looks like pretty partisan reporting again. Maybe the Calgary sports desk was just full of homers?

- strange, the two descriptions of the goal. The first makes it sound like Hitchman was behind the Vancouver net and passed out to Broadbent, but the second makes it sound like Broadbent took a stretch pass at the blueline, stickhandled past Duncan and scored. I think the second goal description is what really happened.

- interesting that the Sens seemed relatively resistant to being hook-checked, themselves, being adept at kicking the puck forward when it got into their skates. Most likely they worked on this manuever against Frank Nighbor in practice.

 

[Sturminator]

Pre Game 2 Talk:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=PLWDSxI5WzYC&dat=19230319&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

The Calgary Daily Herald - March 19th, 1923:

Second Game of Cup Draw This Evening

The jumping pulse that resulted in local hockey fandom as a result of the defeat of the Maroons in the opening game of the Stanley Cup semi-final series, has hardly quieted down before the second stage of the draw is ready...

One thing is sure, if the Ottawa and Vancouver clubs are forced to battle through to the limit in their title series, the victorious team will not be in the fittest form to engage that fighting aggregation from Edmonton in the Cup final. Local critics are looking with a feeling of concern toward that Eskimo club and some dopesters are not hesitating to express the view that the prairie champions are liable to win out.

...

Under eastern rules penalties must be played out from the moment they are imposed. This might result in the sight, unusual on Vancouver ice, of one team playing two of three men short at one time. On Friday's showing, the teams seem evenly matched, and the general impression is that in all the succeeding games, as on Friday, the "breaks" will decide the victory.

PCHA vs. NHL Playoffs: Game Two

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=PLWDSxI5WzYC&dat=19230320&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

Calgary Daily Herald - March 20th, 1923:

Playing Under Eastern Rules, Vancouver Takes Fall Out of Senators

Vancouver made it even Stephen on the series here tonight by trimming the pride of the Dominion's capital, four to one, in a game featured mostly by defensive playing and the occasional flashy bursts of one or at most two men on attack. The Maroons were masters of the situation one minute and eighteen seconds after the initial faceoff, when Art Duncan swept down the ice in one of his irresistable rushes and parked the disc behind Benedict for the west's first goal in two games. Thereafter the Maroons were never in danger. Skinner worked the puck down shortly after and passed back to Boucher from the extreme right corner behind Benedict, and Frank snapped the puck into the corner of the net.

Vancouver made the evening safe for democracy shortly afterward, when Boucher took a pass from Parkes and again beat the tall, solemn goalie from beyond the Rockies...

Hockey students who figure on the form of the two games do not figure Ottawa to win again, the team is not as good as it was two seasons ago by any means and there is no doubt they were a lucky aggregation in snaring the first game. The Maroons have a big edge in their substitutes. Ottawa have Clancy and Hitchman with Helman, whom they have not used at all so far, while Vancouver has Parkes, Harris and Corbett Denneny to say nothing of Gotch, who got a few minutes play in the last moments of the match last night.

Clancy played a fair game and so did Hitchman, but the veterans of the Senators, which form their team, get but short rests, as the subs weaken their team not a little. On the other hand, Vancouver has three perfectly good regulars in Parkes, Harris and Denneny, that is a margin of superiority which is bound to tell over a three out of five series.

Alf Skinner played his best hockey of the season, he was in on almost every play and repeatedly worried the defense and Benedict by his dashing tactics. George Boucher was the bright individual star for the Senators. He has no peers in movements designed to bring goals and the one he got for his team was well deserved. He was cheered again and again last night, not a voice being raised against him, although his tactics on defense were much more strenuous than anything charged to Gerard who seemed off color all evening.

Benedict got another hard crack, when MacKay's shot hit him on the mouth from two or three feet out; he fell to the ice and the game was halted while he was being patched up. But he played fine hockey, as did Art Duncan, Mickey MacKay and Frank Boucher. That elusive youngster played marvellous hockey and time after time brother George turned to see who was the annoying player, to discover it was Frank, the kid, and let it go at that.

...

Denneny went down the right wing with a brilliant individual rush which Cook cut short...Skinner made a magnificent rush, out-guessed the whole Ottawa team and was only stopped when he reached Benedict...

The Vancouver players found the eastern league rules very hard to follow and the play was frequently stopped owing to kicking the puck in the Ottawa area...

Cook came up centre ice and passed to Skinner. They lost the rubber to George Boucher, who fell on his way down the ice, but from a recumbent position did some nice stickhandling and passed the puck to Nighbor...

Broadbent and Skinner exchanged blows and were banished for two minutes. Duncan and Cook skated the length of the ice and the former scored unassisted in 13:51. The penalized players returned to the ice. Nighbor came down centre and drove in a bullet shot which Lehman kicked out in mid-air by a miracle...

Denneny tried a long shot on goal, and Gerard came through for another. Harris took the puck and came down centre ice for a long shot. George Boucher picked up the rebound, skated the full length and scored Ottawa's first goal in 1:58.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=QBJtjoHflPwC&dat=19230320&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

Ottawa Citizen - March 20th, 1923:

Senators Make Gallant Effort to Overhaul Vancouver's Early Lead but Three Goal Handicap is too Much

Vancouver evened up the series here tonight be defeating the Ottawa Senators 4 to 1 in a game that was featured by much brilliant play on the part of the winners and some spectacular work by the losers. The Pacific Coast champions had all the better of the play in the first two periods. They ran in three goals in the opening stanza and one in the second, while the Senators got their lone tally in the final twenty.

Duncan, the big defenseman on the Vancouver lineup, as on Friday night, played a wonderful game and was a source of worry all through the match to the Ottawa defense. Frank Boucher apparently recovered from the nervousness he exhibited in Friday night's match and turned in an effective and also a spectacular performance. He accounted for two of the Vancouver goals and his tireless play was a great help to the winners. His poke-check was working overtime and broke up many rushes in center ice.

MacKay and Skinner were exceptionally good in the first two periods. Lehman had comparatively little to do until the final session when he was repeatedly bombarded. Lloyd Cook, the other regular, was also in much better form than in the opening match. In all, the Western champions gave a demonstration of why they are in possession of the title. Their team work was well nigh perfect and there was no letup in their aggressiveness.

The Senators' play lacked the dash shown Friday night. They had little speed and seldom combined as they are accustomed to doing...

It was unfortunate that Benedict, the elongated goaler, was again injured tonight as it probably affected his play...

As it was, Ottawa missed a couple of chances in the final period to register counters by over-anxiety. After George Boucher had scored Ottawa's lone tally, Frank Nighbor and Eddie Gerard pulled off a brilliant piece of combination, only to fail at the end. Nighbor and Gerard went down through the Vancouver defense, issuing the puck back and forth several times. The final pass which came when Gerard was close in on Lehman and in a good position to score got away from the Senators' captain. Again, when Cy Denneny went down the left boards, eluding MacKay and Duncan, he shot a swift one across to Broadbent which Punch had difficulty in handling. It was a great play but failed by a second's fraction only.

There was considerable ill feeling displayed by both teams tonight, although there was no deliberate attempts to maim the players. Skinner and Cook of the Vancouver team appeared bent on mixing it up with their opponents and the NHL champions gave back as much as they received. Both Gerard and George Bouucher stepped into the Vancouver forwards with considerable force, and Punch Broadbent a little more than held his own in a duel with Alf Skinner. Frank Clancy, who was sent out to stop the onrush of the enemy on several occasions, besides showing some great flashes of speed, walked into the opposition fearlessly, and on one occasion sent the heavyweight Art Duncan, spinning [unreadable] back with a fair bodycheck.

For Ottawa, Nighbor and Broadbent appeared to be the best. The former was at his best, George Boucher again tried conclusions with his younger brother Frank, but did not fare so well as on the first occasion. Eddie Gerard's bodychecking told severely upon such light forwards as Parkes, Frank Boucher and Corbett Denneny. Alf Skinner, however, had the weight which carried him through and the "Bullet" has not been seen to better advantage since he joined the Pacific Coast League in 1920. Whenever such men as Duncan and Cook came through the Ottawa bodycheckers from their weight hard to hold and Benedict was forced to meet them several times.

Ottawa came back strong with brilliant two and three-men attacks which went to pieces on MacKay's defense...

Denneny tried a shot from center ice which caught in Lehman's pads. The Vancouver goalie just got clear of his goal line before the rubber dropped...

- the reporting from Ottawa appears to be more objective, which is not surprising as Ottawa's hockey culture was a good deal older than Calgary's.

- we see Ottawa attempting some long shots on Lehman at this point. This will become a greater theme later on.

- Nighbor's performance appears to be treated as a foregone conclusion by the Ottawa press. They devoted two stale sentences to him, although they call him one of the two best Sens.

- the issue of Ottawa having few subs will become more critical later on in the playoffs.

- the entire Vancouver team seems to have had a good game. Every one of the starters is praised at some point for strong play.

 

[Sturminator]

Pre Game 3 Talk:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=QBJtjoHflPwC&dat=19230321&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

Ottawa Citizen - March 21st, 1923:

Former Falcon has Enviable Record

Frank Frederickson, pride of the Icelandic race, is back in Winnipeg today, after winning the right to be called the greatest player in the Pacific Coast Hockey League. Before the fascinating and sensational playing of the big blonde, the work of such former stars as Mickey MacKay of Vancouver and Frank Foyston of Seattle wilted like the morning glory under the blaze of the noonday sun. Frank is very modest about his achievements, but says he gave hockey his best attention and got results.

Frederickson was the big factor in putting Victoria playoff for the PCHA championship..."Freddie" won the two-fold honor of leading the scorers in the PCHA and also in the inter-league series better than his nearest rival. In the PCHA, he ran in 39 goals and 15 assists during the season for a total of 54 points, which put him 17 points ahead of his closest rival, Mickey MacKay...

There is no player on the coast and none on the prairie that can be put in the class with Frederickson, say coast critics. The NHL may have a candidate, but even the great Frank Nighbor would undoubtedly find it difficult holding his own with the Icelander.

Neither Dick Irvin of Regina nor "Duke" Keats of Edmonton rank with "Freddie". Keats has a good head, but Freddie can skate rings around him and out-stickhandle him, and when it comes to shooting, the honors all go to the former Falcon skipper. Irvin is not capable of going over more than half the route, and while still tricky, clever and fast, he is not the pivot man that Frederickson is.

Frederickson looms as the greatest hockey player that is alive today. His four goals against Edmonton and his four goals and two assists against Seattle brand him as a star the like of which has not been seen in the hockey firmament for many years.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...monton+stanley+cup+|+senators+|+eskimos&hl=en

The Calgary Daily Herald - March 21, 1923:

Eskimos Have Good Chance to Lift Cup

To guage the strength of the Eskimos and Vancouver Maroons from their showing in the inter-league games this season is a difficult task. True it is that Edmonton won by the narrow edge of 2-1 when they played their last game at the coast on Feb. 19, but it must not be overlooked that the Maroons swamped the Esks by the wide margin of 5 to 1 on Edmonton ice on January 5, a time when the Eskimos had been bowling over the prairie rivals.

However, if the prairie champions do lose out in the Stanley Cup final to Vancouver - it being presumed that the coast leaders can eliminate Ottawa, as they should without a great deal of extra effort, it will be mainly the superior defense that will rout them. Duncan, Cook and Lehman comprise a trio unbeatable in modern hockey science, but on the offensive Edmonton has an edge.

Frank Boucher, Mickey MacKay and Smokey Harris, three tricky performers, rank high in the esteem of the coast admirers, but pitted against the heady pilot Keats, with Art Gagne on a wing and Ty Arbour alongside, the Esk forward division looks better. There is no shot on the Vancouver team as deadly as Keats, and in the season's play Gagne has far outstripped all contenders in the prairie league for scoring honors.

If Vancouver wins from Edmonton in the Cup final, it will be hockey brains that will beat them. Joe Simpson, reputed to be one of the greatest hockey stars in the game today, is better than either Duncan or Cook, but he hasn't a mate that completes a pair equal in strength to the Vancouver couple. Duncan and Cook have been playing together so long that a complete understanding exists between them.

All this doping goes on the presumption that Vancouver will win over Ottawa. And there is no reason in the world why they shouldn't. It was the biggest surprise of the year to all hockey students who watched the Senators and Maroons work this year to learn that Ottawa had won the opening game. Monday's 4-1 score in favor of Vancouver, even under the handicap of following the NHL code of play, sounded more reasonable, and there should not be a great deal of over-exertion required to turn the easterners aside the remaining two games required to close the draw.

- the arrogance of the Calgary paper becomes pretty galling, while the Ottawa paper concedes that even Nighbor might be hard-pressed in competition with Frederickson.

- it appears that Irvin was really a pretty terrible defensive player.