Toronto Ontarios
Encyclopedia
The Toronto Ontarios was a professional men's ice hockey
team in the National Hockey Association
from 1912 to 1915 based in Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
. They were first named the Tecumseh Hockey Club, renamed the Ontarios in 1913 and renamed the Toronto Shamrocks in January 1915 and ceased operations later that year.
was being built in Toronto and a franchise was awarded to the Toronto Hockey Club
, and a group affiliated with the Tecumseh Lacrosse Club applied for a second franchise. The Tecumsehs bought a franchise from Ambrose O'Brien, paying $500 cash and promissory notes for $2,000.
The Tecumsehs were put on the NHA schedule for the 1911–12 season with no home games scheduled until late in January, when the arena was expected to be completed. Because of construction delays, it soon became clear that the arena would not be ready in time, and both Toronto teams were removed from the schedule, leaving the NHA with only four teams for the season.
Before the 1912–13 season started, O'Brien said that he never received the balance of the franchise fee from the Tecumseh backers, so he re-sold the franchise to a group headed by W.J. Bellingham from Montreal. Goaltender Billy Nicholson, formerly with Montreal HC
, was appointed player-manager-captain. The team he put together included future hall-of-famer George McNamara
and his brother, Howard McNamara
. Teddy Oke, who would go on to be one of the founders of the Canadian Professional Hockey League
in 1926, was also on the team.
They played their first game on December 28, 1912 against the Montreal Wanderers
at the arena, which would soon become known as Arena Gardens. The visiting Wanderers won 7–4 in front of 5,000 fans. Paid attendance of 4,339 and gate receipts of $3,040 both set short-lived Toronto hockey records. The Tecumsehs got off to a good start, but at the end of the season were in last place in the six-team NHA in with seven wins and 13 losses.
defenceman Fred Lake
, the Ontarios fared worse, winning only 4 games and losing 16, for a .200 winning percentage.
After one season, Wall sold the team to local amateur hockey impresario Eddie Livingstone. Livingstone acquired goaltender Percy LeSueur
and forward Skene Ronan
. He also added rookies Corb Denneny and Alf Skinner, and the McNamara brothers returned.
The team had also acquired NHA scoring champion Tommy Smith before Livingtone took over. A tug of war developed over Smith's services. The Pacific Coast Hockey Association
claimed Smith was their property; Livingstone, just as stubbornly, insisted he belonged to Toronto. The PCHA's bosses, Lester Patrick
and Frank Patrick, threatened they would raid the NHA for players the next season.
.
Meanwhile, Toronto's other NHA club, the Toronto Blueshirts
, had fallen from first place to fourth. On the west coast, the Patrick brothers announced an expansion team, the Seattle Metropolitans
and the PCHA zeroed in on the Blueshirts' roster, signing many of their top players. Livingstone purchased the Toronto Blueshirts and owned two NHA teams but after the PCHA raids only had enough players for one team. He transferred Shamrocks players to the Blueshirts, and only the Blueshirts competed in the 1915–16 NHA season. When Livingstone failed to sell the Shamrocks, the NHA seized the franchise, which was left dormant for the year. The National Hockey Association
reactivated the abandoned Shamrocks franchise in 1916–17, awarding it to a Canadian military team, the Toronto 228th Battalion
. The league became the National Hockey League
the following season and neither of the Toronto NHA franchises were included in the new league.
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team in the National Hockey Association
National Hockey Association
The National Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor organization to today's National Hockey League...
from 1912 to 1915 based in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. They were first named the Tecumseh Hockey Club, renamed the Ontarios in 1913 and renamed the Toronto Shamrocks in January 1915 and ceased operations later that year.
Tecumsehs
The NHA was founded in 1909 without any teams from Toronto, Ontario because there wasn't an arena in the city that was large enough to sustain a franchise. In 1911, a new arenaMutual Street Arena
Mutual Street Arena, initially called Arena Gardens or just the Arena, was an ice hockey arena and sports and entertainment venue in Toronto, Ontario...
was being built in Toronto and a franchise was awarded to the Toronto Hockey Club
Toronto Blueshirts
The Toronto Hockey Club, known as the Torontos and the Toronto Blue Shirts were a professional National Hockey Association team that played in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
, and a group affiliated with the Tecumseh Lacrosse Club applied for a second franchise. The Tecumsehs bought a franchise from Ambrose O'Brien, paying $500 cash and promissory notes for $2,000.
The Tecumsehs were put on the NHA schedule for the 1911–12 season with no home games scheduled until late in January, when the arena was expected to be completed. Because of construction delays, it soon became clear that the arena would not be ready in time, and both Toronto teams were removed from the schedule, leaving the NHA with only four teams for the season.
Before the 1912–13 season started, O'Brien said that he never received the balance of the franchise fee from the Tecumseh backers, so he re-sold the franchise to a group headed by W.J. Bellingham from Montreal. Goaltender Billy Nicholson, formerly with Montreal HC
Montreal Hockey Club
The Montreal Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was a senior-level men's amateur ice hockey club, organized in 1884. They were affiliated with Montreal Amateur Athletic Association and used the MAAA 'winged wheel' logo. The team is notable for winning the first Stanley Cup in 1893, and in a...
, was appointed player-manager-captain. The team he put together included future hall-of-famer George McNamara
George McNamara
George Andrew McNamara was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman.When George was a youngster, his family moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and it was in the Soo that he first learned the game of hockey. McNamara made his professional hockey debut playing with The Sault Ste...
and his brother, Howard McNamara
Howard McNamara
Howard Dennis McNamara was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. He played professionally from 1908 to 1920, including two seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, including the 1916 Stanley Cup champions...
. Teddy Oke, who would go on to be one of the founders of the Canadian Professional Hockey League
Canadian Professional Hockey League
The Canadian Professional Hockey League, also known as Canpro, was a minor professional hockey league founded in 1926. After three seasons, it became the International Hockey League in 1929...
in 1926, was also on the team.
They played their first game on December 28, 1912 against the Montreal Wanderers
Montreal Wanderers
The Montreal Wanderers were a Canadian amateur, and later becoming a professional men's ice hockey team. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League , the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association , the National Hockey Association and briefly the National Hockey League . The Wanderers are...
at the arena, which would soon become known as Arena Gardens. The visiting Wanderers won 7–4 in front of 5,000 fans. Paid attendance of 4,339 and gate receipts of $3,040 both set short-lived Toronto hockey records. The Tecumsehs got off to a good start, but at the end of the season were in last place in the six-team NHA in with seven wins and 13 losses.
Ontarios
In 1913, Tom Wall purchased the bankrupt Tecumsehs and renamed them the Ontarios. The team continued to play in the Arena Gardens. The Tecumsehs had finished sixth in the six-team league, with a record of 7 wins and 13 losses. Despite the addition of 27-goal scorer Jack McDonald and veteran Ottawa SenatorsOttawa Senators (original)
The Ottawa Senators were an amateur, and later, professional, ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934...
defenceman Fred Lake
Fred Lake (ice hockey)
Fred Edgar Lake was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was one of the first professional players and he played 181 games in various professional and amateur leagues, including the National Hockey Association, Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association, and International Professional...
, the Ontarios fared worse, winning only 4 games and losing 16, for a .200 winning percentage.
After one season, Wall sold the team to local amateur hockey impresario Eddie Livingstone. Livingstone acquired goaltender Percy LeSueur
Percy LeSueur
Sergeant Percy St. Helier LeSueur was a Canadian senior and professional ice hockey goaltender. He was a member of the Smiths Falls Seniors for three years, with whom his performance in a 1906 Stanley Cup challenge series attracted the attention of his opponents, the Ottawa Silver Seven...
and forward Skene Ronan
Skene Ronan
Erskine Rockliffe Ronan was a Canadian professional hockey player who played 10 professional seasons. Ronan played the majority of his professional career in the National Hockey Association and played one season in its successor league, the National Hockey League in 1918–19 as a member of the...
. He also added rookies Corb Denneny and Alf Skinner, and the McNamara brothers returned.
The team had also acquired NHA scoring champion Tommy Smith before Livingtone took over. A tug of war developed over Smith's services. The Pacific Coast Hockey Association
Pacific Coast Hockey Association
The Pacific Coast Hockey Association was a professional men's 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...
claimed Smith was their property; Livingstone, just as stubbornly, insisted he belonged to Toronto. The PCHA's bosses, Lester Patrick
Lester Patrick
Curtis Lester "The Silver Fox" Patrick born in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, was a professional ice hockey player and coach associated with the Victoria Aristocrats/Cougars of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association , and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League...
and Frank Patrick, threatened they would raid the NHA for players the next season.
Shamrocks
After the first game of the season in January 1915, the team was renamed the Toronto Shamrocks. Livingstone said the idea came from the players because eight members of the team claimed Irish descent. The team colours were kept the same, but the O on the jerseys was replaced with a green shamrock. The Shamrocks finished the 1914–15 season with a record of 7 wins and 13 losses, fifth in the league, ahead of only the Montreal CanadiensMontreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
.
Meanwhile, Toronto's other NHA club, the Toronto Blueshirts
Toronto Blueshirts
The Toronto Hockey Club, known as the Torontos and the Toronto Blue Shirts were a professional National Hockey Association team that played in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
, had fallen from first place to fourth. On the west coast, the Patrick brothers announced an expansion team, the Seattle Metropolitans
Seattle Metropolitans
The Seattle Metropolitans were a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle, Washington which played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1915 to 1924. They won the Stanley Cup in 1917, becoming the first American team to do so...
and the PCHA zeroed in on the Blueshirts' roster, signing many of their top players. Livingstone purchased the Toronto Blueshirts and owned two NHA teams but after the PCHA raids only had enough players for one team. He transferred Shamrocks players to the Blueshirts, and only the Blueshirts competed in the 1915–16 NHA season. When Livingstone failed to sell the Shamrocks, the NHA seized the franchise, which was left dormant for the year. The National Hockey Association
National Hockey Association
The National Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor organization to today's National Hockey League...
reactivated the abandoned Shamrocks franchise in 1916–17, awarding it to a Canadian military team, the Toronto 228th Battalion
Toronto 228th Battalion (NHA)
The Toronto 228th Battalion was an ice hockey team, composed entirely of troops in the 228th Battalion, CEF of the Canadian Army, in the National Hockey Association for the 1916–17 season....
. The league became the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
the following season and neither of the Toronto NHA franchises were included in the new league.
Season by season record
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912–13 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 0 | 59 | 98 | 6th |
| 1913–14 1913–14 NHA season The 1913–14 NHA season was the fifth season of the National Hockey Association . At the end of the regular season, a tie for first place necessitated a playoff to determine the championship. The Toronto Hockey Club defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6–2 in a two-game, total-goals playoff... |
20 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 61 | 118 | 6th |
| 1914–15 1914–15 NHA season The 1914–15 NHA season was the sixth season of the National Hockey Association and played from December 26, 1914 until March 3, 1915. Each team played 20 games. The Ottawa Senators won the NHA championship in a two game, total goal playoff against the Montreal Wanderers... |
20 | 7 | 13 | 0 | 76 | 96 | 5th |