1920–21 NHL season

1920–21 NHL season
League	National Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	December 22, 1920 – March 14, 1921
Number of games	24
Number of teams	4
Regular season
Top scorer	Newsy Lalonde (Montreal)
O'Brien Cup
O'Brien Cup champions	Ottawa Senators
Runners-up	Toronto St. Patricks
NHL seasons
← 1919–20 1921–22 →

The 1920–21 NHL season was the fourth season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Four teams each played 24 games in a split season. The Quebec franchise was transferred to Hamilton, Ontario, to become the Hamilton Tigers. The Ottawa Senators won the league championship in a playoff with the Toronto St. Patricks. The Senators went on to win the Stanley Cup by defeating the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association three games to two in a best-of-five series. This would be the last split season before the NHL changed its regular season and playoff formats.

League Business

Eddie Livingstone was again talking of creating a rival league and mentioned Hamilton as a city in his league. To head this off, league president Frank Calder got the owners of the league to admit a Hamilton franchise. As Abso-Pure had built an arena, all owners agreed that it would be wise to have a franchise in Hamilton. Because Quebec had done so badly the previous season, Calder said that Quebec's players would be given to Hamilton. Although Mike Quinn was non-committal at first, he finally sold the team to Hamilton and it became the Hamilton Tigers.

Regular season

The Tigers had some trouble signing Joe Malone from the Quebec days, but he finally did sign. The Tigers were awarded two players from the Senators, Punch Broadbent and Sprague Cleghorn by NHL president Calder, but both refused to sign with the Tigers, and eventually returned to the Senators.

The Tigers stunned the Canadiens 5–0 in the team's first-ever game with Babe Dye starring and Howard Lockhart getting the only shutout of his NHL career. The Toronto St. Patricks lost Corbett Denneny to injuries and recalled Dye from Hamilton, giving them Mickey Roach in his place.

Corbett Denneny scored six goals in a game January 26, 1921, helping the Toronto St. Patricks to wallop the Hamilton Tigers 10–3. Cy Denneny wasn't about to let his brother steal the thunder and he scored six goals himself in a March 7 game as the Ottawa Senators hammered the Hamilton Tigers 12–5. For the first time, a brother combination had scored six goals in a game the same season.

Also on January 26, 1921, the Ottawa Senators left the ice with 5:13 to play in a game against the Montreal Canadiens. According to the Senators, referee Cooper Smeaton was one-sided in favour of the Canadiens. Smeaton let the Canadiens continue to play, allowing goals by Newsy Lalonde and Amos Arbour before calling the game. Smeaton denied the claim, stating "a referee is always paid and receives the same salary, regardless what team wins." Smeaton would resign over the incident, but was convinced to return to refereeing later in the season. The Senators were fined $500 by NHL president Frank Calder for the incident.

The Ottawa Senators won the first half of the split season while the Toronto St. Patricks won the second half.

Final standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
Note: Teams that qualified for playoffs highlighted in bold

First Half	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Ottawa Senators	10	8	2	0	16	49	23
Toronto St. Patricks	10	5	5	0	10	39	47
Montreal Canadiens	10	4	6	0	8	37	51
Hamilton Tigers	10	3	7	0	6	34	38

Second Half	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Toronto St. Patricks	14	10	4	0	20	66	53
Montreal Canadiens	14	9	5	0	18	75	48
Ottawa Senators	14	6	8	0	12	48	52
Hamilton Tigers	14	3	11	0	6	58	94

Playoffs

All dates 1921

NHL Championship

After the regular season, Toronto and Ottawa played in a total goals series to see who would win the O'Brien Cup and go on to compete for the Stanley Cup. Ottawa easily won by shutting out the St. Pats in both games. Ottawa then went on to play the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA.

Ottawa Senators vs. Toronto St. Patricks

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score	Notes
March 10	Ottawa Senators	5	Toronto St. Patricks	0
March 14	Ottawa Senators	2	Toronto St. Patricks	0

Ottawa wins total goals series 7 goals to 0

Stanley Cup Finals

Main article: 1921 Stanley Cup Finals

Ottawa vs. Vancouver

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 21	Ottawa Senators	1	Vancouver Millionaires	3
March 24	Vancouver Millionaires	3	Ottawa Senators	4
March 28	Vancouver Millionaires	2	Ottawa Senators	3
March 31	Ottawa Senators	2	Vancouver Millionaires	3
April 4	Vancouver Millionaires	1	Ottawa Senators	2

Ottawa wins best-of-five series 3 games to 2 for the Stanley Cup

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Newsy Lalonde	Montreal Canadiens	24	33	10	43
Cecil "Babe" Dye	Hamilton Tigers / Toronto St. Pats	24	35	5	40
Cy Denneny	Ottawa Senators	24	34	5	39
Joe Malone	Hamilton Tigers	20	28	9	37
Frank Nighbor	Ottawa Senators	24	19	10	29
Reg Noble	Toronto St. Patricks	24	19	8	27
Harry Cameron	Toronto St. Patricks	24	18	9	27
George "Goldie" Prodgers	Hamilton Tigers	24	18	9	27
Corbett Denneny	Toronto St. Patricks	20	19	7	26
Jack Darragh	Ottawa Senators	24	11	15	26

Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

Name	Team	GP	Mins	W	L	T	GA	SO	GAA
Clint Benedict	Ottawa Senators	24	1462	14	10	0	75	2	3.08
Jake Forbes	Toronto St. Patricks	20	1221	13	7	0	78	0	3.83
Georges Vezina	Montreal Canadiens	24	1441	13	11	0	99	1	4.12
Howie Lockhart	Hamilton Tigers	24	1454	6	18	0	132	1	5.45
Ivan Mitchell	Toronto St. Patricks	4	240	2	2	0	22	0	5.50

Source: NHL

Awards

• O'Brien Cup – Ottawa Senators

Note:

The O'Brien Cup, still considered the championship of the NHA, was not awarded to Ottawa until November 1921. It had remained under the care of the Canadiens who had won it in 1917, until the death of their owner, George Kennedy in October 1921, when the NHL made arrangements to re-use the trophy.

Team Photos

• 

  Montreal Canadiens

• 

  Hamilton Tigers

• 

  Ottawa Senators

• 

  Toronto St. Patricks

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• Pacific Coast Hockey Association
• 1920 Summer Olympics
• List of pre-NHL seasons

References

• Coleman, Charles (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol. 1, 1893–1926 inc. 
• (2000) in Diamond, Dan: Total Hockey. Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X. 
• (2011) The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5. 
• (2000) Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd.. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9. 
• (2003) The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Publications International Inc.. ISBN 0-7853-9624-1. 
• McFarlane, Brian (1973). The Story of the National Hockey League. New York, NY: Pagurian Press. ISBN 0-684-13424-1. 

Notes

External links

• NHL.com

National Hockey League seasons

1917–18 - 1918–19 - 1919–20 - 1920–21 - 1921–22 - 1922–23 - 1923–24 - 1924–25 - 1925–26 - 1926–27 - 1927–28 - 1928–29 - 1929–30 - 1930–31 - 1931–32 - 1932–33 - 1933–34 - 1934–35 - 1935–36 - 1936–37 - 1937–38 - 1938–39 - 1939–40 - 1940–41 - 1941–42 - 1942–43 - 1943–44 - 1944–45 - 1945–46 - 1946–47 - 1947–48 - 1948–49 - 1949–50 - 1950–51 - 1951–52 - 1952–53 - 1953–54 - 1954–55 - 1955–56 - 1956–57 - 1957–58 - 1958–59 - 1959–60 - 1960–61 - 1961–62 - 1962–63 - 1963–64 - 1964–65 - 1965–66 - 1966–67 - 1967–68 - 1968–69 - 1969–70 - 1970–71 - 1971–72 - 1972–73 - 1973–74 - 1974–75 - 1975–76 - 1976–77 - 1977–78 - 1978–79 - 1979–80 - 1980–81 - 1981–82 - 1982–83 - 1983–84 - 1984–85 - 1985–86 - 1986–87 - 1987–88 - 1988–89 - 1989–90 - 1990–91 - 1991–92 - 1992–93 - 1993–94 - 1994–95 - 1995–96 - 1996–97 - 1997–98 - 1998–99 - 1999–00 - 2000–01 - 2001–02 - 2002–03 - 2003–04 - 2004–05 - 2005–06 - 2006–07 - 2007–08 - 2008–09 - 2009–10 - 2010–11 - 2011–12 - 2012–13 - 2013–14 - 2014–15 - 2015–16 - 2016–17 - 2017–18 - 2018–19 - 2019–20 - 2020–21 - 2021–22 - 2022–23 - 2023–24

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