1920’s

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VIDEO: Blast from the Past

The National Hockey League was formed on November 26, 1917 as a result of a meeting held at the Windsor hotel in Montreal. Present at this meeting were team owners of the National Hockey Association. However, the troublesome and unpopular owner of the Toronto franchise in the NHA, Eddie Livingstone, was not invited to attend. Former NHA secretary Frank Calder was chosen as the NHL’s first President. Charter members included the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs and a Toronto franchise, which was given to the directors of the Arena Gardens in Toronto. Quebec elected not to operate until the 1919-20 season.

Toronto’s entry in the newly formed National Hockey League for the 1917-18 season played its first game on December 19, 1917 against the Montreal Wanderers. Toronto scored a total of nine goals but still lost the game by a count of 10-9. Ironically, it was the only win for the Montreal Wanderers in the NHL as the team folded operations when their arena burnt down after only six games. That left the new league with only two other teams - the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators - to compete with the Toronto team in the inaugural season of the league.

The first Toronto game wasn’t much of a success at the gate either as a mere 700 people attended the first home game - and many of those were soldiers in uniform that were guests of team management.

So, it wasn’t an auspicious start for the Toronto team, but that game was the beginning of a rich tradition of hockey in Toronto that we know today as the ‘Leafs Nation’. At the end of that first year, this Toronto club, called the Arenas, managed to win the first ever Stanley Cup in the NHL.

Source: Read more at Maple Leafs Official Website