1924-1925 Hamilton Tigers: Missed Opportunity

1924-1925 Hamilton Tigers: Missed Opportunity

1924-1925 Hamilton Tigers: Missed Opportunity

The story of professional hockey in North America has many twists and turns, and unfortunately some stories of hockey teams get left behind in the cracks of time. The story of the Hamilton Tigers organization is one such story. The Tigers never had a great history to talk about as they consistently underachieved. Beginning as the Quebec Athletic Club and then the Quebec Bulldogs in the 1919-1920 season the team went 4-20.

Thankfully the club found a home in the Barton Street Arena in Hamilton, Ontario following this disappointing first season. However, the new home alone wasn’t enough to turn everything around for the club as more losing seasons followed. Now as the Hamilton Tigers, sporting the team colors of black, gold and white, the team would go 6-18, 7-17, 6-18 and 9-15 in their next 4 seasons respectively.

For whatever reason everything appeared to be aligned correctly for the Tigers in the 1924-1925 regular season as their performances would indicate that they were on the verge of becoming a serious contender for the Stanley Cup. In the 1924-1925 regular season the Hamilton Tigers finished with the best record in the National Hockey League at 19-10-1, finishing just ½ a game and 1 point ahead of the Toronto St. Patricks in the standings. In head-to-head play the Tigers went 5-1 against the Boston Bruins and 4-2 against the Montreal Maroons, two teams who had just entered the NHL as expansion franchises. The Tigers went 4-2 against the Toronto St. Patricks, 3-2-1 against the original Ottawa Senators, and 3-3 against the Montreal Canadiens.

It seemed as though the talent on Hamilton’s roster was executing the game plan that the team had laid out. Center Billy Burch had 20 goals and 7 assists for 27 points. Left winger Christopher Redvers Green, who was better known as “Red”, had 19 goals and 15 assists for 34 points. Green would spend the most minutes in the penalty box for Hamilton as he had 81 penalty minutes. Right winger Wilfred Thomas “Shorty” Green had 18 goals and 9 assists for 27 points while also spending 63 minutes in the penalty box. Defenseman Ken Randall had 8 goals and 10 assists for 18 points while spending 52 penalty minutes. Defenseman Alex McKinnon had 8 goals and 3 assists while spending 47 minutes in the penalty box. Center Mickey Roach had 6 goals and 4 assists. Defenseman Charlie Langlois had 6 goals and 3 assists.

The Tigers only needed one goaltender to protect the net, and that goaltender would be Jake Forbes. Allowing 60 goals in 1833 minutes, Forbes would record a stellar 1.96 goals against average and 6 shutouts.

What is missing from this almost complete season of the Hamilton Tigers is postseason play. The playoffs would never be played by the Tigers because there were ongoing disputes concerning the amount of pay for the players. The core of the issue was that the regular season extended past 24 games, and now 30 games were played. The players on the Tigers felt that they deserved to receive increased payments since they played 6 more games than they usually did. After multiple failed attempts to get the attention of the NHL the Tigers would officially go on strike, marking the first time in NHL history where a players strike occurred.

NHL President Frank Calder would soon issue a response to the Tigers, which would be to immediately suspend the team. With the Hamilton Tigers officially knocked out of postseason play due to this players strike, the original Semifinals series between the 2nd ranked Toronto St. Patricks and the 3rd ranked Montreal Canadiens would now serve as the de facto NHL Finals. The Canadiens ended up defeating the St. Patricks 5-2 in a total goals series. The Canadiens would represent the NHL instead of the Tigers in the 1925 Stanley Cup Finals, though the Canadiens would lose to the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League 3 games to 1.

The following offseason wasn’t kind at all to Hamilton hockey fans as the players on the Tigers would be fined by Calder, fines which would be paid the following regular season. However, Hamilton, Ontario would never again see NHL regular season play as the assets of the Tigers would be sold to New York bootlegger “Big Bill” Dwyer. On September 22, 1925 the league meeting saw the Hamilton franchise officially be revoked. The new franchise that took the place of the Tigers would be called the New York Americans.

The Hamilton Tigers of 1924-1925 remain a mystery to hockey historians, limited to multiple “What if” form of questions. What if the Tigers never issued complaints about the amount of pay the players were receiving? What if the Tigers managed to defeat the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL Finals? What if the Tigers went on to win the 1925 Stanley Cup Finals against the Victoria Cougars? Questions such as these will never be answered, so the story of the Hamilton Tigers finishes with a basic summary; a missed opportunity.