A look back at the 1915 Stanley Cup final
The Millionaires boasted Fred (Cyclone) Taylor, a superstar of his day whose skating ability and puck handling skills were unmatched, while the Senators had a collection of hard-rock players who could also put the puck in the net.
In 1915, forward passing was largely illegal, goaltenders weren’t allowed to leave their feet and players stayed on the ice for most of the game.
The two leagues even deployed a different number of players on the ice — the PCHA used a rover (who played all over the ice) in addition to the usual five skaters, while the NHA used five skaters — as today.
That year it was the West’s turn to host the final, so Game 1 would use their rules and then alternate. The best-of-five series was to be played on the artificial ice at state-of-the-art Denman Arena, built by team owners Lester and Frank Patrick.
Ottawa coach Alf Smith knew how good Taylor was and told his players the key was to take the Millionaires’ star out of the series by hitting and slashing him as much as possible. They did, but ultimately it didn’t work.
In Game 1, though the Senators had practised the seven-man game, they had trouble keeping up to the faster Millionaires and later complained about the “heavy sea air.”
Taylor, who absorbed a number of vicious hits, scored twice in a 6-2 victory.
Under Eastern rules in Game 2, the Millionaires surprised their opponents by sitting back to start the contest to withstand the expected Ottawa onslaught. The Sens went up 2-0 in the first period, but they were exhausted after the frenetic 20 minutes. Vancouver took over the game and, sparked by Taylor’s hat trick, took an 8-3 victory.
Game 3, again under Western rules, was predictable, though the Millionaires had three players — Taylor, player coach Frank Patrick and Lloyd Cook — who were so banged up after Game 2, it wasn’t certain they’d play. But they did and Vancouver jumped out to a 2-0 and then 4-2 lead, before it wound up an eventual 12-3 rout.
Rookie Barney Stanley had five goals, while Taylor had two more to lead the series with seven.
The Millionaires didn’t actually get to raise the Cup, by the way. The Senators, expecting an easy win, had left it in Ottawa.