1924-25 NHL season

The 1924-25 NHL season was the eighth season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 30 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Victoria Cougars of the WCHL, the last non-NHL team to win the Cup, who defeated the Montreal Canadiens. The NHL regular season champion Hamilton Tigers did not participate in the playoffs, as their players demanded to their owner, Percy Thompson that they would not participate in the NHL Finals unless they received an additional $200 each for the extra six games played that year. Under their contracts the Tigers players were to receive the same amount of money no matter how many games they played from December 1 1924 - March 31 1925 (even though the season started on November 29 1924). NHL President Frank Calder was not amused, stating that the players would be fined or suspended if they did not play in the final series, but the players stated that they would rather retire than advantage to be taken of them. The day of the final game of the Semi-Final, Tiger Shorty Green met with Calder to try and reach an agreement, but to no avail. The players were all suspended and fined $200 each, therefore eliminating themselves from the playoffs.

Prior to the start of this hockey season, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association folded and two of its teams, the Vancouver Maroons and Victoria Cougars, joined the Western Canada Hockey League. This meant that after three seasons of having three leagues compete for the Stanley Cup, there were once again only two.

A new trophy was added for the 1924-25 NHL season. The original Lady Byng Trophy was donated by Lady Bying, wife of Viscount Byng of Vimy, to be handed out to the player who shows the best sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with performance in play.

Regular season

This was the first campaign for the Montreal Maroons and Boston Bruins, the first United States team. It was also the last one for the Hamilton Tigers, whose franchise would be revoked at season's end. The number of games per season was also increased from 24 to 30.

The Maroons weren't actually the Maroons, as they had considered the name of Wanderers, but Sam Lichtenhein and Dickie Boon refused them that name. So, as the season wore on, writers began to refer to their deep crimson sweaters and dubbed them the Maroons. Cecil Hart was the manager and was expected to coach the team as well. But it was Eddie Gerard who coached them all season. As the season was about to end, Cecil Hart was fired and Gerard succeeded Hart as manager.

A new arena, the Montreal Forum, was built, and it was to house the Maroons. But it was the Canadiens who would play in it first. Amongst the wails of Forum management, because the Mount Royal Arena couldn't produce ice, it was decided to move a game against the Toronto St. Patricks to the Forum. The Canadiens beat the St. Patricks 7-1, as Billy Boucher had the hat trick.

Final standings

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

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Hamilton Tigers	30	19	10	1	39	90	60	332
Toronto St. Patricks	30	19	11	0	38	90	84	249
Montreal Canadiens	30	17	11	2	36	93	56	371
Ottawa Senators	30	17	12	1	35	83	66	331
Montreal Maroons	30	9	19	2	20	45	65	264
Boston Bruins	30	6	24	0	12	49	119	264

Scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Babe Dye	Toronto St. Patricks	29	38	6	44
Cy Denneny	Ottawa Senators	28	27	15	42
Aurel Joliat	Montreal Canadiens	24	29	11	40
Howie Morenz	Montreal Canadiens	30	27	7	34
Billy Boucher	Montreal Canadiens	30	18	13	31
Jack Adams	Toronto St. Patricks	27	21	8	29
Billy Burch	Hamilton Tigers	27	20	4	24
Red Green	Hamilton Tigers	30	19	4	23
Jimmy Herberts	Boston Bruins	30	17	5	22
Hap Day	Toronto St. Patricks	26	10	12	22

Stanley Cup playoffs

All dates 1925

With an increase in the number of NHL teams, the NHL changed its playoff format by having the second and third place teams play a two game total goals series to see who would play the number one seed for the NHL championship, the Prince of Wales Trophy. The winner of the Wales Trophy would go on to play the winner of the Western Canada Hockey League for the Stanley Cup.

Prince of Wales Trophy

The third seed Montreal Canadiens played against the second seed Toronto St. Patricks in a total goals series. The winner of that series was to go on and play the first seed team, the Hamilton Tigers. But it was not to happen that way. During the total goals series, the Hamilton players demanded $200 each for the extra six games played during the regular season and the league threatened to suspend the players and the team. Last ditch efforts to reach a compromise failed and the Tigers were suspended. Montreal won the series against Toronto and was awarded the Prince of Wales Trophy and earned the right to play for the Stanley Cup.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto St. Patricks

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score	Notes
March 11	Montreal Canadiens	3	Toronto St. Patricks	2
March 13	Montreal Canadiens	2	Toronto St. Patricks

Montreal wins total goals series 5 goals to 2

Stanley Cup Finals

Over in the Western Canada Hockey League, the third place Victoria Cougars won their league championship and would face the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup championship. Victoria easily beat Montreal three games to one out-scoring the Canadiens 16 to 8. This marks the first, and last, time since the inception of the NHL that a non-NHL team won the Stanley Cup. On a foot-note, though, the Seattle Metropolitans could have claimed the Cup during the flu cancelled season of 1919, but chose not to out of good-sportsmanship. The series was played in Patrick Arena in Victoria .

Montreal Canadiens vs. Victoria Cougars

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
March 21	Montreal Canadiens	2	Victoria Cougars	5
March 23	Montreal Canadiens	1	Victoria Cougars	3
March 27	Montreal Canadiens	4	Victoria Cougars	2
March 30	Montreal Canadiens	1	Victoria Cougars	6

Victoria Cougars win best-of-five series 3 games to 1 for the Stanley Cup

NHL Playoff scoring leader

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Howie Morenz	Montreal Canadiens	6	7	1	8

NHL Awards

Prince of Wales Trophy:	Montreal Canadiens
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Billy Burch, Hamilton Tigers
Lady Byng Trophy:	Frank Nighbor, Ottawa Senators

References

NHL 1924/25 | Saison LNH 1924-25

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