WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.779 I want you to imagine for just a second that 00:00:02.779 --> 00:00:06.000 you have this incredibly annoying coworker. Oh, 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:08.330 I think we've all been there. Right. I'm talking 00:00:08.330 --> 00:00:12.970 about someone so difficult, so just utterly impossible 00:00:12.970 --> 00:00:15.849 to communicate with that the mere thought of 00:00:15.849 --> 00:00:17.589 seeing them in the morning makes you want to 00:00:17.589 --> 00:00:20.449 pull your hair out. Sounds awful. It is. Now, 00:00:20.510 --> 00:00:23.129 how far would you go to get rid of them? Like, 00:00:23.129 --> 00:00:24.949 would you change your commute? Maybe ask for 00:00:24.949 --> 00:00:27.510 a transfer. Yeah, exactly. Or and bear with me 00:00:27.510 --> 00:00:29.750 here. Would you and the rest of your colleagues 00:00:29.750 --> 00:00:32.969 dissolve your entire company just to immediately 00:00:32.969 --> 00:00:35.820 start a brand new one across the street? Just 00:00:35.820 --> 00:00:37.820 to get away from them. Just to leave that one 00:00:37.820 --> 00:00:40.219 specific person behind. I mean, it sounds like 00:00:40.219 --> 00:00:42.859 the plot of some absurd workplace comedy. Yeah. 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:45.539 A scenario that could never actually happen in 00:00:45.539 --> 00:00:47.719 the cutthroat world of major business. You would 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:50.979 think so. But the historical sources we're unpacking 00:00:50.979 --> 00:00:53.759 for this deep dive show us that truth is, well... 00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:56.200 it's often far stranger than fiction. Oh, absolutely. 00:00:56.500 --> 00:00:59.500 Because that extreme, totally spite -driven scenario 00:00:59.500 --> 00:01:02.000 is exactly how the National Hockey League, the 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:04.760 NHL, was actually born back in November 1917. 00:01:05.459 --> 00:01:07.579 It really is wild when you look at the records. 00:01:07.739 --> 00:01:10.099 Yeah. Today we have this fascinating stack of 00:01:10.099 --> 00:01:13.560 historical archives, firsthand accounts, and 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:17.379 league records covering the inaugural 1917 to 00:01:17.379 --> 00:01:21.340 1918 NHL season. We are looking at an era when 00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:26.140 professional hockey was miles away from the polished 00:01:26.670 --> 00:01:29.150 you know, heavily regulated billion -dollar enterprise 00:01:29.150 --> 00:01:31.370 you see today. Night and day difference. The 00:01:31.370 --> 00:01:33.890 infrastructure was fragile. The rules were totally 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:36.689 in flux. And the personalities, well, they were 00:01:36.689 --> 00:01:39.150 incredibly volatile. So our mission today is 00:01:39.150 --> 00:01:42.069 to extract the most chaotic, dramatic, and frankly 00:01:42.069 --> 00:01:44.569 unbelievable nuggets from this inaugural season. 00:01:44.849 --> 00:01:47.109 We want to show you that the massive sports leagues 00:01:47.109 --> 00:01:49.390 of the modern era, they started out as absolute 00:01:49.390 --> 00:01:51.969 Wild West spectacles. That is an understatement. 00:01:52.030 --> 00:01:53.629 Okay, let's unpack this. Take us back to the 00:01:53.629 --> 00:01:56.810 fall of 1917. The NHL Doesn't exist yet, right? 00:01:56.890 --> 00:01:58.609 It doesn't. We have the National Hockey Association 00:01:58.609 --> 00:02:01.230 or the NHA. What was the catalyst that brought 00:02:01.230 --> 00:02:03.530 that whole thing crashing down? Well, the NHA 00:02:03.530 --> 00:02:07.790 had a localized yet catastrophic problem. And 00:02:07.790 --> 00:02:10.129 his name was Eddie Livingston. The annoying co 00:02:10.129 --> 00:02:12.370 -worker. Exactly. He was the owner of the Toronto 00:02:12.370 --> 00:02:15.870 NHA franchise, the Blue Shirts. And by all historical 00:02:15.870 --> 00:02:19.229 accounts, the other team owners universally despised 00:02:19.229 --> 00:02:21.389 him. Just absolutely hated the guy. They found 00:02:21.389 --> 00:02:23.509 him completely impossible to negotiate with. 00:02:23.610 --> 00:02:26.030 He was constantly threatening lawsuits, generally 00:02:26.030 --> 00:02:30.210 acting in bad faith. But the NHA owners faced 00:02:30.210 --> 00:02:33.189 this massive structural hurdle. Which was their 00:02:33.189 --> 00:02:35.449 own rule book, basically. Yes, their constitution. 00:02:35.789 --> 00:02:38.530 It did not contain any legal mechanism to force 00:02:38.530 --> 00:02:41.550 an owner to sell. Wow. Or to kick an owner out 00:02:41.550 --> 00:02:44.189 of the league. So they were legally tethered 00:02:44.189 --> 00:02:46.080 to a man they couldn't stand. So they needed 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:48.180 a loophole. Like, if they couldn't vote him off 00:02:48.180 --> 00:02:50.120 the island, they had to sink the island themselves. 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:52.460 That's essentially it. They realized their only 00:02:52.460 --> 00:02:55.219 option was to quietly pack their bags and leave. 00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:58.159 Sneak out the back door. Literally. The other 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:00.680 owners held a series of secret meetings, deliberately 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:03.780 keeping Livingstone in the dark. Their plan was 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:07.400 to simply suspend the NAJ and form a brand new 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:10.080 league, the National Hockey League, without inviting 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:12.539 him. But they couldn't just cleanly shut down 00:03:12.539 --> 00:03:14.879 the old NHA, could they? I know there was some 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:18.759 serious legal baggage keeping that old league 00:03:18.759 --> 00:03:21.560 technically alive on paper. That is one of the 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:24.819 most bizarre details from hockey historian Maury 00:03:24.819 --> 00:03:28.180 Holzman's records. The NHA owners couldn't officially 00:03:28.180 --> 00:03:30.460 dissolve the corporation because they were facing 00:03:30.460 --> 00:03:34.759 a pending lawsuit from, of all things, a military 00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:38.729 regiment. Wait, the 228th Battalion? The 228th 00:03:38.729 --> 00:03:40.710 Battalion, yeah. A military battalion was suing 00:03:40.710 --> 00:03:43.030 a hockey league. I mean, how does that even happen? 00:03:43.129 --> 00:03:45.530 Well, the 228th Battalion had actually fielded 00:03:45.530 --> 00:03:48.110 a professional hockey team in the NHA during 00:03:48.110 --> 00:03:50.069 the previous syndrome. It was a recruitment tool. 00:03:50.169 --> 00:03:51.729 Oh, that makes sense. But midway through the 00:03:51.729 --> 00:03:53.889 schedule, they were abruptly ordered overseas 00:03:53.889 --> 00:03:56.330 to the trenches of World War I. Right in the 00:03:56.330 --> 00:03:58.250 middle of the season. Yeah, and their departure 00:03:58.250 --> 00:04:00.849 wreaked havoc on the NHA schedule, which led 00:04:00.849 --> 00:04:03.949 to disputes and eventually a lawsuit. So the 00:04:03.949 --> 00:04:06.120 NHA owners... Carified of the legal liability, 00:04:06.419 --> 00:04:09.319 simply voted to suspend operations of the NHA 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:11.620 for a year. So they put it on ice, literally. 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:14.759 Pretty much. They walked out of the room, went 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:16.879 down the street to the Windsor Hotel in Montreal, 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:20.560 and created the NHL. It's incredible. It wasn't 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:23.699 born from a grand visionary business plan. It 00:04:23.699 --> 00:04:27.480 was a temporary frantic band -aid to dodge Eddie 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:30.740 Livingstone and a military lawsuit. And my absolute 00:04:30.740 --> 00:04:33.180 favorite consequence of this frantic scramble 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:35.620 is what happened to Toronto. Because the new 00:04:35.620 --> 00:04:37.879 NHL still desperately wanted a team in Toronto. 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:40.240 They had to. They had to balance out their schedule 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:42.660 and maintain that crucial market. Right. So they 00:04:42.660 --> 00:04:45.019 created a temporary makeshift franchise operated 00:04:45.019 --> 00:04:48.180 by the Arena Gardens. They essentially commandeered 00:04:48.180 --> 00:04:50.620 Livingstone's players, arguing those players 00:04:50.620 --> 00:04:53.399 belonged to the league as a whole. Not him personally. 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:55.600 A very convenient argument. Super convenient. 00:04:55.740 --> 00:04:58.180 But because this entire operation was born out 00:04:58.180 --> 00:05:01.040 of pure spite and meant to be a temporary fix, 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:04.060 this new Toronto team played the entire first 00:05:04.060 --> 00:05:06.620 NHL season without an official nickname. They 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:09.879 were Toronto, just the city name. What's fascinating 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:13.339 here is that this duct taped makeshift solution, 00:05:13.660 --> 00:05:16.279 this administrative shell game played purely 00:05:16.279 --> 00:05:19.779 out of petty business rivalry. It became the 00:05:19.779 --> 00:05:21.779 permanent bedrock for one of the most successful 00:05:21.779 --> 00:05:24.379 sporting empires in human history. It really 00:05:24.379 --> 00:05:26.980 is. They built a multi -billion dollar institution 00:05:26.980 --> 00:05:29.740 by accident while trying to run away from a co 00:05:29.740 --> 00:05:32.629 -worker. It's unbelievable. But zooming out from 00:05:32.629 --> 00:05:34.550 the boardroom drama, we also have to consider 00:05:34.550 --> 00:05:36.490 what was happening in the rest of the world at 00:05:36.490 --> 00:05:39.949 this exact moment in late 1917. You have to remember 00:05:39.949 --> 00:05:43.550 the broader global reality. World War I was raging 00:05:43.550 --> 00:05:46.750 in Europe. Right. The conflict was taking a devastating 00:05:46.750 --> 00:05:50.449 toll on every aspect of Canadian society. And 00:05:50.449 --> 00:05:52.410 professional hockey was certainly not immune. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:55.420 The manpower drain was severe. Because everyone 00:05:55.420 --> 00:05:58.660 was enlisting. Exactly. One of the original teams 00:05:58.660 --> 00:06:01.699 slated to join this new NHL was the Quebec Bulldogs. 00:06:02.060 --> 00:06:04.360 But as the season approached, they found themselves 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:07.399 in an impossible position. So many of their players 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:09.600 had enlisted or been drafted into the armed forces 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:13.019 that they simply couldn't ice a competitive roster. 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:14.819 They tried to find a workaround, didn't they? 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:17.199 Some sort of merger. They attempted to merge 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:19.939 with a prominent local amateur team called the 00:06:19.939 --> 00:06:23.500 Sons of Ireland. The hope was to pull those players 00:06:23.500 --> 00:06:25.740 up to the professional ranks to fill the gaps. 00:06:25.860 --> 00:06:28.899 Did it work? No. The amateur players outright 00:06:28.899 --> 00:06:32.199 refused to turn pro. Without those reinforcements, 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:34.759 the Bulldogs had no choice but to completely 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:37.319 suspend operations before the season even started. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.300 Which meant the brand new NHL was suddenly down 00:06:40.300 --> 00:06:43.009 to just three active teams. You had Montreal 00:06:43.009 --> 00:06:45.689 Canadiens, the Montreal Wanderers, and the Ottawa 00:06:45.689 --> 00:06:49.129 Senators. Oh, and our nameless Toronto squad. 00:06:49.329 --> 00:06:51.290 So four. Sorry. A crew of teams, yes. And it 00:06:51.290 --> 00:06:54.250 meant there was a pool of stranded Quebec players 00:06:54.250 --> 00:06:56.850 who needed to be dispersed among those remaining 00:06:56.850 --> 00:06:59.870 teams. Which triggered a dispersal draft. And 00:06:59.870 --> 00:07:02.170 that quickly devolved into its own brand of front 00:07:02.170 --> 00:07:05.389 office chaos. Naturally. The Montreal Wanderers 00:07:05.389 --> 00:07:07.990 were up to pick. Now, available in this draft 00:07:07.990 --> 00:07:10.649 poll was Joe Malone. And obviously anyone looking 00:07:10.649 --> 00:07:12.750 at early hockey records knows Joe Malone was 00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:15.290 an absolute scoring machine, which makes the 00:07:15.290 --> 00:07:17.410 Wanderers' decision to pass on him even more 00:07:17.410 --> 00:07:20.129 baffling. What on earth were they thinking? It 00:07:20.129 --> 00:07:22.370 remains one of the great historical blunders 00:07:22.370 --> 00:07:25.629 of the era. The Wanderers decided to gamble. 00:07:26.129 --> 00:07:28.709 Instead of taking a proven superstar in Malone, 00:07:28.810 --> 00:07:32.620 they drafted the Clayhorn Brothers. Odie. and 00:07:32.620 --> 00:07:36.120 Sprague. Two to one. Right. On paper, securing 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:38.980 two high -level players with one pick might have 00:07:38.980 --> 00:07:42.220 seemed like a clever strategic maneuver. In reality, 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:44.939 it was a catastrophe. How quickly did that strategy 00:07:44.939 --> 00:07:48.240 fall apart? Almost immediately. Sprague Clayhorn 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:50.139 broke his leg before he could make an impact, 00:07:50.259 --> 00:07:52.959 completely sidelining him. Ouch. And his brother, 00:07:53.100 --> 00:07:55.759 Odie. He actually managed to secure an exemption 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:58.930 from the military draft. But the strict legal 00:07:58.930 --> 00:08:01.310 condition of that military exemption was that 00:08:01.310 --> 00:08:03.209 he was forbidden from playing professional hockey. 00:08:03.550 --> 00:08:06.170 You cannot make this up. So the Wanderers essentially 00:08:06.170 --> 00:08:08.589 burned their draft pick and got absolutely nothing 00:08:08.589 --> 00:08:11.370 in return. Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens 00:08:11.370 --> 00:08:14.509 gladly scooped up Joe Malone. I'm guessing the 00:08:14.509 --> 00:08:16.350 Wanderers owner didn't take that gracefully. 00:08:16.529 --> 00:08:18.709 Oh, Sam Lichtenheim, the owner of the Wanderers, 00:08:18.709 --> 00:08:21.250 he threw an apocalyptic tantrum. He threatened 00:08:21.250 --> 00:08:23.410 to completely fold his franchise on the spot 00:08:23.410 --> 00:08:25.709 unless the rest of the league compensated him 00:08:25.709 --> 00:08:28.009 by handing over all the remaining Quebec players. 00:08:28.269 --> 00:08:31.740 And let me guess, the other owners said no. They 00:08:31.740 --> 00:08:34.379 were entirely unsympathetic. George Kennedy, 00:08:34.580 --> 00:08:36.799 the owner of the Canadiens, pointedly reminded 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:38.940 Lichtenhein that he had the opportunity to draft 00:08:38.940 --> 00:08:42.220 Joe Malone and chose not to. Fair point. So with 00:08:42.220 --> 00:08:44.700 rosters cobbled together through sheer luck and 00:08:44.700 --> 00:08:47.259 spite, I have to imagine the actual product on 00:08:47.259 --> 00:08:50.360 the ice was unpredictable. Let's talk about opening 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:54.019 night. December 19, 1917. The very first games 00:08:54.019 --> 00:08:57.200 in NHL history featured two matchups. The Montreal 00:08:57.200 --> 00:08:59.480 Canadiens traveled to play the Ottawa Senators, 00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:02.899 securing a 7 -4 victory. And Joe Malone, the 00:09:02.899 --> 00:09:05.480 player the Wanderers explicitly passed on, scored 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:07.909 five of Montreal's seven goals that night. A 00:09:07.909 --> 00:09:10.529 tough pill for Sam Lichtenhein to swallow. Five 00:09:10.529 --> 00:09:13.750 goals. Meanwhile, back in Montreal, the Wanderers 00:09:13.750 --> 00:09:16.169 were hosting the nameless Toronto team. And the 00:09:16.169 --> 00:09:18.330 Wanderers managed to squeak out a win, but the 00:09:18.330 --> 00:09:21.590 final score was 10 -9. 10 -9. A 10 -9 final score 00:09:21.590 --> 00:09:23.610 implies defense was essentially optional that 00:09:23.610 --> 00:09:26.110 night. But beyond the wild scores, there's a 00:09:26.110 --> 00:09:28.169 massive historical blind spot regarding that 00:09:28.169 --> 00:09:30.649 first night, isn't there? There is, and it raises 00:09:30.649 --> 00:09:33.129 an important question about how history is recorded, 00:09:33.389 --> 00:09:36.009 especially in an era without instantaneous digital 00:09:36.009 --> 00:09:39.559 tracking. To this day, we actually do not know 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:42.019 who scored the very first goal in NHL history. 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:44.659 Which is crazy to think about. We know that Dave 00:09:44.659 --> 00:09:47.460 Ritchie of the Wanderers scored at the one -minute 00:09:47.460 --> 00:09:50.320 mark of his game in Montreal. We know Joe Malone 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:52.879 scored at the six -minute mark of his game in 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:55.480 Ottawa. So on paper, Ritchie's goal at the one 00:09:55.480 --> 00:09:57.039 -minute mark sounds like the obvious winner. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:09:59.480 What's the complication? The complication is 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:02.299 the real -world start times. The game in Montreal 00:10:02.299 --> 00:10:05.399 was scheduled for 8 .15 p .m. and historical 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:07.899 reports suggest it started relatively on time. 00:10:08.299 --> 00:10:11.259 But the game in Ottawa was scheduled for 8 .30pm. 00:10:11.580 --> 00:10:14.240 Ah, I see. Furthermore, accounts from the arena 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.679 indicate the Ottawa game was delayed just before 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:18.779 the puck dropped because of a sudden contract 00:10:18.779 --> 00:10:21.399 dispute. Wait, a contract dispute right as they're 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:24.250 about to play? Right at puck drop. Because historians 00:10:24.250 --> 00:10:26.809 only have the game clock times one minute versus 00:10:26.809 --> 00:10:29.409 six minutes and not the exact real world time 00:10:29.409 --> 00:10:32.269 the puck entered the net, it's entirely possible 00:10:32.269 --> 00:10:34.110 the Montreal game progressed fast enough that 00:10:34.110 --> 00:10:37.870 Richie scored first or the delay in Ottawa pushed 00:10:37.870 --> 00:10:40.110 Malone's goal later into the evening. A contract 00:10:40.110 --> 00:10:42.950 dispute literally erasing the answer to a trivia 00:10:42.950 --> 00:10:45.490 question a century later. You have to love the 00:10:45.490 --> 00:10:48.009 chaos. It's perfect. But despite winning that 00:10:48.009 --> 00:10:51.509 opening game 10 to 9. things were looking incredibly 00:10:51.509 --> 00:10:54.450 bleak for the Wanderers. Very bleak. They drew 00:10:54.450 --> 00:10:57.230 a meager crowd of only 700 fans for that inaugural 00:10:57.230 --> 00:10:59.850 game. And after that high -scoring victory, they 00:10:59.850 --> 00:11:01.909 proceeded to lose their next three games in a 00:11:01.909 --> 00:11:04.629 row. Not a great start. Lichtenhein was once 00:11:04.629 --> 00:11:06.190 again threatening to withdraw from the league, 00:11:06.350 --> 00:11:08.690 desperately trying to orchestrate trades with 00:11:08.690 --> 00:11:10.990 the rival Pacific Coast Hockey Association, or 00:11:10.990 --> 00:11:14.409 PCHA, just to keep his team relevant. And then 00:11:14.409 --> 00:11:16.529 the Univol stepped in and made the decision for 00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:19.610 him. On January 2nd, 1918, the Westmount Arena 00:11:19.610 --> 00:11:21.990 in Montreal, which served as the home rink for 00:11:21.990 --> 00:11:24.129 both the Wanderers and the Canadians, caught 00:11:24.129 --> 00:11:27.309 fire and burned entirely to the ground. A literal 00:11:27.309 --> 00:11:30.570 fire, forcing the league into its next existential 00:11:30.570 --> 00:11:34.210 crisis. The Canadians, having slightly deeper 00:11:34.210 --> 00:11:36.889 pockets and better management, were able to scramble 00:11:36.889 --> 00:11:39.350 and secure a lease at the smaller Jubilee rink. 00:11:39.789 --> 00:11:44.370 That held about 3 ,250 spectators. The Wanderers, 00:11:44.370 --> 00:11:47.210 however, were left completely homeless. They 00:11:47.210 --> 00:11:49.090 pleaded with the other owners for help, right? 00:11:49.289 --> 00:11:51.649 Hamilton actually offered them an arena to play 00:11:51.649 --> 00:11:54.389 in, but Lichtenheim demanded that the other teams 00:11:54.389 --> 00:11:56.789 donate players to him to make the relocation 00:11:56.789 --> 00:11:59.250 viable. And the other owners flatly refused. 00:11:59.970 --> 00:12:02.870 So on January 4, just a few weeks into the very 00:12:02.870 --> 00:12:05.629 first NHL season, the Montreal Wanderers simply 00:12:05.629 --> 00:12:08.100 folded. They threw in the towel. Here's where 00:12:08.100 --> 00:12:09.940 it gets really interesting. What did the league 00:12:09.940 --> 00:12:11.980 do about the rest of the Wanderers' schedule? 00:12:12.220 --> 00:12:14.299 The NHL administrators decided that the easiest 00:12:14.299 --> 00:12:17.039 solution was to simply count all of the Wanderers' 00:12:17.059 --> 00:12:19.820 scheduled future games as automatic wins for 00:12:19.820 --> 00:12:21.940 their opponents. Can you imagine the outrage 00:12:21.940 --> 00:12:23.940 if that happened today? You wake up, you check 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:25.899 the standings, and your team has jumped into 00:12:25.899 --> 00:12:27.879 first place simply because the team they were 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:29.700 supposed to play last night had their arena burned 00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:31.100 down, so you just get the points automatically. 00:12:31.539 --> 00:12:34.320 If we look at this analytically... It perfectly 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:36.799 highlights the sheer fragility of early professional 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:40.580 sports. Today, leagues have ironclad, billion 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:43.500 -dollar broadcast schedules, contingency plans, 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:47.200 competitive equity committees. In 1918, if a 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:50.639 building burned down, a founding franchise just 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:54.039 ceased to exist, and they handed out free points 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:56.559 to keep the math simple. So the league is down 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:59.100 to three teams. You've got the Canadians, Ottawa, 00:12:59.399 --> 00:13:02.950 and Toronto. How did the actual gameplay hold 00:13:02.950 --> 00:13:05.250 up under all this administrative chaos? Well, 00:13:05.330 --> 00:13:07.950 the game itself was evolving rapidly, often forcing 00:13:07.950 --> 00:13:10.090 the rulebook to play catch up. This brings us 00:13:10.090 --> 00:13:13.289 to January 9, 1918, and the very first major 00:13:13.289 --> 00:13:16.570 rule change in NHL history. Under the old NHA 00:13:16.570 --> 00:13:19.889 rules, which the NHL had wholesale adopted, goaltenders 00:13:19.889 --> 00:13:21.730 were strictly required to remain standing at 00:13:21.730 --> 00:13:23.950 all times. They could not drop to the ice to 00:13:23.950 --> 00:13:26.700 smother a puck or make a save. But Ottawa's goalie 00:13:26.700 --> 00:13:29.220 Clint Benedict found a highly suspicious workaround. 00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:31.379 He would just so happen to lose his balance and 00:13:31.379 --> 00:13:33.639 accidentally fall to his knees right as a slap 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:35.840 shot was coming toward him, using his body to 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:37.700 block the net. Just a coincidence, I'm sure. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:40.159 Oh, I'm sure it was very clumsy of him. It was 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:43.620 a brilliant, if flagrant, exploitation of the 00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:46.639 rule. He did it so frequently and so obviously 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:49.500 that the league brass finally had to intervene. 00:13:49.820 --> 00:13:52.100 They couldn't ignore it anymore. Exactly. But 00:13:52.100 --> 00:13:54.240 rather than instituting harsher penalties for 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:57.600 his clumsiness, lead president Frank Calder realized 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.279 Benedict's method was actually the natural evolution 00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:03.080 of the position. The league officially changed 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:05.240 the rule to allow goalies to drop to the ice. 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:08.779 Calder famously declared, as far as I'm concerned, 00:14:08.940 --> 00:14:10.659 they can stand on their heads. And just like 00:14:10.659 --> 00:14:13.039 that, the foundational concept of the butterfly 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.580 style of goaltending is born. But while the goalies 00:14:16.580 --> 00:14:18.700 were innovating, the skaters were taking out 00:14:18.700 --> 00:14:21.389 their frustrations on each other. Tell me about 00:14:21.389 --> 00:14:24.610 January 28. Was the league actually able to enforce 00:14:24.610 --> 00:14:27.730 any discipline with the players? Discipline was 00:14:27.730 --> 00:14:30.230 a highly localized, sometimes chaotic affair. 00:14:30.429 --> 00:14:33.830 On January 28, the Montreal Canadiens were visiting 00:14:33.830 --> 00:14:36.549 Toronto. During the course of the game, Toronto's 00:14:36.549 --> 00:14:38.950 Alf Skinner and Montreal's Joe Hall got into 00:14:38.950 --> 00:14:41.450 a violently aggressive altercation. It was a 00:14:41.450 --> 00:14:44.429 full -blown stick -swinging duel. They were wielding 00:14:44.429 --> 00:14:47.629 their hockey sticks like broadswords. Now, in 00:14:47.629 --> 00:14:50.409 the modern era, that gets you a major penalty, 00:14:50.649 --> 00:14:53.309 an immediate ejection, and a lengthy suspension 00:14:53.309 --> 00:14:56.250 from the Department of Player Safety. In 1918, 00:14:56.690 --> 00:14:59.529 the local Toronto police walked right out onto 00:14:59.529 --> 00:15:02.210 the ice and arrested both players for disorderly 00:15:02.210 --> 00:15:04.929 conduct in front of the crowd. It's a stark reminder 00:15:04.929 --> 00:15:08.009 of how raw the sport was. They were hauled off 00:15:08.009 --> 00:15:10.649 mid -game. The league issued them both match 00:15:10.649 --> 00:15:14.549 penalties and a $15 fine. But the legal system 00:15:14.549 --> 00:15:16.539 took over from there. They actually received 00:15:16.539 --> 00:15:18.620 suspended sentences from the local courts for 00:15:18.620 --> 00:15:20.519 their actions on the ice. But it wasn't just 00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:22.539 physical violence that challenged the league's 00:15:22.539 --> 00:15:25.480 authority. It was also the players' sheer insolence. 00:15:26.039 --> 00:15:28.480 We have to talk about Ken Randall and his pennies. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:30.620 Oh, yes. Randall played for Toronto and had been 00:15:30.620 --> 00:15:32.580 suspended by the league, pending the payment 00:15:32.580 --> 00:15:36.740 of $35 in accumulated fines. And $35 was a considerable 00:15:36.740 --> 00:15:40.360 sum of money for a player at that time. Randall 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:42.639 clearly felt the fine was unjust and decided 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:45.220 to make his displeasure known. He shows up to 00:15:45.220 --> 00:15:47.340 the arena to pay his fine just before a game 00:15:47.340 --> 00:15:50.679 against Ottawa. He hands over $32 in paper bills 00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:53.159 and then slaps down a bag containing exactly 00:15:53.159 --> 00:15:56.600 300 pennies. The league officials, understandably, 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.779 refused to accept a bag of loose copper as official 00:15:59.779 --> 00:16:02.769 payment. So Randall, completely furious, takes 00:16:02.769 --> 00:16:06.090 the bag and violently dumps all 300 pennies right 00:16:06.090 --> 00:16:09.309 onto the ice surface just before puck drop. An 00:16:09.309 --> 00:16:12.269 Ottawa player skating by sees the pile, takes 00:16:12.269 --> 00:16:14.809 his stick, and just sweeps the pennies, scattering 00:16:14.809 --> 00:16:17.850 them all across the rink. Thus causing a massive, 00:16:17.970 --> 00:16:21.009 agonizing delay of game. The officials and the 00:16:21.009 --> 00:16:22.610 players had to skate around the ice surface, 00:16:22.730 --> 00:16:25.070 meticulously picking up spare change so that 00:16:25.070 --> 00:16:27.370 no one would catch an edge on a penny and break 00:16:27.370 --> 00:16:30.360 an ankle. It is a level of petty defiance that 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:32.620 is truly remarkable. It's incredible. So through 00:16:32.620 --> 00:16:35.179 all this, teams folding, arenas burning to the 00:16:35.179 --> 00:16:37.440 ground, goalies inventing new styles by falling 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:39.399 over, and players getting arrested or scattering 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:41.379 change, they actually managed to finish the regular 00:16:41.379 --> 00:16:44.159 season. They did. And because they had carried 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:46.820 over the NHA's structural rules, the season was 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:49.600 played in two distinct halves. Montreal won the 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:51.980 first half of the schedule and Toronto rallied 00:16:51.980 --> 00:16:54.240 to win the second half. OK. This meant the two 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:57.159 franchises had to face off in a two game total 00:16:57.159 --> 00:17:00.039 goal series to determine the ultimate NHL champion. 00:17:00.139 --> 00:17:03.139 The sources note it was an incredibly brutal 00:17:03.139 --> 00:17:06.319 series featuring massive brawls, specifically 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:09.619 involving Montreal's New Zealand and Toronto's 00:17:09.619 --> 00:17:12.680 Burt Corbio. But Toronto manages to survive, 00:17:13.059 --> 00:17:15.380 winning the series with an aggregate score of 00:17:15.380 --> 00:17:18.240 10 -7 over the two games. However, winning the 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:20.900 NHL championship was only the first step. To 00:17:20.900 --> 00:17:24.019 claim the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup, Toronto 00:17:24.019 --> 00:17:26.660 now had to face the champions of the rival league 00:17:26.660 --> 00:17:28.700 out west of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:32.289 or PCHA. It's essentially the World Series of 00:17:32.289 --> 00:17:35.170 early hockey. The NHL champion against the PCHA 00:17:35.170 --> 00:17:37.690 champion. The Vancouver Millionaires made the 00:17:37.690 --> 00:17:40.109 grueling train journey east to play Toronto at 00:17:40.109 --> 00:17:42.650 the Arena Gardens. But here is the massive catch 00:17:42.650 --> 00:17:44.910 these two professional leagues played by entirely 00:17:44.910 --> 00:17:47.190 different sets of rules. This is a concept that 00:17:47.190 --> 00:17:49.470 is truly bizarre by today's sporting standards. 00:17:50.210 --> 00:17:53.069 The NHL played with six men on the ice per team, 00:17:53.170 --> 00:17:55.829 which is the standard we know today. But the 00:17:55.829 --> 00:17:58.490 PCHA still played the older style of hockey, 00:17:58.609 --> 00:18:01.210 which featured seven men on the ice. They utilized 00:18:01.210 --> 00:18:04.529 an extra position known as a rover. How does 00:18:04.529 --> 00:18:07.130 one extra player change the game that much? The 00:18:07.130 --> 00:18:08.930 rover didn't have a fixed defensive or offensive 00:18:08.930 --> 00:18:12.309 zone. They freely roamed the ice. Having a seventh 00:18:12.309 --> 00:18:14.650 man entirely changes the geometry of the rink. 00:18:14.849 --> 00:18:17.289 Suddenly, the neutral zone is heavily clogged. 00:18:17.670 --> 00:18:20.130 Passing lanes that exist in a six -man game completely 00:18:20.130 --> 00:18:23.230 disappear in a seven -man game. The physical 00:18:23.230 --> 00:18:25.950 toll and the required strategy are entirely different. 00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:27.950 So how do you play a definitive championship 00:18:27.950 --> 00:18:30.430 series between two leagues with fundamentally 00:18:30.430 --> 00:18:33.009 different rules? You alternate. The game simply 00:18:33.009 --> 00:18:35.329 alternated between the PCHA's seven -man rules 00:18:35.329 --> 00:18:38.509 and the NHL's six -man rules. I cannot imagine 00:18:38.509 --> 00:18:40.630 the physiological and mental toll that took on 00:18:40.630 --> 00:18:43.150 the players having to entirely switch their tactical 00:18:43.150 --> 00:18:45.490 mindset every other night. It heavily favored 00:18:45.490 --> 00:18:48.650 the home league's adaptations. Toronto won all 00:18:48.650 --> 00:18:50.990 three games played under their familiar NHL six 00:18:50.990 --> 00:18:54.140 -man rules. Vancouver won both games played under 00:18:54.140 --> 00:18:57.380 the PCHA's seven -man rules. But because it was 00:18:57.380 --> 00:18:59.920 a best -of -five series, the math favored Toronto. 00:19:00.460 --> 00:19:03.460 They clinched the series 3 -2, with Corbett Dennedy 00:19:03.460 --> 00:19:06.240 scoring the decisive goal. Earning the nameless 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:08.359 Toronto franchise the team built out of spare 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:11.019 parts to spite Eddie Livingstone, the very first 00:19:11.019 --> 00:19:14.269 Stanley Cup awarded to an NHL team. And we can't 00:19:14.269 --> 00:19:16.069 close out the books on the season without mentioning 00:19:16.069 --> 00:19:18.630 Joe Malone's final statistics. Remember, he's 00:19:18.630 --> 00:19:21.150 the superstar the Wanderers inexplicably passed 00:19:21.150 --> 00:19:23.309 on in the dispersal draft. Right. He finished 00:19:23.309 --> 00:19:26.289 that 20 game season with 44 goals, 44 goals in 00:19:26.289 --> 00:19:29.089 20 games. It's an absolutely untouchable scoring 00:19:29.089 --> 00:19:31.609 pace that perfectly encapsulates the wild defense 00:19:31.609 --> 00:19:34.289 optional nature of that first year. If we connect 00:19:34.289 --> 00:19:36.829 this to the bigger picture. The story of the 00:19:36.829 --> 00:19:40.210 1917 -18 NHL season is a vital reminder that 00:19:40.210 --> 00:19:42.690 the sleek, highly professional, perfectly branded 00:19:42.690 --> 00:19:44.990 institutions we interact with today almost never 00:19:44.990 --> 00:19:47.269 started out that way. They usually have chaotic, 00:19:47.349 --> 00:19:50.130 makeshift, deeply flawed origins. Institutional 00:19:50.130 --> 00:19:52.849 success is very often just about surviving the 00:19:52.849 --> 00:19:55.309 early fires, literally, in the case of the Westmount 00:19:55.309 --> 00:19:58.450 Arena, and metaphorically. This nascent league 00:19:58.450 --> 00:20:01.750 survived a massive global war, a suspended constitution, 00:20:02.089 --> 00:20:04.369 and owners who were constantly at each other's 00:20:04.369 --> 00:20:06.720 throats. simply because they refused to quit. 00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:09.299 So what does this all mean? It means the NHL, 00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:12.059 as we know it, survived out of sheer, unadulterated 00:20:12.059 --> 00:20:15.319 stubbornness. It survived petty spite, literal 00:20:15.319 --> 00:20:18.579 infernos, the manpower drain of global conflict, 00:20:18.819 --> 00:20:22.200 mid -game police interventions, and bizarre alternating 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:24.980 rule books to finally crown its first champion. 00:20:25.140 --> 00:20:27.630 It's quite a legacy. It really is. And I want 00:20:27.630 --> 00:20:29.789 to leave you with a final thought to ponder as 00:20:29.789 --> 00:20:32.230 we wrap up this deep dive. If Eddie Livingstone 00:20:32.230 --> 00:20:35.470 hadn't been so intensely universally disliked 00:20:35.470 --> 00:20:38.809 by his peers, the NHL might never have been created 00:20:38.809 --> 00:20:42.069 as a legal loophole to bypass him. That specific 00:20:42.069 --> 00:20:44.329 flavor of interpersonal annoyance birthed the 00:20:44.329 --> 00:20:47.029 cultural and economic juggernaut. It really begs 00:20:47.029 --> 00:20:50.049 the question, what other massive multi -billion 00:20:50.049 --> 00:20:52.150 dollar institutions in our modern world only 00:20:52.150 --> 00:20:54.869 exist today because of petty office politics? 00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:56.980 about that the next time you're stuck in a meeting 00:20:56.980 --> 00:20:58.960 with a co -worker you can't stand. You never 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:00.599 know what kind of empire you might accidentally 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:02.160 build just trying to get away from them.