Claire Thompson versus Sarah Wozniewicz. Source.

We join the 2025-26 PWHL season already in progress. The Vancouver Goldeneyes visit the Ottawa Charge. The two are seventh and eighth in the league with 12 points each.

This is the league’s third season, as well as Ottawa’s. In Year One they finished fifth and missed the playoffs. Last year they finished third and reached the playoff finals, but fell to Minnesota in a series that went to overtime in every game.

There has been a lot of turnover in the Ottawa squad. This year’s team has fourteen players in common with last year’s, and only five in common with Year One’s: Clark, Hughes, Isbell, Jenner and Mrázová. The Goldeneyes have four players from last year’s Ottawa squad: Bell, Maschmeyer, Schneider and Vanišová.

Rebecca Leslie is the only Ottawa Charge player who is actually from Ottawa.

Ottawa’s top scorer is Brianne Jenner with 10 points; Vancouver’s is Claire Thompson with 7.

The City of Ottawa and Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, who own the CFL team and the Ottawa 67s, have cut a deal to rebuild the Lansdowne Park* north stand with a 5,850 capacity hockey rink inside. The Charge were out of this decision-making loop, but the PWHL brass have stated that the club will not play in a smaller rink than the one they have now. Whether that means relocating to the Palladium* in Kanata or to a big stadium in another city like Quebec remains to be seen. (*Rely on me to use the old names for things.)

The Goldeneyes play at the Pacific Coliseum, built in 1968 and the Canucks’ home until 1995. It seats 16,000.

[Ottawa 4, Vancouver 2.]

The Leafs visited the Ottawa Auditorium on this date in 1931. They were third in the Canadian Division with 21 points. The Senators were fifth (i.e., last) with 11.

1930-31 was the last season that the Leafs had the Mutual Street Arena as their home rink. They moved into Maple Leaf Gardens in November 1931. The Mutual Street Arena was built in 1912 and seated 7,500. After the Leafs moved out it continued as a multi-use venue and was not demolished until 1989. The Leafs played under the name Toronto Arenas in the 1918-19 season.

The Leafs’ roster was heavy on Ontario talent, with fourteen Ontarians, two Americans, and one each from Quebec and Manitoba. Charlie Conacher, Busher Jackson, Red Horner, Bob Gracie and Alex Levinsky had all played for the Toronto Marlboros. Ace Bailey and Joe Primeau were former Toronto St Mary’s players. Harold Cotton and Babe Dye had played for Toronto Aura Lee.

Conacher, Jackson, Bailey, Primeau, Horner, Dye, Hap Day and King Clancy all went on to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

King Clancy had played nine seasons for the Senators when he was traded to Toronto in 1930. He was a Leaf for seven seasons before moving up to coach the team. You may remember him as Harold Ballard’s sidekick in the 1980s. He played for St Brigid’s in his early days in the Ottawa City League.

The Leafs’ Rolly Huard appeared in only one NHL game, on December 13th, 1930, against Boston, but he scored a goal. He had played for the University of Ottawa and the Montagnards in the Ottawa City League.

First period: goal by Baldy Cotton (Toronto).

Second period: goals by Hec Kilrea (Ottawa), Danny Cox (Ottawa) and Busher Jackson (Toronto).

Third period: no scoring.

Overtime: no scoring. In those days the NHL had regular season overtime in the event of a tie, but if no one scored the tie stood.

Final score: Ottawa 2, Toronto 2.

Montreal Senior Group:
Game 15, December 22: McGill 0 – 1 Canadiens
Game 16, December 22: Montreal AAA 3 – 2 Victorias
Game 17, December 29: Montreal AAA 3 – 1 Canadiens
Game 18, December 29: Victorias 4 – 1 Columbus
Game 19, January 5: Victorias 0 – 3 McGill
Game 20, January 5: Montreal AAA 1 – 1 Columbus

Sparta Prague. Source.

It’s the Spengler Cup, the annual invitational tournament hosted by HC Davos in Switzerland and played from Boxing Day till New Year’s Eve. Six teams take part; this year they are host Davos, Team Canada, US College Selects, Sparta Prague, HIFK and Fribourg-Gottéron. The teams are divided into two groups, each group plays a round robin and the standings from the round robin determine the playoff positions. The games are:

Group Torriani:
Match 1 (December 26) Fribourg-Gottéron [5 – 2] Sparta Prague
Match 3 (December 27) HIFK [1 – 4] [Sparta Prague]
Match 5 (December 28) [Fribourg-Gottéron] [4 – 3] HIFK

Group Cattini:
Match 2 (December 26) Team Canada [3 – 2] US Selects
Match 4 (December 27) Davos [3 – 5] [US Selects]
Match 6 (December 28) [Team Canada] [1 – 4] Davos

Quarter-finals:
Match 7 (December 29) [Sparta Prague] [5 – 1] [Team Canada]
Match 8 (December 29) [Davos] [3 – 0] [HIFK]

Semi-finals:
Match 9 (December 30) [US Selects] [5 – 3] [Sparta Prague]
Match 10 (December 30) [Fribourg-Gottéron] [1 – 3] [Davos]

Final:
Match 11 (December 31) winner [US Selects] [3 – 6] [Davos]

The Spengler Cup was first played in 1923, which would make this the 103rd edition, except that there were six years when it wasn’t played due to war or some other thing, making this the 97th edition.

Despite being host club, HC Davos have not played in every Spengler Cup, but they have won the tournament 16 times. They are currently in first place in the Swiss National League by a wide margin.

Team Canada first attended the tournament in 1984 and have won it 16 times. The squad is made up chiefly of Canadians playing in the Swiss league or the AHL.

The US College Selects appear for the first time. But it’s not the first time university players have participated. Oxford University won the inaugural Spengler Cup in 1923.

Sparta Prague have been to the Spengler Cup ten times before and have won it twice. They are currently second in the Czech Extraliga.

Fribourg-Gottéron play in the Swiss National League. They won the Spengler Cup last year. They are presently second in the NL.

HIFK from Helsinki have been to the Spengler Cup four times before. Currently they’re 13th in the Finnish Liiga.

It’s the 93rd All Japan Ice Hockey Championship. Twelve teams participate: four from Asia League Ice Hockey, four from the regional leagues, and four university teams. The ALIH teams are Red Eagles Hokkaido, Tohoku Free Blades, Yokohama Grits and Tochigi Nikko Ice Bucks. The regional league teams are Dynax, Nippon Steel Muroran, Tomakomai City Hall and Kushiro Koseisha. The university teams represent Chuo, Meiji, Toyo and Kwansei Gakuin. The ALIH teams get a bye through the first round.

Missing from the tournament is Stars Kobe, the newest ALIH club. They went professional in 2024 but date themselves back to 1994 as the Konan University club. They’re currently dead last in the ALIH. The sixth ALIH club, HL Anyang, is South Korean.

All games are at the Big Hat in Nagano.

The games:
December 18:
Match No. 1: Meiji University [5 – 4] Tomakomai City Hall
Match No. 2: Dynax [1 – 6] Toyo University
Match No. 3: Kushiro Koseisha [6 – 4] Chuo University
Match No. 4: Nippon Steel Muroran [7 – 3] Kwansei Gakuin University
December 19:
Match No. 5: [Meiji University] [1 – 11] Yokohama Grits
Match No. 6: Tochigi Nikko Ice Bucks [6 – 1] [Toyo University}
Match No. 7: [Kushiro Koseisha] [1 – 9] Red Eagles Hokkaido
Match No. 8: Tohoku Free Blades [7 – 3] [Nippon Steel Muroran]
December 20:
Match No. 9: [Tochigi Nikko Ice Bucks] [6 – 3] [Yokohama Grits]
Match No. 10: [Tohoku Free Blades] [1 – 2] [Red Eagles Hokkaido]
December 21:
Match No. 11: [Yokohama Grits] [1 – 2] [Tohoku Free Blades] (3rd-place game)
Match No. 12: [Tochigi Nikko Ice Bucks] [3 – 4] [Red Eagles Hokkaido]

[The 80th Korean Ice Hockey Championship was held December 20th to 23rd. These are the results as best as I can discover:
Kwangwoon University W – L KW Udire
Yonsei University W – L Kwangwoon University
HL Anyang 7 – 5 Korea University
HL Anyang 4 – 2 Yonsei University]

Chicago Stadium was immense by 1930 standards, seating 16,000.

The Ottawa Senators visited the Chicago Black Hawks on this date in 1930. Coming into this game the Black Hawks were first in the American Division with 15 points. The Senators were last in the Canadian Division with 9.

The Black Hawks joined the NHL in 1926, stocked in part by former Portland Rosebuds players. By 1930 the only Rosebud left was Duke Dukowski. Between moving out of the old Chicago Coliseum and into the Stadium in 1929 the Black Hawks played five home games at the Peace Bridge Arena in Fort Erie. That was the home rink of the IHL’s Buffalo Bisons from 1928 until the storm of March 17th, 1936, when it collapsed under the weight of snow.

Most of the Black Hawks were Westerners. Taffy Abel, Stew Adams, Helge Bostrom and Vic Ripley were former Minneapolis Millers. Rosario Couture, Charlie Gardiner, Johnny Gottselig and Art Somers were former Winnipeg Maroons. None of the Black Hawks had played for Ottawa. None of the Senators had played for Chicago.

First period: goals by Gottselig (Chicago), Touhey (Ottawa), Ingram (Chicago).

Second period: goals by Touhey and Ingram.

Third period: goal by Ty Arbour (Chicago).

Final score: Chicago 4, Ottawa 2.

Montreal Senior Group:
Game 13, December 15: McGill 1 – 1 Montreal AAA
Game 14, December 15: Canadiens 0 – 1 Columbus

The Ottawa Senators visited the New York Rangers on this date in 1930.

Founded in 1926, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in their second year and were finalists in their third, losing to Boston. Their general manger Lester Patrick had been co-owner of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. He enabled the NHL’s 1920s expansion into the US by selling the entire Portland and Victoria rosters to Chicago and Detroit.

The 1930-31 Rangers had fifteen Canadians on their roster, plus two Americans, a guy born in Scotland and another born in Poland. The two Americans were Cecil Dillon from Toledo and Frank Peters from Rouses Point on the New York/Quebec border. Like the Senators, Quakers and Montreal Maroons, most of the Rangers came from Ontario.

1930-31 Rangers who had previously played in the PCHA or the Western Canadian Hockey League were: Bill and Bun Cook of the Saskatoon Crescents; Frank Boucher of the Vancouver Maroons; and Ernie Kenny of the Edmonton Eskimos.

Frank Boucher was a former Senator and had played for Ottawa Munitions and New Edinburgh in the Ottawa City League. Frank Finnigan was the only Senator (apart from the QSHL ones) who lived to see the 1993 Senators play.

First period: goals by Bill Cook (Rangers) and Frank Finnigan (Senators).

Second period: goal by Art Gagne (Ottawa).

Third period: goals by Bun Cook (Rangers) and Frank Boucher (Rangers).

Final Score: Rangers 3 – 2 Senators.

Montreal Senior Group:
Game 5, November 24: Canadiens 2 – 1 Victorias
Game 6, November 24: Columbus 1 – 2 McGill
Game 7, November 27: AAA 0 – 1 McGill
Game 8, November 27: Columbus 0 – 1 Victorias
Game 9, December 1: Columbus 1 – 2 AAA
Game 10, December 1: Canadiens 1 – 2 McGill
Game 11, December 8: McGill 0 – 2 Columbus
Game 12, December 8: Victorias 0 – 0 Canadiens

Tex White. Source.

The Senators visited the Quakers at the Philadelphia Arena. The Quakers themselves were new to the place, having just relocated from Pittsburgh where they had played five seasons as the Pirates.

The Ottawa Citizen (March 4, 1931, p. 11) referred to the Quakers as “the second Ottawa team”. The Quakers’ Harold Darragh, Syd Howe, Wally Kilrea, Gerry Lowrey, Ren Manners, Al Shields and Rodger Smith had all played in the Ottawa City Hockey League, Darragh, Howe and Smith for the Gunners, Kilrea, Manners and Shields for the Montagnards, and Lowrey for the University of Ottawa.

Syd Howe had started out at Glebe Collegiate, then moved up to the Gunners. In 1929-30 he played for the Senators and the IHL ‘s London Panthers. After the Quakers folded the Leafs picked him up but sent him to the IHL Syracuse Stars. He was back with the Senators for their final two seasons and accompanied them to St Louis when the became the Eagles. After they folded the Red Wings took him on, and Detroit is where he made his name. He played twelve seasons with them and won three Stanley Cups. His last stop was with the Ottawa Senators of the QSHL in 1946-47.

Scoring:

First period: no scoring.

Second period: goals by Hec Kilrea (Ottawa) and Harold Starr (Ottawa).

Third period: goals by Cliff Barton (Philadelphia) and James Jarvis (Philadelphia).

Final score: 2 – 2.

Montreal Senior Group:

Game 3, November 17: McGill 2 – 0 Victorias

Game 4, November 17: Canadiens 1 – 3 Montreal AAA

Willie O’Ree became the NHL’s first Black player on January 18th, 1958 when he suited up for the Boston Bruins in a game against the Montreal Canadiens. By 1959-60 he was a Kingston Frontenac in the EPHL. But during the 1960 offseason he was transferred from Kingston to the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens, though still a Bruins property. On November 13th, 1960 the Frontenacs visited Hull-Ottawa at the Hull Arena.

First period: goals by Maxwell (Kingston) and O’Ree (Hull-Ottawa);

Second period: goals by O’Ree (Hull-Ottawa) and Locas (Hull-Ottawa);

Third period: goal by Panagabko (Kingston).

Final score: Hull-Ottawa 3 – 2 Kingston

O’Ree’s performance must have impressed the suits because on November 19th he was back up with the Boston Bruins.

Past and future Bruins on the 1960-61 Frontenacs team were Dick Meissner, Carl Boone, Don Blackburn, Orval Tessier, Tommy Williams, coach Harry Sinden, Real Chevrefils, Lorne Ferguson, Gerry Ouellette, Barry Ashbee, Charlie Burns, Ted Green, Jeannot Gilbert, Floyd Hillman, Ed Westfall, Harry Lumley and John Henderson. The Frontenacs’ home rink was the Kingston Memorial Centre on York Street, built in 1950 and still standing.

Willie O’Ree entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 and recently celebrated his 90th birthday.

The Montreal Maroons and Ottawa Senators opened their 1930-31 seasons with a game at the Ottawa Auditorium, at the intersection of O’Connor and Argyle Streets. The Aud had been built in 1923 to replace Dey’s Arena over beside the Rideau Canal, and it retained a peculiarity of the older rink: semi-circular end boards. Most hockey rinks are playing-card shaped, a rectangle with rounded corners. But the Aud had no flat surfaces behind the goal, making it “a bitch to play defence in” as one old guy told me.

Of the Senators’ sixteen players, nine were from Ottawa itself and two more were from the Ottawa Valley. Ten had played in the Ottawa City Hockey League, which was at the time one of the NHL’s major sources of talent. Bill Beveridge had played for the Shamrocks and the New Edinburghs; Connell for the Cliffsides, St Brigid’s and Gunners; Connor, Grosvenor and Kilrea for the Rideaus; Finnigan for the Montagnards; Kinsella for the Shamrocks and Rideaus; Alex Smith for the Gunners and Rideaus; Starr for the Gunners, St Brigid’s and Shamrocks; and Touhey for the St Brigid’s, Gunners and Montagnards.

Though many Ottawa Senators have gone into the Hockey Hall of Fame, none of them were on the 1930-31 team.

The 1930-31 Maroons squad had fifteen players from Ontario and only three from Quebec. This was Anglophone Montreal’s club; the Habs were for the Francophone fans. Eight Maroons had played in the Montreal City Hockey League: Brydson, Gallagher and Haynes for the Montreal AAA; Roche and Wilcox for the Victorias; Huggins and Kerr for the CPR and AAA; and Boucher for La Casquette. Nels Stewart, Babe Seibert and Hooley Smith are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. For a complete history of the Maroons see William Brown’s The Montreal Maroons: The Forgotten Stanley Cup Champions.

First period: goal by Hec Kilrea (Ottawa).

Second period: goal by Danny Cox (Ottawa).

Third period: no scoring. Three major penalties.

Final Score: Senators 2 – 0 Maroons.

Let’s follow the 1930-31 Montreal Senior Group, which begins play this week. There are five teams: Columbus, Canadiens, Victorias, AAA, and McGill. A double bill is played each Monday night at the Forum:

Game 1, November 13: Columbus 2 – 1 Canadiens
Game 2, November 13: Victorias 1 – 2 AAA