Toronto Maple Leafs: The First Game of Christmas

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Our tale begins nearly a century ago, as the plucky St. Patricks take on the veteran Montreal Canadiens at Arena Gardens in what would become the first NHL game of Christmas.

It was 1920, and a rough time for hockey in Toronto. The Arenas only existed on a temporary basis, loaning players out from Eddie Livingstone’s Blueshirts. They won their Stanley Cup with talent that didn’t belong to them and got greedy. They forced their way into the NHL, praying that Eddie would move aside and let them keep his best players.

It didn’t work. Livingstone wasn’t having it, and his litigation prevented the Arenas from keeping any of their core. They limped through the rest of their years as shadows of their past selves until there was no money left. Their last hope was the amateur St. Patricks club in Toronto, who, in association with Charlie Querrie, bought the team.

The St. Pats were nothing less than underwhelming. They retained what was left of a struggling Arenas team that hardly had a right to be there. This was not the sort of season that a team on the verge of a second bankruptcy would consider ideal.

For their first game of the new season, they were welcomed back via a 6-3 beatdown at the hands of the Senators in Ottawa. They headed out of the frying pan of the unhelpfully named ‘The Arena,’ and into the fire of a hungry Montreal Canadiens team.

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As what became tradition, the Canadiens were what the St. Patricks were not. Only four years ago, they had won a real Stanley Cup. We’re not talking about a team of stolen loanees; this was a team with management and legitimacy.

They signed players with talent to contracts, and they won games with them. As our dear reporter from the 1920 Canadian Press pointed out, they were on the verge of signing Canadian sports legend, Lionel Conacher.

From their Stanley Cup-winning team, the Canadiens still featured Newsy Lalonde, who was one of the greatest players in these early stages of our sport. In goal was none other than Georges Vezina, whose name has, of course, been immortalized in the trophy that is now awarded to the best goaltender in the world. His performance in the upcoming game was lauded universally.

Beyond the obvious, though, both the report in the Globe and the Montreal Gazette emphasized one thing: The Pats didn’t look like a hockey team. No one in this ragtag bunch weighed more than 180 pounds. Reg Noble, Babe Dye, and Cully Wilson stood at 5-foot-8, and Mikey Roach weighed just 158 pounds at 5-foot-6.

This point is exaggerated since people just weren’t as tall then. That much is true. The Canadiens, though, sported big Harry Mummery, who clocked in at 220 pounds and would undoubtedly have been a firm presence in front of the already formidable Vezina.

If anything favored the ‘Irishmen’ though, perhaps it was their condition. If they were nothing else, they could at least work hard for every inch of ice. They were in good shape and ready to play. The Canadiens had returned rusty from a lazy offseason and had held only three team practices thus far. Their disappointing season opener saw them battered 5-0 in Hamilton.

This was made even more important by the way rosters were constructed at the time. Not only did teams not change on the fly, but they didn’t really have ‘Shifts’ per se. Teams usually carried two substitutes who could switch out when someone on the team really, truly needed a breather.

Unfortunately for the Pats, recently signed Rod Smylie was out with a knee injury. This left Roach as their sole substitute who, according to the Globe, was still relegated to support duty and played very little. If players seem gassed after 30-second shifts today, imagine what it was like to play for whole periods at a time.

Here at the modest Arena Gardens, 4,000 fans spent their Christmas night watching this strange sport. Those on the ice put their bodies on the line until they were completely spent. The fastest player on the ice, Didier Pitre, pulled out of the game early on account of exhaustion.

A note on Christmas

Speaking of which, of course, it was December 25th! With a few exceptions, the NHL made something of a tradition of their Christmas games. Until 1971, when disgruntled players and staff who understandably wanted to spend time with their families put a stop to it, this game proved just how magical this atmosphere could be.

In a lot of these “On this day” sort of throwbacks, people get more out of nostalgia than the event itself. We like reading about things we lived through and remembering our feelings at the time. The problem is, none of you were at that game in 1920. Using my free trial and library card to access the newspaper archives, let’s try to recreate that atmosphere.

The best part about these clippings is this sincere complete lack of cynicism in every story. Page 13 of the Globe’s Christmas edition worries that people might feel guilty over their own happiness at Christmas time, with so many folks in poverty. Not to worry, though, everything is well accounted for!

“When (the prosperous citizen) sits down to a festive board, groaning with good things, need not have his happiness marred by thoughts that less fortunate neighbors are going hungry. Under the perfect system, which now exists for the administration of relief, every deserving case has been well provided for by one or other of the numerous societies who handle the relief. Baskets containing meat, vegetables, bread, plum puddings, nuts, and jam have gone out to all homes known to be in need.”

The winter of 1920 was apparently a relatively mild one. Although there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of meteorological data from Toronto at the time, reports suggest that it was a chilly, but not an exactly cold day, probably similar to our own Christmases to come. There were some flurries in by the lake on Christmas Eve, with temperatures around zero.

What stuck out more than anything, though, were these countless feel-good stories. Extensive reporting on a little girl’s Christmas party, a thorough description of Christmas services in Kitchener, and Mayor Thomas Church’s assurance that despite mass unemployment, everything would turn out just fine.

This hockey game, of course, turned out to be one of those feel-good stories. They seem silly when we look at them, but these floods of happy stories and careful reviews of the game last night really demonstrate the importance of distractions and entertainment in difficult times. They were just as relevant 100 years ago.

(Photo by Topical Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) /

The first game

And so, the game started. Canadiens defensemen Mummery and Corbeau were out for blood early on. They weighed more than 400 pounds together and had no trouble establishing a physical edge over the Pats’ small, zippy forwards.

At first, the difference in condition was not so apparent. Forwards Lalonde, Berlanquette, and Pitre were willing to match their rival’s quickness and energy. They exhibited impressive chemistry as they rapidly moved the puck between one another when given the opportunity.

When the Pats did manage to break through their formidable opponents, goaltender Georges Vezina was always there to make the save. His athleticism and vision were praised even in the Globe, who were generally critical of his team’s performance on the night.

By all accounts, the Canadiens were the much better team in the first period. The Irishmen’s bet that they could tire their rivals with fancy skating seemed progressively more naive as the game went on. Eight minutes into the period, Lalonde was battling for the puck along the boards. Referees were seemingly much more lax about scrums at the time, as this reportedly went on for several minutes.

Frustrated, he came off for substitute Amos Arbour, who fished the puck out immediately and took a shot on goal. Goaltender Ivan Mitchell stopped the shot, but speedy Didier Pitre managed to bat the puck into the net for the first goal of the game.

10 minutes later, the Canadiens were back at it. Newsy Lalonde’s diverse skillset was what really separated him at the time. He was 32 years old in this game and physically quite small. Nevertheless, he maneuvered his way into the zone and sniped another one past Mitchell, on a shot that had the goaltender flying the other way. Things were looking less than stellar for the Pats. After their disappointing start in Ottawa, they were now down 2-0 on their home opener. Their fans were being treated to a real Christmas farce.

Luckily, Harry Cameron had different plans. He had a reputation himself as a real scoring threat and is today considered one of the first true puck-carrying defensemen. On the next shift, he took matters into his own hands and stickhandled all the way to front of the net. In what was described as the best individual effort of the night, he rifled a shot that finally beat a seemingly impenetrable Vezina. 2-1 Montreal.

In what had been a nearly dominant period for the visitors, Cameron acted as the team’s saving grace. His goal was what prevented the game from getting out of hand. The Pats didn’t appear much improved going into the second period, however.

The Canadiens were hard at work and hoped to run up the score to the greatest extent possible before their lack of condition took its toll. 8 minutes in, Didier Pitre performed his signature dash up the wing and scored his second of the game.

Truthfully, though, the signs had already been showing. Montreal maintained their two goal lead, but there was simply no way they could sustain this pressure and this speed. St. Pats Cully Wilson and Ken Randall seemed to find their stride.

First, Wilson partnered with center Reg Noble on a lovely give-and-go play. Their energy at this stage of the game was impressive, as they skated circles around the flying Frenchmen. The former tipped a shot past Vezina at the edge of the crease, and the lead was down to one.

When Randall duplicated his effort not five minutes later, it was clear that the tide was shifting. When the 33-year-old Randall showed off his playmaking abilities later in the period, even substitute, Mikey Roach got a lick in, as he was able to slide the puck past Vezina near the goalpost.

The Canadiens had simply tired too quickly and headed into the third period down 4-3. Their capabilities perhaps eclipsed those of their rivals, but the game finally seemed beyond their reach. Besides, the Pats had some of their own talents to throw around.

Defenseman Babe Dye would go on to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. At this point in his career, though, he was not much more than a promising up-and-comer who had performed impressively at lower levels. He had scored two goals against the Canadiens 3 days ago, where he played a single game on loan to the Hamilton Tigers. He didn’t exhibit the physical prowess of Mummery or Corbeau, but he might have been one of the most precise shooters of all time.

He frequently scored goals from behind the red line. From close range, his shots could be so precise and unexpected that he would celebrate his goal before the goaltender or even the referee realized the puck was in the net.

Seven minutes into the period, the puck trickled out of a mix-up and right onto his stick. Dye made no mistake and scored the home team’s fourth unanswered goal. Corbeau managed to steal one back for Montreal, but it was too little too late. Though the visitors seemed somewhat rejuvenated for the final ten minutes of play, Pitre and Mummery were forced to leave the ice early from exhaustion and a potential injury.

At long last, this entertaining Christmas spectacle had come to a close. The St. Pats escaped with a narrow 5-4 victory to capture their first win of the season. Despite this, the Canadian Press was quite critical of their performance. They were a speedy bunch but rarely made the most of their chances and were too content to shoot from poor positions.

Nevertheless, this Christmas game gave the team the chance to find a new beginning. They began to really separate themselves from the Arenas’ mediocrity, and went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1922.

Put good money on Igor Shesterkin winning the Calder Trophy in 2020-21. dark. Next

Though they had played as the St. Patricks the season prior, this game debuted a distinct style. A small, but well-conditioned and quick team, defensemen who could help on the rush, and a variety of other pieces to fill the mold. You might say that this group is not so different than the Leafs of today.

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