Pittsburgh Pirates (WPHL)

This article is about the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League team. For the National Hockey League team, please see Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL).

The Pittsburgh Pirates was a hockey club, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that became members of the the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League for the 1908 WPHL season. When the WPHL was revived in 1907, the only two original teams to return to the league after operations were suspended in 1904 were the Pittsburgh PAC and the Pittsburgh Bankers. Two new teams were needed to get the league back to its original number of four teams. One of the teams to enter the league in 1907 was the Pittsburgh Lyceum, and the other was the Pirates. The Pirates entered the league with loaded with professional players like Dunc Taylor, Ed Robitaille, Ray Robinson, Harry McRobie, Edgar Dey, Charlie Mason and goaltender Jim MacKay.

After the 1902 season, the WPHL became the first league to openly hire hockey players. Many of the athletes in the WPHL were Canadians who were drawn to Pittsburgh because of the Duquesne Gardens which was one of the few arenas in North America that had an artificial ice rink. To their credit, the Pirates might have been the first team to trade professional hockey players. According to the deal, the Pittsburgh Pirates sent Jim MacKay, Edgar Dey and Dunc Taylor to the Pittsburgh Bankers for Josephy Donnelly, Cliff Bennest and a player named McGuire on January 28, 1908. The Pirates played only one year in the WPHL. They ended their only season with a record of 5 wins, 10 losses, and 2 ties.