1934-35 MSHL Season

This is the 1934-35 season of the Maritime Senior Hockey League.

Maritime Mercantile Hockey League
This season, the league started out as a mercantile league - professional in other words. The teams raided other teams, mostly in Ontario and Quebec, for players.

The league knew that the players that they were signing would not be eligible for the Allan Cup playoffs. The teams felt that they could play the season with these players, making a lot of money, and then drop them in the Allan Cup playoffs.

In late December, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) stepped in hard. It threatened to suspend all the players and the four teams unless the strict amateur rules were followed.

The St John Beavers had seven ineligible players out of a roster of eleven and stood firm. The other teams had fewer so they caved in to the CAHA. St John stayed out and tried to form a New Brunswick Mercantile League. They formed another team in Saint John from players from the other teams that were ineligible to play in the senior league.

The other three teams formed a brand new league in January.

These are the final standings of the Maritimes Mercantile Hockey League:

The Halifax Wolverines changed their name on Nov. 28. British Consols was the name of a popular cigarette of the time.

Back to the Maritime Senior League
On Jan. 7,1935 the new league started play with three teams. On Jan 17 the Moncton Hawks withdrew to join the St John Beavers in the mercantile league. They did agree to play a game in Charlottetown the next day before leaving for good.

The league with the Beavers was unsuccessful and the Hawks folded on Feb 4.

Standings
These are the final standings of the Maritime Senior Hockey League:

League Final
Best of 5

With only two teams left, Charlottetown and Halifax played the league final.

Halifax Wolverines beat Charlottetown Abegweits 3 games to 1 (2 ties did not count).

Halifax Wolverines advanced to the 1934-35 Maritimes Senior Playoffs.

Afterword
The Halifax Wolverines went on to win the Allan Cup. But as expected they and Charlottetown and the league folded soon after.

By winning the Allan Cup the Wolverines qualified to represent Canada at the 1936 Olympics. Because the team had folded, the Port Arthur Bearcats took over the lead with some of the Wolverines players joining in.

It was alleged (never confirmed) that the Wolverines asked for money to relace lost wages while they played in the Olympics. Since this would have disqualified them from the Olympics because of strict amateur rules, the Wolverines were dropped from the Olympic team. They were replaced by players from the Montreal Royals.