1924–25 Hamilton Tigers season

1924–25 Hamilton Tigers
Division	1st NHL
1924–25 record	19–10–1
Goals for	90
Goals against	60
Team information
General manager	Percy Thompson
Coach	Jimmy Gardner
Captain	Shorty Green
Team leaders
Goals	Billy Burch (20)
Assists	Red Green (19)
Points	Red Green (34)
Wins	Jake Forbes (19)
Goals against average	Jake Forbes (1.96)

The 1924–25 Hamilton Tigers season was the last season of the Tigers. The club won the regular season but did not play in the playoffs as the players went on strike for increased pay. NHL president Frank Calder suspended the team. In the off-season, the assets of the Tigers were sold to form the new New York Americans expansion team.

Off-season

The league added two new expansion teams, the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Maroons.

Regular Season

A 1924-25 Tigers jersey.

The Tigers would change their jerseys four times in the five seasons they spent in the NHL. For their fifth and last season, their jerseys were nearly the same as the previous season. Thin horizontal black and gold stripes were on the arms and but the stripes on the lower body of the jersey was replaced with a large, black stripe, bordered with a thin gold and black stripe. The stylized "H" with "Tigers" written across the horizontal bar of the letter remained as the logo. The black and gold thin striped socks and white pants remained unchanged.

With yet another new head coach, Jimmy Gardner, the Hamilton Tigers roared off to an impressive 10–4–1 start in the 1924–25 NHL season. Only halfway through the season, they had more wins than any other season in their NHL history. The team slumped somewhat in the second half of the season but still managed to finish first overall with a record of 19 wins, 10 losses, and 1 tie, just ahead of the Toronto St. Pats. It looked like the franchise would have a chance at winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since winning it as the Quebec Bulldogs over a decade prior in 1913.

Shorty Green was the Tigers captain who led the strike. He'd be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963.

But it was not to be. During the rail travel back to Hamilton after the season's final game, the Tigers' players went to their general manager, Percy Thompson, and demanded $200 pay for the six extra games they played that season or they would not play in the playoffs. The NHL had increased the number of games played that year from 24 to 30, but the players didn't receive an increase in pay. The Tigers management, stating that the players' contracts stated that the players were under contract from December 1 to March 30, regardless of the number of games, refused to pay the money and passed the issue to the NHL. Thus began the first players' strike in NHL history.

NHL President Frank Calder warned the players that if they sat out the final, they would be suspended and replaced in the final by fourth-place Ottawa Senators. At the same time, Calder ordered that the players' back-pay be held. The impasse continued while second-place Toronto and third-place Montreal played their semi-final, ending with Montreal winning on March 13. On March 14, after consulting with Tigers management, Calder declared the Canadiens league champions and fined the Tigers' players $200.

The Hamilton franchise was officially revoked at the September 22, 1924 league meeting and the matter of the players' suspensions and fines dropped. Bill Dwyer bought the rights to the Tigers' players who were transferred to the expansion New York Americans. The last active Tigers players was Billy Burch who retired in 1933.

Final Standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Hamilton Tigers	30	19	10	1	90	60	39
Toronto St. Patricks	30	19	11	0	90	84	38
Montreal Canadiens	30	17	11	2	93	56	36
Ottawa Senators	30	17	12	1	83	66	35
Montreal Maroons	30	9	19	2	45	65	20
Boston Bruins	30	6	24	0	49	119	12

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Game Log

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	November 29, 1924	5–3	Ottawa Senators (1924–25)	1–0–0
2	W	December 3, 1924	2–0	@ Montreal Maroons (1924–25)	2–0–0
3	W	December 5, 1924	10–3	@ Toronto St. Patricks (1924–25)	3–0–0
4	W	December 10, 1924	7–1	Boston Bruins (1924–25)	4–0–0
5	L	December 13, 1924	2–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (1924–25)	4–1–0
6	T	December 17, 1924	0–0 OT	@ Ottawa Senators (1924–25)	4–1–1
7	W	December 20, 1924	3–1	Montreal Maroons (1924–25)	5–1–1
8	W	December 25, 1924	8–1	Toronto St. Patricks (1924–25)	6–1–1
9	W	December 29, 1924	2–1	@ Boston Bruins (1924–25)	7–1–1
10	W	January 1, 1925	4–2	Montreal Canadiens (1924–25)	8–1–1
11	L	January 3, 1925	0–2	@ Ottawa Senators (1924–25)	8–2–1
12	L	January 7, 1925	2–6	Montreal Maroons (1924–25)	8–3–1
13	L	January 10, 1925	1–3	@ Toronto St. Patricks (1924–25)	8–4–1
14	W	January 12, 1925	4–2	@ Boston Bruins (1924–25)	9–4–1
15	W	January 17, 1925	4–2	Montreal Canadiens (1924–25)	10–4–1
16	W	January 21, 1925	5–4	Ottawa Senators (1924–25)	11–4–1
17	W	January 24, 1925	1–0	@ Montreal Maroons (1924–25)	12–4–1
18	W	January 28, 1925	4–0	Toronto St. Patricks (1924–25)	13–4–1
19	W	January 31, 1925	8–3	Boston Bruins (1924–25)	14–4–1
20	W	February 4, 1925	3–0	@ Montreal Canadiens (1924–25)	15–4–1
21	L	February 7, 1925	2–3	@ Ottawa Senators (1924–25)	15–5–1
22	W	February 11, 1925	3–2	Montreal Maroons (1924–25)	16–5–1
23	L	February 14, 1925	1–3	@ Toronto St. Patricks (1924–25)	16–6–1
24	W	February 17, 1925	2–1	@ Boston Bruins (1924–25)	17–6–1
25	L	February 21, 1925	1–2	Montreal Canadiens (1924–25)	17–7–1
26	W	February 25, 1925	2–0	Ottawa Senators (1924–25)	18–7–1
27	L	February 28, 1925	0–1	@ Montreal Maroons (1924–25)	18–8–1
28	W	March 4, 1925	3–2	Toronto St. Patricks (1924–25)	19–8–1
29	L	March 7, 1925	0–2	Boston Bruins (1924–25)	19–9–1
30	L	March 9, 1925	1–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1924–25)	19–10–1

Playoffs

No playoff games were played as the players went on strike.

Player Stats

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM Green, RedRed Green LW 30 19 15 34 81 Burch, BillyBilly Burch C/LW 27 20 7 27 10 Green, ShortyShorty Green RW 28 18 9 27 63 Randall, KenKen Randall RW/D 30 8 10 18 52 McKinnon, AlexAlex McKinnon RW 29 8 3 11 47 Roach, MickeyMickey Roach C 30 6 4 10 8 Langlois, CharlieCharlie Langlois RW/D 30 6 3 9 47 Bouchard, EdmondEdmond Bouchard LW/D 24 2 2 4 14 Spring, JesseJesse Spring D 29 2 1 3 11 Cotch, CharlieCharlie Cotch LW 7 1 0 1 0 Prodgers, GoldieGoldie Prodgers F/D 1 0 0 0 0 Forbes, JakeJake Forbes G 30 0 0 0 2
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Forbes, JakeJake Forbes 1833 30 19 10 1 60 1.96 6 Spring, JesseJesse Spring 2 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 0 Team: 1835 30 19 10 1 60 1.96 6

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Awards and Records

• Hart Trophy: Billy Burch

See Also

• 1924–25 NHL season