1922-23 NHL season

The 1922-23 NHL season was the sixth season of the National Hockey League. Four teams played 24 games each. The Ottawa Senators defeated the Montreal Canadiens for the NHL championship, and then defeated Vancouver and Edmonton to win the Stanley Cup.

League Business

This was the last season for the O'Brien Trophy before its temporary retirement in favour of the Prince of Wales Trophy which would be introduced the following season. The O'Brien Trophy, though, would come back for the 1927-28 NHL season.

Regular Season

Jake Forbes sports the Tigers 1922-23 jersey.

At the start of the season, Newsy Lalonde found himself moving west as the Montreal Canadiens traded him to the Saskatoon Sheiks of the Western Canada Hockey League for a rising young star named Aurel Joliat. Joliat would help the Habs win the second playoff spot over the St. Patricks.

Joliat scored two goals in his first game with the Canadiens, but Babe Dye had five goals in the Toronto St. Patricks' 7-2 win.

On January 31, 1923, the Montreal Canadiens and Hamilton Tigers played the first penalty-free game in NHL history, a 5-4 Montreal victory.

On February 17, 1923, Cy Denneny of Ottawa scored his 143rd goal, surpassing Joe Malone as the all-time goal-scoring leader as the Ottawa Senators shut out the Montreal Canadiens 2-0.

Final Standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Ottawa Senators	24	14	9	1	29	77	54
Montreal Canadiens	24	13	9	2	28	73	61
Toronto St. Patricks	24	13	10	1	27	82	88
Hamilton Tigers	24	6	18	0	12	81	100

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

Scoring Leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Babe Dye	Toronto St. Patricks	22	26	11	37
Cy Denneny	Ottawa Senators	24	23	11	34
Billy Boucher	Montreal Canadiens	24	24	7	31
Jack Adams	Toronto St. Patricks	23	19	9	28
Mickey Roach	Hamilton Tigers	24	17	10	27
Odie Cleghorn	Montreal Canadiens	24	19	6	25
George Boucher	Ottawa Senators	24	14	9	23
Reg Noble	Toronto St. Patricks	24	12	11	23
Cully Wilson	Hamilton Tigers	23	16	5	21
Aurel Joliat	Montreal Canadiens	24	12	9	21

Leading Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shut outs; AVG = Goals against average

Player	Team	GP	MINS	GA	SO	AVG
Clint Benedict	Ottawa Senators	24	1486	54	4	2.18
Georges Vezina	Montreal Canadiens	24	1488	61	2	2.46
John Ross Roach	Toronto St. Patricks	24	1469	88	1	3.59
Jake Forbes	Hamilton Tigers	24	1470	110	0	4.49

Stanley Cup Playoffs

This was the second year in which the Stanley Cup playoffs involved three leagues. The previous year saw all three second place teams win their respective leagues. This year, it was all the first place teams. The NHL total goals playoffs for the O'Brien Trophy were won by the Ottawa Senators 3 goals to 2, despite the dirty play of several Montreal Canadiens players. The Pacific Coast Hockey Association abandoned its seven-man hockey in favour of the six-man rules used in the NHL and the Western Canada Hockey League. This allowed the PCHA and the WCHL to play interleague games. Despite playing interleague games, the two separate leagues kept their own standings. The newly renamed Vancouver Maroons won the PCHA championship and the Edmonton Eskimos won the WCHL championship.

NHL Championship

All dates are in 1923

Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators

Date	Team	Score	Team	Score	Notes
March 7	Montreal Canadiens	0	Ottawa Senators	2
March 9	Ottawa Senators	1	Montreal Canadiens	2

Ottawa wins total goals series 3 goals to 2

Finals

The Stanley Cup Finals this season were played out west, in Vancouver. There, the WCHL champions received the privilege of battling the winner between Ottawa and Vancouver. In the end, Ottawa prevailed over both Western opponents to win their eighth Stanley Cup (third as a member of the NHL). Injuries had thinned the Senators line-up, and after seeing the gritty show put on by the undermanned Senators, Vancouver head coach Frank Patrick called them the greatest team he had ever seen.

Ottawa Senators vs. Vancouver Maroons

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 16	Ottawa Senators	1	Vancouver Maroons	0
March 19	Ottawa Senators	1	Vancouver Maroons	4
March 23	Ottawa Senators	3	Vancouver Maroons	2
March 26	Ottawa Senators	5	Vancouver Maroons	1

Ottawa wins best-of-five series 3 games to 1

Ottawa Senators vs. Edmonton Eskimos

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 29	Ottawa Senators	2	Edmonton Eskimos	1	(OT)
March 31	Ottawa Senators	1	Edmonton Eskimos	0

Ottawa wins best-of-three series 2 games to 0 for the Stanley Cup

NHL Playoff Scoring Leader

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Punch Broadbent	Ottawa Senators	8	6	1	7

NHL Awards

O'Brien Trophy: Ottawa Senators

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1922-23 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Billy Burch, Hamilton Tigers
• Aurel Joliat, Montreal Canadiens
• Lionel Hitchman, Ottawa Senators

Last Games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1922-23 (listed with their last team):

• Didier Pitre, Montreal Canadiens
• Eddie Gerard, Ottawa Senators
• Harry Cameron, Toronto St. Patricks

Gallery

1922-23 Ottawa Senators

1922-23 Montreal Canadiens

See Also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• Pacific Coast Hockey Association
• Western Canada Hockey League
• List of pre-NHL seasons

References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com