Seattle Metropolitans

Seattle Metropolitans Stanley Cup winning team in 1917. Top row: Harry Holmes, Bobby Rowe, Eddie Carpenter, Jack Walker; Middle: Frank Foyston, Pete Muldoon, mgr.; Bottom: Bernie Morris, Cully Wilson, Roy Rickey, Jim Riley.

Seattle won the 1917 championship by defeating the National Hockey Association's Montreal Canadiens three games to one by a combined score of 23–11. The heavily favored Canadiens trounced the Metropolitans in Game One despite only arriving in Seattle that morning [6]. The Mets would storm back to win Games Two, Three, and Four, outscoring Montreal 19-3. Fourteen of Seattle's goals were scored by Bernie Morris (including six in game four alone).[7] Games one and three were played under PCHA rules, i.e., seven players per side, forward passing in the neutral zone, and no substitution for penalized players. Games two and four were played under NHA rules, i.e., six players per side, no forward passing, substitutions allowed.[7]

After winning the 1917 Stanley Cup the Metropolitans also played in the Stanley Cup finals in 1919 (which was cancelled due to the Spanish flu pandemic after five games, with the series tied 2-2-1) and 1920, when they lost to the Ottawa Senators.[7]

The day the 1919 playoffs began, star center Bernie Morris was arrested and jailed at Fort Lewis for draft evasion, despite being a Canadian citizen. Without their best scorer, the Mets still annihilated the Vancouver Millionaires in the PCHA championship series and jumped out to a 2-1 lead through Game Three of the Stanley Cup Final, outscoring Montreal 16-6 as Seattle's best player, Frank Foyston, scored eight goals. Game Four of the 1919 Stanley Cup Final is regarded as perhaps the greatest game ever played, resulting in a scoreless tie after two overtime periods with players collapsing on the ice from exhaustion at the final whistle. The Mets' Cully Wilson netted the lone puck on the night only to have it waved off by referee Mickey Ion who decided time had expired a split second before the goal. The Mets jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third period of Game Five before exhaustion consumed the short-handed Mets. Montreal scored three goals in the final period to tie the game and force a second consecutive overtime match. With Frank Foyston injured in the period and Jack Walker out with a broken skate, Cully Wilson collapsed on the ice as the Canadiens scored the game winner to send the series to an unprecedented sixth game. The next morning, the Spanish flu pandemic ravishing the globe struck the two teams, ultimately killing Montreal's Joe Hall and hospitalizing four other Canadiens. Without the ability to field a team, Montreal offered to forfeit the Cup though the offer was declined by Frank Patrick and Pete Muldoon who felt championships should be won on the ice.

During the 1920 Stanley Cup finals, the Ottawa Senators would don solid white Jerseys[8] to avoid confusion with Seattle's barber pole style of green, red and white (Ottawa traditionally wore black red and white pole style jerseys).[7] Game Four and Five of the series was subsequently relocated from Ottawa to Toronto's mutual artificial ice surface at Toronto's Mutual Street Arena due to poor ice conditions.[8]

The PCHA consisted of four teams for the 1915-16 and 1916-17 seasons, while operating under only three teams from 1917-18 until its final season in 1923-1924. From 1922-23, games against the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) counted in the PCHA standings. This allowed Seattle to have a losing record yet still win the league regular season championship in 1924. After the season, the owners of the newly built Olympic Hotel told the University that they needed the Seattle Ice Arena as a parking garage. The UW bought out the final year on the team's lease, sending the franchise's leadership scrambling to secure funding to build a new arena. When it became apparent they would not succeed, the Metropolitans folded with the core of the team joining Victoria. Vancouver and Victoria joined the WCHL for the 1924-1925 season with the Portland franchise playing the final western season of 1925-26.

Metropolitans inspired jerseys with the Seattle Jr. Totems

On December 5, 2015, the Seattle Thunderbirds held a special "Seattle Metropolitans Night" to celebrate 100 years of Seattle hockey. During the game, the team wore replicas of the original Metropolitans jersey and temporarily changed the team name to the Seattle Metropolitans. The final score was a 3–2 Metropolitans win over the Tri-City Americans. The Seattle Jr. Totems of the Western States Hockey League named November 15–17, 2019, as "Seattle Hockey History Weekend" wearing Metropolitans' colored uniforms during games.