History of the National Hockey League (1917–1942)
The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in 1917 following the demise of its predecessor league, the National Hockey Association (NHA). In an effort to remove Eddie Livingstone as owner of the Toronto Blueshirts, a majority of the NHA franchises suspended the NHA and formed the new NHL. The Quebec Bulldogs, while a member, did not operate in the NHL for the first two years. Instead the owners of the Toronto Arena Gardens operated a new Toronto franchise. While the NHL was intended as a temporary measure, the continuing dispute with Livingstone led to the four NHA owners meeting and making the suspension of the NHA permanent one year later.
Ottawa Hockey Club, "Silver Seven", with the Stanley Cup in 1905
The Ottawa Senators, pictured in 1914–15, became a charter member of the National Hockey League
New York Rangers coach Lester Patrick was forced to play goal in the 1928 Stanley Cup Finals.
Participants of the Ace Bailey benefit game
George Kennedy (sports promoter)
George Washington Kendall, known professionally as George Kennedy, was a Canadian sports promoter best known as the owner of the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team from 1910 to 1921. Kennedy was a wrestler himself and after the end of his wrestling career turned to wrestling promotion. Kendall along with other investors, formed the Club Athletique Canadien, and promoted wrestling, boxing, hockey and other sports. He would contract the Spanish flu during the pandemic of the late 1910s and never fully recovered from it, causing him to eventually succumb to complications from the illness in 1921, after the pandemic ended.
Kendall (on the left) with Belgian wrestler Constant Le Marin around 1913.
Kendall as a wrestler around 1903