Eddie Livingstone Edward James Livingstone ( September 12 1884 – September 11 , 1945 ) was a Canadian sports team owner and manager . He was the principal owner of the Toronto Shamrocks and the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association , where his battles with his fellow owners led them to create the National Hockey League . Early years . Livingstone was born in Toronto , Ontario as the youngest of three children . He played junior and intermediate hockey with Toronto St Georges , before becoming an Ontario Hockey Association referee . He also covered hockey for the Toronto Mail and Empire , often reporting on the games he refereed . Livingstone became manager of hockey and football at the Toronto Rugby and Athletic Association Toronto R & AA . The club , formed after a split from the Toronto Amateur Athletic Club , competed in the Ontario Hockey Association and won the John Ross Robertson Trophy as senior hockey champions of Ontario in 1913 and 1914 . National Hockey Association . His success in amateur hockey prompted Livingstone to make the jump to the professional game by buying the struggling Toronto Ontarios of the National Hockey Association . During the 1914 - 15 season , the Ontarios traded in their orange sweaters for green and were renamed the Toronto Shamrocks . The team skated to a record of 7 wins and 13 losses , an improvement of three games over the 1913 - 14 campaign . During the 1914 - 15 season , on February 3 , 1915 , Sammy Lichtenhein ' s Montreal Wanderers were awarded a game by forfeit over the Shamrocks . The Shamrocks had told the league that they couldn ' t put a full team on the ice without George McNamara and Howard McNamara , who were at the bedside of their ill father . Livingstone asked for a postponement , but Lichteinhein refused and the league ruled the game forfeited . In a gesture of sportsmanship , Lichtenhein then made an offer to reschedule the game and play the Shamrocks on March 6 , 1915 . Shortly after , with the Wanderers and Ottawa in a tight two - way race for the league championship , Livingstone demanded that Lichtenhein follow through on his offer to play the forfeited game . Lichteinhein was incensed and threatened to have Livingstone thrown out of the NHA . The Wanderers and Ottawa ended the season tied for first place . The NHA executive met on March 4 and decided to recognize the forfeit and not order the Wanderers to play the Shamrocks ( the Wanderers were told to pay the Shamrocks $ 300 — the amount they saved by not having to travel to Toronto in February ) . Instead , a two - game , total - goals series was scheduled between Montreal and Ottawa to determine the champion . The league also rejected Lichteinhein ' s request to have Livingstone expelled from the NHA . Livingstone and Lichtenhein would continue to feud for years . At one meeting during the 1916 - 17 campaign , Lichtenhein grew so infuriated that he offered Livingstone $ 3 , 000 to abandon his team . Livingstone countered with a $ 5 , 000 bid for Lichtenhein to shut down his Wanderers . Before the 1915 - 16 season , Frank Robinson sold the Toronto Blueshirts — the NHA ' s other Toronto franchise — to Livingstone . The NHA didn ' t want one owner to have two clubs in the league , and Livingstone said that he would sell the Shamrocks . But Frank Patrick and Lester Patrick of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association , who had accused the NHA of reneging on an agreement with their league , raided the Blueshirts and signed away most of the team ' s players . To fill the holes in his lineup , Livingstone transferred Shamrocks players to the Blueshirts , but that left him with little to sell in the Shamrocks . When he hadn ' t sold the team by the November 20 , 1915 deadline set by the league , the NHA seized the franchise and kept it dormant for the season . Before the season began , Livingstone argued with the owners of Arena Gardens over the terms for the use of their facility and threatened to move his team to Boston . The NHA said that it would not allow the move . The 1916 - 17 campaign was a stormy one for the NHA . Canada intensified its contribution to World War I , and a number of pro and amateur hockey players volunteered for military service . The 228th ( Northern Fusiliers ) Battalion , CEF of the Canadian infantry formed a team in the NHA , taking the place of the suspended Toronto Shamrocks franchise and sharing Arena Gardens with the Blueshirts . Meanwhile , Livingstone lost several of his Blueshirts to the war effort : Harry Cameron , George McNamara , Howard McNamara , and Percy LeSueur . Keats had also joined the 228th , and Livingstone protested to the league about the loss of his star player . The two clubs eventually reached an agreement where Keats was returned to the Blueshirts in exchange for the right to use LeSueur . Another of Livingstone ' s stars , Cy Denneny , had found full - time employment with the government in Ottawa and told the team that they could either trade him to Ottawa or he would sit out the season . Livingstone said that he wouldn ' t accept anyone but Frank Nighbor in a trade , or Ottawa could buy Denneny for $ 1 , 800 — more than double the NHA record for a player sale . He then suspended Denneny in November for refusing to report . Livingstone also offered to take goaltender Clint Benedict for Denneny , but that offer was also rejected by Ottawa . Late in January 1917 , it seemed that Livingstone had traded Denneny to the Montreal Wanderers for goaltender Billy Hague — Denneny even signed an agreement with Montreal — but Livingstone backed out of the deal with his nemesis Sammy Lichtenhein . Livingstone ultimately capitulated and sold Denneny to Ottawa , but not before raising the ire of Tommy Gorman in Ottawa and Lichteinhein in Montreal . Expulsion from N . H . A . On February 8 , 1917 , the 228th Battalion got its orders to proceed overseas and withdrew its teams from the OHA and the NHA , Three days later , NHA owners — at a meeting that did not include Livingstone — voted to suspend the Blueshirts franchise to keep the number of teams in the league even . Toronto players were put in a lottery and claimed by other teams , although they were to be returned to Toronto when the franchise was reinstated . Livingstone filed suit against the league and the other owners , and applied for a court injunction to prevent them from moving the remaining teams out of the league . In October 1917 , Quebec Bulldogs manager Mike Quinn told the " Quebec Telegraph " that the Toronto club had been given three weeks to separate itself from Livingstone with the threat that the other owners would operate without Toronto if the club didn ' t comply . There was no response by the deadline . At its annual meeting in November 1917 , the NHA announced that it was suspending operations because of the difficulties in running a five - team league and the player shortages introduced by conscription in Canada during the off - season . About a week later , all of the owners other than Livingstone announced that they had formed a new league , the National Hockey League . Livingstone was shut out of the new league , but the NHL retained the contracts of the Toronto franchise players . Arena Gardens was awarded a temporary NHL franchise for Toronto and was assigned Livingstone ' s players for the NHL ' s inaugural 1917 - 18 season on an undetermined ' lease ' basis . The club would have a successful season , and would win the Stanley Cup . The company did not pay for the players and Livingstone filed suit for the revenue earned with the players , now inflated by the Cup success . As a result of the court action , a new club was formed - the Toronto Arenas in October 1918 for the 1918 - 19 season , to continue using the temporary franchise , albeit now owned by the Arena ' s treasurer , Hubert Vearncombe . The club continued to use Livingstone ' s players . In 1918 , Livingstone and Percy Quinn attempted to force the NHA to restart by forcing a shareholder ' s meeting , where he hoped that the minority position of the Brunswick Company in the Montreal Canadiens would disallow their vote and swing the vote his way . The NHA owners shot down the plan at what would be the final meeting of the NHA owners in December 1918 , voting instead to permanently suspend the NHA , although the organization could fold while it had legal actions pending against the Canadian military . In December 1919 , the NHL sold a new ' permanent ' Toronto franchise to the St . Patrick ' s Hockey Club of Toronto , ending the Arena Hockey Club . The Toronto St . Patricks , while partly owned by one of the Arena Company ' s executives , Charlie Querrie , was beyond the legal reach of Livingstone . Legal Battles with the Arena . Having been cast aside by his former business associates , Livingstone spent the next several years in court , in a bid to be compensated for the loss of his franchise and his players . In February 1918 , the courts ruled that the NHA and its owners had not acted improperly in suspending operations of Livingstone ' s Toronto Hockey Club . The decision was appealed and upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada on November 19 , 1919 . The Toronto Arenas , meanwhile , refused to return Livingstone ' s players to him for the 1918 - 19 season , and this resulted in another lawsuit being filed , this one against Arena Gardens , its president Charles Querrie , and Hubert Vearncombe the auditor of the Gardens who took over ownership of the Arenas in 1918 . Arena Gardens argued that Livingstone didn ' t own the NHL rights to the players and couldn ' t have suffered any damages . The court ruled in Livingstone ' s favour in January 1920 and awarded $ 20 , 000 in damages back - dated to April 1918 but the issue wasn ' t settled . Before the end of the year , under the weight of the judgment against it , Arena Gardens went into receivership . In October 1923 , a ruling was made that Arena Gardens had abused its position as a trustee of the assets of the Toronto Hockey Club — its player contracts — and finding damages of $ 100 , 000 in favour of Livingstone . That still wasn ' t the end , as the damages were later reduced to $ 10 , 000 and that decision was also appealed — all the way to the privy council , which dismissed the appeal in July 1926 . Attempts to launch rival leagues . When the rights to his players reverted to him in 1918 , Livingstone announced plans to launch the Canadian Hockey Association as a rival to the NHL . The league would include the former NHA team from Quebec , now owned by Percy Quinn , the founding president of the Toronto Hockey Club . Livingstone also received support from Tom Wall , the former owner of the Toronto Ontarios . In the summer of 1920 , there was again talk that the Livingstone might get the CHA off the ground , particularly after Percy Quinn was made managing director of Arena Gardens on June 17 . Livingstone was looking at starting an international hockey league with franchises in the U . S . and Canada . But the CHA was again thwarted when the NHL moved its struggling Quebec franchise to Hamilton , Ontario which Livingstone had targeted as a prime market . In 1924 , Livingstone again announced that he was forming an international league that would have teams in Toronto , Ottawa , New York , Brooklyn , and Buffalo . It was never launched . In February 1926 , Livingstone announced the creation of the International Professional Hockey League , of which he was president . The IPHL would have teams in Toronto , Buffalo , and Detroit , and two teams in both New York and Chicago . Nothing ever came of the league . American Hockey Association . In 1926 , Livingstone acquired an American Hockey Association franchise for Chicago , the Chicago Cardinals . He negotiated a deal to play at the Chicago Coliseum , the same arena that the fledgling Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League used for its home games . In March 1927 , Livingstone tried to sell the team to Harry Herendeen , a Chicago miller , Late in the season , the Coliseum refused to give Livingstone ' s team ice time , citing non - payment of rent . Livingstone said the rejected new club owner had agreed to pay the rent . After the 1926 - 27 season , the AHA wanted to negotiate a new agreement with the NHL , setting out the rules for how the leagues would work together . NHL president Frank Calder threatened not to sign an agreement while the AHA was working with Livingstone . On August 24 , 1927 , the AHA terminated Livingstone ' s membership in the league . When Livingstone tried to sell the franchise , he was told that he didn ' t have one to sell and that four of his players ( including Marvin Wentworth , who would play 13 seasons in the NHL ) were now the property of the Blackhawks . He filed suit against Frederic McLaughlin , owner of the Blackhawks , charging him with tampering with his players and in December 1927 filed a $ 700 , 000 lawsuit against Calder and three AHA executives claiming that his team was taken away from him through a conspiracy . Ontario Hockey Association . Livingstone returned to Toronto and gave up professional hockey for the amateur game . In 1929 - 30 , he started coaching the Toronto Victorias junior team in the Ontario Hockey Association . Starting in the 1931 - 32 season , the team was affiliated with the Lions Club and renamed the Toronto Lions . They played at Maple Leaf Gardens . Even there , controversy followed him . In November 1933 , the OHA ordered three of his players to play with their high school teams for the 1933 - 34 season . Livingstone charged that the move was taken deliberately against him . In the 1934 - 35 season , his players included future hall - of - famer Gordie Drillon . He continued to coach the team through the 1938 - 39 season . Livingstone died the day before his 61st birthday in 1945 .