1920–21 NHL season

The 1920–21 NHL season was the fourth season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Four teams each played 24 games in a split season. The Quebec franchise was transferred to Hamilton, Ontario, to become the Hamilton Tigers. The Ottawa Senators won the league championship in a playoff with the Toronto St. Patricks. The Senators went on to win the Stanley Cup by defeating the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association three games to two in a best-of-five series. This would be the last split season before the NHL changed its regular season and playoff formats.
==League Business==
Eddie Livingstone was again talking of creating a rival league and mentioned Hamilton
as a city in his league. To head this off, league president Frank Calder got the owners of the league to admit a Hamilton franchise. As Abso-Pure had built an arena, all owners agreed that it would be wise to
have a franchise in Hamilton. Because Quebec had done so badly the previous season, Calder said that Quebec's players would be given to Hamilton. Although Mike Quinn was non-committal at first, he finally sold the team to Hamilton and it became the Hamilton Tigers.
==Regular season==
The Tigers had some trouble signing Joe Malone from the Quebec days, but he finally did sign. The Tigers were awarded two players from the Senators, Punch Broadbent and Sprague Cleghorn by NHL president Calder, but both refused to sign with the Tigers, and eventually returned to the Senators.
The Tigers stunned the Canadiens 5–0 in the team's first-ever game with Babe Dye starring and Howard Lockhart getting the only shutout of his NHL career. The Toronto St. Patricks lost Corbett Denneny to injuries and recalled Dye from Hamilton, giving them Mickey Roach in his place.
Corbett Denneny scored six goals in a game January 26, 1921, helping the Toronto St. Patricks to wallop the Hamilton Tigers 10–3. Cy Denneny wasn't about to let his brother steal the thunder and he scored six goals himself in a March 7 game as the Ottawa Senators hammered the Hamilton Tigers 12–5. For the first time, a brother combination had scored six goals in a game the same season.
Also on January 26, 1921, the Ottawa Senators left the ice with 5:13 to play in a game against the Montreal Canadiens. According to the Senators, referee Cooper Smeaton was one-sided in favour of the Canadiens. Smeaton let the Canadiens continue to play, allowing goals by Newsy Lalonde and Amos Arbour before calling the game. Smeaton denied the claim, stating "a referee is always paid and receives the same salary, regardless what team wins." Smeaton would resign over the incident, but was convinced to return to refereeing later in the season. The Senators were fined $500 by NHL president Frank Calder for the incident.
The Ottawa Senators won the first half of the split season while the Toronto St. Patricks won the second half.
===Final standings===
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
Note: Teams that qualified for playoffs highlighted in bold
First Half 	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Ottawa Senators 	10	8	2	0	16 	49	23
Toronto St. Patricks	10	5	5	0	10 	39	47
Montreal Canadiens 	10	4	6	0	8 	37	51
Hamilton Tigers 	10	3	7	0	6 	34	38
Second Half 	GP	W 	L 	T	Pts	GF	GA
Toronto St. Patricks	14	10	4 	0	20 	66	53
Montreal Canadiens 	14	9 	5 	0	18 	75	48
Ottawa Senators 	14	6 	8 	0	12 	48	52
Hamilton Tigers 	14	3 	11	0	6 	58	94
==Playoffs==
All dates 1921
===NHL Championship===
After the regular season, Toronto and Ottawa played in a total goals series to see who would win the O'Brien Cup and go on to compete for the Stanley Cup. Ottawa easily won by shutting out the St. Pats in both games. Ottawa then went on to play the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA.
Ottawa Senators vs. Toronto St. Patricks
Date 	Team 	Score	Team 	Score	Notes
March 10	Ottawa Senators	5 	Toronto St. Patricks	0 	
March 14	Ottawa Senators	2 	Toronto St. Patricks	0 	
Ottawa wins total goals series 7 goals to 0
===Stanley Cup Finals===
Ottawa vs. Vancouver 
Date 	Away 	Score	Home 	Score	Notes
March 21	Ottawa Senators 	1 	Vancouver Millionaires	3 	
March 24	Vancouver Millionaires	3 	Ottawa Senators 	4 	
March 28	Vancouver Millionaires	2 	Ottawa Senators 	3 	
March 31	Ottawa Senators 	2 	Vancouver Millionaires	3 	
April 4 	Vancouver Millionaires	1 	Ottawa Senators 	2 	
Ottawa wins best-of-five series 3 games to 2 for the Stanley Cup
==Player statistics==
===Scoring leaders===
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
Player 	Team 	GP	G 	A 	Pts
Newsy Lalonde 	Montreal Canadiens 	24	33	10	43
Cecil "Babe" Dye 	Hamilton Tigers / Toronto St. Pats	24	35	5 	40
Cy Denneny 	Ottawa Senators 	24	34	5 	39
Joe Malone 	Hamilton Tigers 	20	28	9 	37
Frank Nighbor 	Ottawa Senators 	24	19	10	29
Reg Noble 	Toronto St. Patricks 	24	19	8 	27
Harry Cameron 	Toronto St. Patricks 	24	18	9 	27
George "Goldie" Prodgers	Hamilton Tigers 	24	18	9 	27
Corbett Denneny 	Toronto St. Patricks 	20	19	7 	26
Jack Darragh 	Ottawa Senators 	24	11	15	26
Source: NHL.
===Leading goaltenders===
Name 	Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Clint Benedict	Ottawa Senators 	24	1462	14	10	0	75 	2	3.08
Jake Forbes 	Toronto St. Patricks	20	1221	13	7 	0	78 	0	3.83
Georges Vezina	Montreal Canadiens 	24	1441	13	11	0	99 	1	4.12
Howie Lockhart	Hamilton Tigers 	24	1454	6 	18	0	132	1	5.45
Ivan Mitchell 	Toronto St. Patricks	4 	240 	2 	2 	0	22 	0	5.50
Source: NHL
==Awards==
* O'Brien Cup – Ottawa Senators
Note:
The O'Brien Cup, still considered the championship of the NHA, was not awarded to Ottawa until November 1921. It had remained under the care of the Canadiens who had won it in 1917, until the death of their owner, George Kennedy in October 1921, when the NHL made arrangements to re-use the trophy.
==Team Photos==
1920-21Cdns.jpg|Montreal Canadiens
20-21HamTig.jpg|Hamilton Tigers
20-21OttSen.jpg|Ottawa Senators
20-21TorSP.jpg|Toronto St. Patricks
== See also ==
* List of Stanley Cup champions
* Pacific Coast Hockey Association
* 1920 Summer Olympics
* List of pre-NHL seasons
==References==
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;Notes
==External links==
* NHL.com
Category:1920 in ice hockey
Category:1921 in ice hockey