1920 Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Location(s) |
Ottawa (The Arena) (1–3) Toronto (Arena Gardens) (4–5) |
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Format | best-of-five | |||||||||||||||||||||
Coaches | Ottawa: Pete Green Seattle: Pete Muldoon |
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Referees | Cooper Smeaton | |||||||||||||||||||||
Dates | March 22 – April 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Series-winning goal | Jack Darragh (5:00, third) | |||||||||||||||||||||
The 1920 Stanley Cup Final was contested by the National Hockey League (NHL) champion Ottawa Senators and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Seattle Metropolitans. The Senators won the series by three games to two in the best-of-five game series. Although all of the games for the series were scheduled to be played at The Arena in Ottawa, unseasonably warm weather and poor ice conditions forced the last two contests to be played on the artificial ice at Toronto's Arena Gardens.
This would be the last Stanley Cup Final appearance for a team based on the West Coast of the United States until the 1993 Final.
The Senators captured the 1919–20 NHL title after they won both halves of the regular season, thus eliminating the need for a league championship playoff. Meanwhile, Seattle finished the 1919–20 PCHA regular season in first place with a 12–10 record, but had to defeat the second place Vancouver Millionaires in a two-game total goals championship series, 7–3, to win the PCHA title.
The location of the series was under dispute. As the 1919 series was not completed, the PCHA wanted the 1920 series to take place out west. The NHL opposed the idea. The PCHA proposed playing the series in Winnipeg, but this was still not agreed to by the NHL. While the dispute continued, the schedules for both leagues was allowed to drag out, leading to a late starting date for the Final.
Seattle's green, red, and white uniforms looked almost alike to Ottawa's black, red, and white uniforms. The Senators agreed to play in white sweaters.
The puck was dropped for the first game of the series by Stanley Cup trustee William Foran to the centers Frank Nighbor and Frank Foyston. The ice became soft and pools of water developed. Foyston scored two goals in the first period to put Seattle ahead 2–0. Nighbor scored on a shot that ricocheted off Morris of Seattle with 40 seconds to play in the second period. Nighbor tied it at the ten-minute mark of the third period. Jack Darragh scored the game-winning goal with four minutes to play on an assist from Eddie Gerard.