Toronto Hockey Club | |
---|---|
List of Toronto Hockey Club seasons | |
Founded | 1911 |
History |
Toronto H.C. 1912–1917 |
Home arena | Arena Gardens |
City | Toronto, Ontario |
Colours | Blue |
Owner(s) |
Percy Quinn 1911–1913 Frank Robinson 1911–1915 Eddie Livingstone 1915–1918 |
Stanley Cups | 1 1913–14 |
The Toronto Hockey Club, known as the Torontos and the Toronto Blueshirts, were a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They were a member of the National Hockey Association (NHA). The club was founded in 1911 and began operations in 1912. The club won its sole Stanley Cup championship in 1914.
The club became the center of a controversy among NHA owners leading to the NHA suspending operations and the owners forming the National Hockey League (NHL). The Blue Shirts were replaced in the NHL by a new Toronto Hockey Club under the ownership of the Toronto Arena Company, the Blue Shirts' former landlord. The Torontos' players were leased to the Arena ownership temporarily and competed in the NHL in 1917–18, winning the Stanley Cup. The Arena Company was then granted a permanent franchise for the 1918–19 season that evolved into today's Toronto Maple Leafs.
The NHA was founded in 1909 without any teams based in Toronto. National Hockey Association (NHA) founder Ambrose O'Brien, operated four franchises in the NHA: the Cobalt Silver Kings, Haileybury Comets, Les Canadiens and the Renfrew Creamery Kings. In 1910, O'Brien suspended the Cobalt, Haileybury and Canadiens clubs and sold one franchise to form the Montreal Canadiens, who took the Les Canadiens' players. In 1911, O'Brien decided to leave professional ice hockey entirely. Quebec interests bought one of the franchises from O'Brien, and the final two were sold to Toronto interests who planned to play in the new Arena Gardens arena under construction.