BRINGING THE NHL TO VANCOUVER
There was a rich tradition of professional hockey in Vancouver long before the arrival of
the NHL in 1970. The Vancouver Millionaires of the early 1900s did not play in the NHL, but
they did play "big-league" hockey and they did compete for (and win) the Stanley Cup. With a lineup that featured Hall-of-Famers such as Frank Nighbor and Fred "Cyclone" Taylor, the Millionaires won Pacific Coast Hockey League titles in 1915, 1918, and four straight from 1921 and 1924 (the latter two with the moniker "Maroons"). The 1915 team hosted the best-of-five Stanley Cup Final at Denman Street Arena against the Ottawa Senators (champions of the NHA) and swept the series with 6-2, 8-3, and 12-3 drubbings. The arena, which was the largest of its kind in Canada at the time, was filled to the rafters for all three games with crowds over 10,000. After losing the 1918 series in Toronto, they once again met up with the Sens in Vancouver in 1921. This time the easterners exacted revenge, winning the fifth and deciding game of the thrilling series by a 2-1 margin. In the summer of 1924, the PCHL folded and its surviving teams joined the joined the Western Canada Hockey League. The Maroons, as they were now known, had two lacklustre seasons before this league, too, went under and all of its star players were sold to the NHL. Professional hockey was not gone for long, though. In 1928, the PCHL resurrected as a
semi-pro league and Vancouver's team, the Lions, won five titles in 13 years before fire
destroyed Denman Street Arena in 1936, forcing the team to fold. The league returned to
Vancouver in 1946, with a team called the Canucks playing at the PNE Forum. In its second
year, the Canucks won the PCHL Championship. In 1953, the PCHL and Western Canada Senior Hockey League merged to form the Western Hockey League. With players coming through such as Johnny Bower, Andy Bathgate, and Phil Maloney, the Canucks won Lester Patrick Cups in 1958 and 1960. Many consider "Johnny Canuck" to be the best Vancouver Canucks logo ever created. In 1965, the NHL announced plans to double in size from six to 12 teams. With an arena, it was felt that Vancouver would be a shoo-in. Toronto Maple Leafs' owner Stafford Smythe tried to build a 20,000-seat downtown arena but required the city to provide the $6.5 million piece of land, which failed in a referendum. The city, lead by Mayor Fred Hume, then tried to build a $12 million arena on public funds, but failed to get the necessary help from the provincial government and the deal fell through. Without having a suitable arena to begin play in the fall of 1967, Cyrus McLean and Foster Hewitt's bid did not stand much of a chance and was indeed rejected. After getting passed up for expansion in 1967, primarily due to the lack of an adequate
facility, the Pacific National Exhibition (on whose grounds the Forum sat) decided to erect
such a building. By January 1968, the 16,000-seat Pacific Coliseum was completed and
housed the WHL Canucks for the next two-and-a-half years, where they shattered WHL
attendance records. With the help of GM Joe Crozier and players such as Tony Esposito, Don
Cherry, Orland Kurtenbach, Murray Hall, and Len Lunde, the Canucks won back-to-back Lester
Patrick Cups in 1969 and 1970. But this was not meant to be a WHL facility, this was meant to
finally attract that elusive National Hockey League franchise. And so it would be, as the NHL
announced that Buffalo and Vancouver would be the 13th and 14th NHL teams for the 1970-71
season. The Medicor Group of Minneapolis, lead by Tom Scallen, would make up a majority of the ownership with a number of minority shareholders, including Cyrus McLean. On May 22,
1970, for a fee of $6 million, the Vancouver Canucks were officially in the National Hockey
League. 1970-71
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