Thirty years after the fact, John Connolly Jr., in an interview about his controversial father's candidacy for the Hall of Fame, would say of the 1924-25 season, "I think Dad would say that he got the last laugh."

What Junior Connolly was referring to was the climax of that season, but before we get to that, we need to set up the story.

The series of backroom deals - and Jack Connolly's murder at the hands of an angry mistress - had a profound impact on the landscape of the 1924-25 hockey season. Two of the United States Hockey Association's best clubs - the New York Shamrocks and Boston Bees, had jumped ship, recruited into the North American Hockey Confederation by Toronto Dukes' owner Bert Thomas. Before his demise, Connolly had put in motion a series of measures that counteracted, to some degree, these defections by using legal action to strip both clubs' of their players. So the teams left, but the players remained in the USHA where they were moved en masse to two new teams. Still with me? OK, that was followed soon after Connolly's death by the USHA's absorption of what remained of the Transcontinental Hockey Association. The former Victoria club became the Montreal Nationals, while the Vancouver club became the New York Eagles. And in the type of weird twist that permeates hockey history, the Eagles shared the Bigsby Gardens with the club that had started all the movement: the New York Shamrocks (and were in fact paying them rent to do so). Whew.

When the season began, it quickly became obvious that the assorted cast-offs who made up the "new" Shamrocks and "new" Bees were not particularly good. The four existing NAHC clubs dominated their new brethren to the extent that the Shamrocks and Bees posted a combined record of 8-50-2 - and the majority of those eight wins came against, you guessed it, each other. Meanwhile in the USHA, the players who formerly played for the Bees were now in Hamilton as the Hammers - and they won the regular season title with a 20-7-3 mark (the former Shamrocks, now in Cleveland as the Eries, didn't fare as well, finishing fifth, ahead of only the dismal Philadelphia Rascals).

The NAHC was therefore a four-horse race, and a good one it was. Quebec ultimately prevailed to claim the regular season title with a 21-8-1 record. The Champlains had risen from the ashes thanks in large part to the play of a stellar pair of brothers (one of many sibling pairs who have made a mark on the sport in its history). The Cannan brothers of Winnipeg both topped 20 goals and, along with center Dad Weller, made the top line of the Champs one of the game's best. Left winger Daniel "Mutt" Cannan was the better of the two, scoring 21 goals and 17 assists (he tied with Ottawa's Charlie Oliphant for the league lead) while younger brother, right wing Geoffrey "Jeff" Cannan, scored 20 goals (with just 1 assist). Dubbed "Mutt & Jeff" after the comic strip characters, the two became huge fan favorites in Quebec. It also helped that goalie Adam Turner was a force himself (21-8-1, 2.09 GAA, 7 shutouts).

The Toronto Dukes had a great season, going 20-9-1 and finishing two points behind Quebec. The Dukes were led by dynamic winger, Jack Barrell who scored a club-record 44 goals in 29 games to lead the league, and added nine assists to also top the league with 53 points. With his centerman Charles Rausse (24g, 12a) also producing big numbers and rookie defenseman Norb Hickey chipping in with 12g and 14a, the Dukes were the only NAHC club to top 100 goals, finishing with 104. Ottawa was, as usual, in the thick of things, and finished third with a 19-9-2 mark and 40 points. Charlie Oliphant was the biggest reason as he finished with 30 goals and 17 assists to place second behind Barrell in the scoring race with 47 points. Ottawa had dealt away goalie Davey Vert, sending him to the New York Shamrocks after they found his salary demands to be "ridiculous." The Athletics came out smelling like roses as rookie Sam Jordan (19-9-2, 2.15 GAA, five shutouts) was tremendous while Vert, though still excellent, suffered in front of a porous Shamrock defense (5-23-2, 2.68, no shutouts). The Valiants, though fourth, were just two points behind Ottawa and five behind first-place Quebec. Rene Mailloux continued to emerge as one of the game's brightest stars, scoring 32 goals (2nd to Barrell) and 44 points (3rd) while fellow youngsters Harvey McLeod (30 goals, 12 assists) and Ernest Bernier (18 g, 14 a) also were outstanding.

The USHA race was similarly close - four clubs were in the mix into late February with the brand-new Hamilton Hammers coming out two points ahead of the similarly new Montreal Nationals. Of course the Hammers were the previous season's Boston Bees while the Nationals were the previous season's Victoria Capitals, so to call them "new" is a bit of hyperbole. Frank Gerow starred for Hamilton, finishing 3rd in goals (23) and 2nd in assists (15) and points (38). The Nationals still had Canadian hero Jack Blaney leading the way and "Big Ten" as he was known (he wore the number 10 on his sweater), scored 24 goals and 9 assists to finish fourth in scoring. Where the Nats really shined was on defense where Nick Jardine and Frank O'Brien were tenacious defenders and goalie Jesse Hart (20-9-1, 2.01 GAA & six shutouts) was brilliant.

The Buffalo Bears - Jack Connolly's former club - and the New York Eagles (owned by George Yeadon) finished tied for third at 16-12-2. The Bears were a good all-around team, but not outstanding in any facet. The St. Laurent brothers - RW Andre (22g, 10a) and LW Bernie (17g, 4a) led the offense along with Cal Oliphant (15g, 3a) while the defense was anchored on the tremendous Phiippe Boutin (13g, 7a) who was an excellent two-way defenseman. The Eagles featured the league's best scorer in center Malcolm Cummings (35 g, 8 a) with Ernest Bernier's younger brother Pierre "Buck" Bernier (21g, 16a) also having an excellent season. The Eagles might have finished higher had they not suffered a season-ending injury to goalie Adam Scott. Scott was 8-4 with a 2.60 GAA when a collision at the goal with Cleveland's Moose Rochette resulted in a broken leg. Though replacement Archie Mitchell (8-8-2, 4.00) was a gamer, he was nowhere near as good as Scott.

The USHA had decided, on the instigation of interim league President Tom Franklin to have playoffs for the right to face the NAHC champs in the Challenge Cup series. Granting the regular season winner a bye, the plan was for the 2nd & 3rd place clubs to face each other in a two-game, total-goals series. The Buffalo and New York clubs tied for third. Because Buffalo had won the face-to-face meetings between the two teams 3-2-1, the Bears were named the third place team. Buffalo took on the Nationals and won both games (by scores of 2-1 and 5-4) and then upset the Hammers in a best-of-three series with wins of 3-2 and 2-1 sandwiched around a 2-1 loss. This put Jack Connolly's Buffalo club in the Challenge Cup finals.

The NAHC had playoffs of its own between Quebec and second-place Toronto. The Dukes, thanks in large part to Jack Barrell, beat the Champlains 3-2 and 4-3 to win the series. Because Toronto and Buffalo were situated near each other geographically, the normal Cup series system of alternating by league was abandoned. The USHA was to have hosted the series, so Buffalo was given the home ice for games one, two and five while Toronto would host games three and four. The Bears, on a roll, managed to win the series in three straight by 1-0, 4-3 and in a wild one, 6-5 to take the Cup. This is what Junior Connolly was referencing when he said his father had "gotten the last laugh" with his club beating that of Bert Thomas for the sport's most treasured prize. That the Shamrocks and Bees were atrocious in their NAHC debuts was "icing on the cake" according to Junior.

 

NAHC Standings GP W L T PTS GF GA   USHA Standings GP W L T PTS GF GA
Quebec Champlains 30 21 8 1 43 99 64   Hamilton Hammers 30 20 7 3 43 108 83
Toronto Dukes 30 20 9 1 41 104 81   Montreal Nationals 30 20 9 1 41 92 57
Ottawa Athletics 30 19 9 2 40 95 66   Buffalo Bears 30 16 12 2 34 100 88
Montreal Valiants 30 18 10 2 38 98 76   New York Eagles  30 16 12 2 34 119 98
New York Shamrocks 30 5 23 2 12 34 82   Cleveland Eries 30 7 20 3 17 89 117
Boston Bees 30 3 27 0 6 39 100   Philadelphia Rascals 30 5 24 1 11 72 137

 

NAHC SCORING LEADERS
Player Goals   Player Assists   Player Points  
Jack Barrell, TOR 44   Charlie Oliphant, OTT 17   Jack Barrell, TOR 53  
Rene Mailloux, VAL 32   Mutt Cannan, QUE 17   Charlie Oliphant, OTT 47  
Harvey McLeod, VAL 30   Ernest Bernier, VAL 14   Rene Mailloux, VAL 44  
Charlie Oliphant, OTT 30   Norb Hickey, TOR 14   Harvey McLeod, VAL 42  
Charles Rausse, TOR 24   Three players tied 12   Mutt Cannan, QUE 38  

NAHC TOP GOALIE

Adam Turner, QUE: 21-8-1, 2.09 GAA, 7 ShO

  

USHA SCORING LEADERS
Player Goals   Player Assists   Player Points  
Malcolm Cummings, NYE 35   Buck Bernier, NYE 16   Malcolm Cummings, NYE 43  
Jack Blaney, NAT 24   Frank Gerow, HAM 15   Frank Gerow, HAM 38  
Frank Gerow, HAM 23   John X. Smith, CLE 11   Buck Bernier, NYE 37  
Andre St.Laurent, BUF 22   Andre St.Laurent, BUF 10   Jack Blaney, NAT 33  
Two players tied 21   Bernard Gregory, CLE  10   Andre St.Laurent, BUF 32  

TCHA TOP GOALIE

Jesse Hart, NAT: 20-9-1, 2.01 GAA, 6 ShO

 

McDaniels Trophy: Dad Weller, QUE