The Depression continued to wreak havoc on the economics of the NAHC. The league announced that it was setting a salary cap of $65,000 per club and that no player could be paid more than $7,000. The belt-tightening didn't help all that much: the Ottawa Athletics, who had sat out a season trying to get their financial woes straightened out, found themselves deep in the red again. They'd end up having to fold at the end of the season, dropping the league to eight clubs. Meanwhile, the Quebec Champlains were also suffering from a lack of fan support (their last-place finish wouldn't help them there) and at the end of the season, owner John Connolly Jr announced he was moving the team to Detroit, whose former team had folded two years earlier for similar financial reasons.
With the new salary cap in place, the Valiants were forced to deal one of the team's most beloved (and talented) players as Harvey McLeod was dealt to the Packers. McLeod wasn't much help on a bad Chicago club (5 g, 17a) and the Valiants sent goalie Dutch Lenz along with McLeod. Lenz was "thrown in" by Montreal at Chicago's request. Their goalie Otis Pershall had suffered a fractured skull in an off-season auto accident and retired to his farm in rural Ontario. The Valiants received Elmer Morey from the Packers and promptly sent him along to the New York Shamrocks, again drawing the ire of their fanbase. The Valiants went on to finish fourth - in the same spot they had in 1933-34 - and though management claimed this showed they didn't need McLeod (or Lenz, or Morey), the fans weren't buying it.
Meanwhile the Toronto Dukes, coming off one of the most dominant seasons in hockey history entered the 1934-35 campaign as heavy favorites to once again hoist the Challenge Cup. The club still had Leo Morey, now considered the best all-around player in the NAHC. In fact, the roster was largely the same as General Manager Charles Tattler was smart enough to not mess with a good thing. In true Depression-era fashion, Tattler sold two players off the '34 champs (Bill Hammond and Bob Alexander) and promoted a couple of minor leaguers to take their places. When that didn't quite fulfill the bill, he added fading vet Fred Byers from Ottawa, a proven player who would prove to be handy for the playoff run.
The Dukes didn't quite live up to the lofty standard they had set the previous season and finished just one point ahead of their new rivals in Montreal - not the Valiants, but the Nationals. Ottawa, in the franchise's swansong, finished third in front of an increasingly disinterested fan base. The aforementioned Valiants and Champlains finished fourth and fifth respectively, with Quebec being particularly dismal (9-26-13).
The American Division was won by the New York Shamrocks put together a strong season and pushed past their rivals to capture the division with a league-best 29-14-5 record. The Eagles' 56 point season was good for second place while neither the Bees (41 pts) nor Packers (38 pts) were particularly competitive.
Toronto's Leo Morey once again led the league in goals with 29 (five ahead of the Eagles' Hal Granquist) and tied Hank Lawrence of the Nationals with 45 points. A thin season for Quebec was redeemed a bit by the performances of assist-leader Johnny Arthur who posted 34 helpers (and 43 points) and Sam Koger who finished with 40 points, good for sixth in the league. Buck Bernier of the Eagles scored 12 goals and 30 assists for a 42-point season (tied for fourth) while also claiming the Yeadon Trophy for "gentlemanly play" for the fifth time. The McDaniels Trophy went to Leo Morey while the Juneau Trophy for top netminder went to the Shamrocks Sam Jordan who led the league in both wins and GAA.
The playoffs pitted the Bees with the Athletics in the third-place series and the Eagles with the Nats in the second-place tilt. Both the Bees and Nationals won both the first round games, although the series were still decided on total goals. The Nationals then went on to handle the Bees two games to one to reach the Challenge Cup Finals for the second straight season. Their opponent was determined by a series between the defending champion Toronto Dukes and the league's best-record season team in the New York Shamrocks. With most expecting at the very least an epic showdown between these two talented clubs, the Dukes won in three straight.
The Finals was another hard-fought series between two teams that didn't like each other much. In the first game at Toronto, the Dukes won a hard-hitting game by a 3-2 score. The Nationals came back to take the second game, also in Toronto, by a 3-1 score. When the scene shifted to Montreal, the teams split again, with both games decided by 4-1 scores - game three won by the Dukes and game four by the Nats. The final showdown in Toronto went to the Dukes by a 5-3 final.
North American Hockey Confederation Standings 1934-35 |
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| American Division | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | Canadian Division | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | |
| New York Shamrocks | 48 | 29 | 14 | 5 | 66 | 122 | 83 | Toronto Dukes | 48 | 24 | 18 | 6 | 58 | 123 | 114 | |
| New York Eagles | 48 | 22 | 17 | 9 | 56 | 129 | 109 | Montreal Nationals | 48 | 24 | 16 | 8 | 57 | 124 | 108 | |
| Boston Bees | 48 | 16 | 23 | 9 | 41 | 80 | 104 | Ottawa Athletics | 48 | 21 | 20 | 7 | 49 | 90 | 85 | |
| Chicago Packers | 48 | 15 | 25 | 8 | 38 | 79 | 95 | Montreal Valiants | 48 | 20 | 21 | 7 | 47 | 97 | 110 | |
| Quebec Champlains | 48 | 9 | 26 | 13 | 36 | 100 | 136 | |||||||||
| 1935 NAHC PLAYOFFS | ||||||
| Quarter-Finals | ||||||
| Bees v Athletics | Bees win 2-0-0, 4 goals to 1 | |||||
| Eagles v Nationals | Nationals win 2-0-0, 4 goals to 2 | |||||
| Semi-Finals | ||||||
| Shamrocks v Dukes | Toronto wins 3 games to none | |||||
| Bees v Nationals | Nationals win 2 games to 1 | |||||
| Challenge Cup Finals | ||||||
| Dukes v Nationals | Dukes win 3 games to 2 | |||||
NAHC SCORING LEADERS 1934-35 |
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| Player | Goals | Player | Assists | Player | Points | |||
| Leo Morey, TOR | 29 | Johnny Arthur, QUE | 34 | Hank Lawrence, NAT | 45 | |||
| Hal Granquist, NYE | 24 | Buck Bernier, NYE | 30 | Leo Morey, TOR | 45 | |||
| Archie Watts, NYS | 20 | Hank Lawrence, NAT | 28 | Johnny Arthur, QUE | 43 | |||
| Andre St. Laurent, NYE | 20 | Roger McIlwaine, NAT | 26 | Buck Bernier, NYE | 42 | |||
| Chauncey Guerard, NAT | 19 | Bert Cordier, NAT | 24 | Roger McIlwaine, NAT | 42 | |||
| Alex Stagner, VAL | 18 | Harris Tardy, NAT | 23 | Sam Koger, QUE | 40 | |||
| Sam Koger, QUE | 18 | Sam Koger, QUE | 22 | Bert Cordier, NAT | 37 | |||
| Four Player Tied | 17 | Gant Wanless, NYS | 22 | Harris Tardy, NAT | 35 | |||
| Bernie St. Laurent, NYE | 20 | Henry Lowery, NYS | 35 | |||||
| Two Players Tied | 19 | Chauncey Guerard, NAT | 35 | |||||
NAHC GOALIE LEADERS 1934-35 |
||||||
| Player | GP | W | L | T | ShO | GAA |
| Sam Jordan, NYS | 48 | 29 | 14 | 5 | 14 | 1.71 |
| Cal Henery, OTT | 48 | 21 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 1.75 |
| Dutch Lenz, CHI | 48 | 15 | 25 | 8 | 8 | 1.95 |
| Newt McCotter, NAT | 25 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1.95 |
| George Dinsmore, NYE | 37 | 19 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 1.96 |