1919-20 marked the end of a tumultuous decade for both the world, and professional hockey. And throughout that decade, one thing that had been a near constant in pro hockey was the top-notch play of the Ottawa Athletic Club. The Athletics had been the NAHC's top club numerous times, and had not posted a losing record (twice finishing at .500) in any NAHC season going back to 1909-10. For the most recent seasons, Ottawa had been the league's top club time and again and that was certainly the case in 1919-20.

The Athletics posted an 18-6 mark to cap their decade of dominance and then followed it up with a thrilling three games-to-two win in the Challenge Cup Final over the Vancouver Pacifics of the TCHA. It was hockey's worst-kept secret that the Athletics rode on the otherworldly goaltending abilities of Davey Vert. The Hamilton-born netminder was far and away the best in the business and his ability to stop the puck allowed his team mates to play a more aggressive brand of hockey that resulted in a slew of Ottawa goals. The Athletics tallied 132 goals against just 75 allowed as Vert's 3.08 GAA was far below that of the other NAHC netminders. On offense, Efrem Massicotte continued to be the focal point, scoring 28 goals (3rd-best in the league) with a league-best 16 assists, to finish just a point behind Montreal star Gevis Murphy in the scoring race. 

With Murphy now carrying the load for the Paddy O'Donoghue-less Valiants, Montreal place third with a 12-12 mark. Goalie Al Juneau was disappointing with a GAA of 5.01 as the team allowed 122 goals, the second most in the NAHC, while scoring 124. Toronto was on Ottawa's heels for most of the season and finished 15-9 in second place. The Dukes lost goalie Addie Manor to injury (he finished 7-5 with a 4.43 GAA in 16 appearances) and Leo Lessard was brought in from Quebec with decent results (5-2, 4.73 GAA), but Toronto saw Cal Oliphant, the less-celebrated brother of Ottawa's Charlie Oliphant, break out in a big way with 26 goals and 13 assists to lead the Dukes in scoring and finish fifth in the league. Toronto also gave regular playing time to young winger Jack Barrell, who played professional baseball in his offseason. Barrell debuted with 12 goals and three assists in 23 games for Toronto and the youngster looked like he'd live up to his expectations. The Dukes also featured Hank Lucas, the hard-hitting ex-TCHA winger who led the league with 86 penalty minutes, while also adding 22 goals and seven assists. Unlike Bert Thomas' first go-round in the NAHC with the ill-fated Wolves, it looked like this Toronto team was going to be very good in the near future.

That left the newly-reborn Quebec Champlains. And a big disappointment they were in nearly all facets as they stumbled to a dismal 3-21 finish. The lone bright spot was Paddy O'Donoghue. Playing again in his adopted hometown, the stellar Irish-born center finished second in goals as he potted 34 of his team's 82 tallies and added nine assists to place third in the NAHC scoring race. Quebec wasn't helped by the loss of right wing George Fife, who had 11 goals in 12 games before his season was prematurely ended on a vicious check by Ottawa's Pete Vandenburg (whose 85 penalty minutes were just one shy of Lucas' league-leading mark). The "Champs" were almost comically inept on defense where they allowed a whopping 162 goals and goalie Roger Lynn (3-18, 6.95) often looked like he was fighting for his life under the onslaught.

While the NAHC race was a mostly-two horse affair between Ottawa and Toronto, the TCHA race was anyone's to win. The three-team loop played to a nearly perfect parity in 1919-20 with the first-place Vancouver Pacifics posting an 11-9 mark, followed by Portland's 10-10 and Victoria's 9-11. While the NAHC had done away with its split-season format and subsequent playoff, the TCHA did have a two-game, total goals series between the Pacifics and Reds for the right to play for the Challenge Cup. 

Before we get to that, a look at the regular season is very much in order. The Pacifics, like Ottawa, had a superb goalie in Adam Scott (11-9, 2.27) - the difference out west was that offense in 1919-20 was very hard to come by with the teams so evenly matched. Scott's GAA was the best, but his competition: Jesse Hart of Portland (10-10, 2.47) and Victoria's Al Sutherland (9-11, 2.51) were no slouches. Victoria center Max Thibodeau bounced back from a dismal 1918-19 season to lead the league with 27 goals and 33 points. The only other 20-goal scorer was Portland's Ben Laramee with 23. Former Toronto Duke Frank Jarvis impressed for Vancouver with a team-best 17 goals (also third in the TCHA) while fellow NAHC imports Charles Rausse scored 9 goals for Vancouver (where he could play with brother Aaron) and Muzz Strang on Victoria brought an NAHC attitude to hitting and led the league with 57 penalty minutes.

The postseason series between the Pacifics and Reds saw Vancouver claim both games, 2-1 and 3-0 to easily win the right to face the Ottawas for the Challenge Cup.

That Cup Final was one of the best of the early days of hockey as the fans in Ottawa (and later Toronto) saw an evenly-matched, hard-fought series. Ottawa won the first game 4-2 but lost game two by an identical score. Game three was played on slushy ice as warm weather and the lack of an artificial ice plant in Ottawa made for a sloppy game, won by Ottawa 5-3. With the series moved to Toronto where Bert Thomas' arena had artificial ice, the Vancouvers claimed the fourth game by a 4-1 margin. Game five was a classic, ending 3-3 in regulation and forcing overtime where Efrem Massicotte scored the series-winning goal against Adam Scott five minutes and 13 seconds in, making Ottawa Challenge Cup champs again after the 1918 series had been cancelled due to the Influenza epidemic.

NAHC TOP GOALIE

Davey Vert, OTT: 18-6, 3.08 GAA

TCHA TOP GOALIE

Adam Scott, VAN: 11-9, 2.27 GAA