The 1921-22 season marked a turning point in the history of pro hockey. Jack Connolly, the maverick visionary who had pulled Canadian hockey kicking and screaming into professionalism over a decade earlier, now did the same thing in the United States, accomplishing two goals: thumbing his nose at the NAHC and once again reclaiming a role as the head of a pro hockey league. Connolly's new league was called, fittingly enough, the United States Hockey Association. The USHA launched its initial season with clubs in four large American cities: Boston, Buffalo, New York City and Philadelphia. Though he failed to draw any marquee names from either the TCHA or NAHC (and he tried with the latter), Connolly's loop proved to be modestly successful by populating its clubs with players from minor leagues (mostly the Plains Hockey Association which operated in Manitoba and Alberta).
Connolly had positioned his league to compete for the Challenge Cup by making an arrangement with the Transcontinental Hockey Association for the USHA & TCHA champions to meet for the right to face the NAHC champions for the Cup. The Challenge Cup trustees had agreed to this over the objections of the NAHC who derided the new circuit as "second rate" and who wanted no part of dealing with Connolly. Connolly himself co-owned the Buffalo franchise which was nicknamed the Bears. Buffalo was both the franchise closest to Connolly's native Canada and the one which most needed his capital behind it. The other three clubs were all owned by wealthy individuals who also owned their arenas. Connolly's partner owned the Buffalo arena and was willing to be a silent partner. Unfortunately for Connolly, his club was by far the least talented.
Connolly was surprised by the impressive work put in by Samuel Bigsby on his team - the New York Shamrocks. Bigsby reached out to knowledgeable ex-players in building a scouting and coaching organization that turned up the USHA's first breakout star in Charles Tattler who set a new professional record with 26 assists, while scoring 30 goals for a whopping 56 points in 24 games. Ironically, Tattler had played for Connolly's Toronto Silver Skates before serving in the Army during the war and then playing in his native Alberta rather than return to the NAHC. With Tattler dominating games, New York went 18-5-1 in the inaugural season, finishing 12 points ahead of Philadelphia and Boston who tied for second.
Connolly's Buffalo Bears finished 4-19-1, far behind the other three clubs. While the vast number of people in pro hockey who despised him cheered, Connolly seethed.
The TCHA had another competitive season, with Bill Yeadon's Victoria club narrowly edging his brother George's Vancouver squad by two points. Each finished with 13 wins, but thanks to a new rule limiting overtime to 20 minutes, the Capitals had two ties while the Pacifics had none, giving Victoria the margin they needed to claim the regular-season title. Victoria's Jack Blaney continued to be the league's top star, again leading the league in scoring with 29 points and assists with 12 and his 17 goals were topped only by Vancouver's Charles Rausse who scored 22. Portland finished last again, with an 8-14-2 mark.
In the NAHC, the Toronto Dukes who had expected to be a contender, fell flat and finished last at 9-14-1. The lone bright spot in Toronto was the play of Jack Barrell. The American-born winger led the league with 29 goals and his 36 points were second-best to Ottawa's Jim Beyer. Speaking of Ottawa, the Athletics posted their first sub-.500 record at 11-12-1, finishing a disappointing third as their typically tough defense and goaltending let them down. That left the two teams in the province of Quebec and though the Champlains enjoyed their best season in ages, it wasn't quite enough to top Montreal. Quebec's 12-10-2 mark left them two points behind the Valiants who went 12-8-4. With goalie Al Juneau turning in his best performance in ages, the Valiants allowed just one goal more than Quebec (82-81) and finished second in scoring as well, 91 to the 93 scored by the Dukes. The Vandenburg brothers, now united again in Montreal, led the way with Pete (18g, 9a) leading the team in scoring and Dolph (22g, 3a) second. Newcomer Ernest Bernier joined the Vals and scored 18 goals.
In Quebec, in what turned out to be his last season with the Champs, Paddy O'Donoghue scored 24 goals to finish third in the league and the defense pairing of Jack Carnell (9g, 14a) and Jimmy Leary (15g, 6a) had fine two-way seasons. Quebec's owners had put a lot of money into the team in hopes of winning and at the end of the season dealt their most valuable player to Montreal.
The postseason saw Victoria take on New York in a two-game, total-goals series. New York won the first game 4-2 but lost the second 5-2 to drop the series by a 7-6 margin. Victoria traveled to Montreal to face the Valiants. The series went five games but the Valiants prevailed, and the NAHC retained the cup and felt they had the last laugh on Connolly's whose champions couldn't even get to the Cup Finals.
NAHC Standings | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | TCHA Standings | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | USHA Standings | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | ||
Montreal Valiants | 24 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 28 | 91 | 82 | Victoria Capitals | 24 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 28 | 71 | 54 | New York Shamrocks | 24 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 37 | 118 | 71 | ||
Quebec Champlains | 24 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 26 | 89 | 81 | Vancouver Pacifics | 24 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 26 | 65 | 63 | Philadelphia Rascals | 24 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 25 | 111 | 92 | ||
Ottawa Athletics | 24 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 23 | 85 | 98 | Portland Reds | 24 | 8 | 14 | 2 | 18 | 60 | 79 | Boston Bees | 24 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 25 | 82 | 77 | ||
Toronto Dukes | 24 | 9 | 14 | 1 | 19 | 93 | 97 | Buffalo Bears | 24 | 4 | 19 | 1 | 9 | 68 | 139 |
NAHC SCORING LEADERS | ||||||||
Player | Goals | Player | Assists | Player | Points | |||
Jack Barrell, TOR | 29 | Philippe Boutin, TOR | 16 | Jim Beyer, OTT | 37 | |||
Jim Beyer, OTT | 26 | Jack Carnell, QUE | 14 | Jack Barrell, TOR | 36 | |||
Paddy O'Donoghue, QUE | 24 | Jim Beyer, OTT | 11 | Philippe Boutin, TOR | 33 | |||
Dolph Vandenburg, VAL | 22 | Three players tied | 10 | Paddy O'Donoghue, QUE | 31 | |||
Charlie Oliphant, OTT | 22 | Charlie Oliphant, OTT | 31 |
NAHC TOP GOALIE
Al Juneau, VAL: 12-8-4, 3.33 GAA 2 ShO
TCHA SCORING LEADERS | ||||||||
Player | Goals | Player | Assists | Player | Points | |||
Charles Rausse, VAN | 22 | Jack Blaney, VIC | 12 | Jack Blaney, VIC | 29 | |||
Jack Blaney, VIC | 17 | Charles Rausse, VAN | 10 | Charles Rausse, VAN | 25 | |||
Max Thibodeau, VIC | 15 | Malcolm Cummings, VAN | 9 | Peter Norlock, POR | 22 | |||
Ben Laramee, POR | 15 | Peter Norlock, POR | 8 | Max Thibodeau, VIC | 22 | |||
Tom Denson, POR | 15 | Two players tied | 7 | Malcolm Cummings, VAN | 22 |
TCHA TOP GOALIE
Al Sutherland, VIC: 13-9-2, 2.13 GAA, 4 ShO
USHA SCORING LEADERS | ||||||||
Player | Goals | Player | Assists | Player | Points | |||
George Mitchell, BOS | 34 | Charles Tattler, NYS | 26 | Charles Tattler, NYS | 56 | |||
Charles Tattler, NYS | 30 | John X. Smith, NYS | 14 | George Mitchell, BOS | 41 | |||
Charlie Gagnon, PHI | 29 | Charlie Gagnon, PHI | 12 | Charlie Gagnon, PHI | 40 | |||
Art Flanagan, NYS | 26 | Four players tied | 8 | John X. Smith, NYS | 34 | |||
Danny McLachlan, PHI | 24 | Art Flanagan, NYS | 33 |
TCHA TOP GOALIE
Fred Brown, NYS: 13-1-0, 2.73 GAA, 2 ShO