One thing that everyone owner in each of the three "major" hockey leagues in 1922-23 knew was this: it's all about the box office. In these days before radio started bringing the game into people's homes, it was the ticket purchaser who paid the bills. And though the free-for-all of signing each others' players had ended and the three loops were selling and trading players among themselves, the owners were businessmen first - so it was all about getting "fannies in the seats."

In Toronto, the attraction was the high-powered duo of Jack Barrell and newly imported Charles Rausse. In Montreal, the fans were grumbling about the departure of Gevis Murphy, but still had the Vandenburg brothers, and a couple of new favorites in a pair of Quebecois youngsters named Ernest Bernier and Rene Mailloux. Ottawa had Davey Vert, Charlie Oliphant, Efrem Massicotte and "the other" Bernier brother, Harry. Quebec had Paddy O'Donoghue to Montreal leaving the fans unhappy, though they still cheered hard-hitting Hank Lucas, scrappy Joseph Bently and Hank Walley. But of all the would-be marquee players, the one who shone brightest was Barrell.

Jack Barrell led his team to a 30-point season, finishing 14-8-2, one win behind Ottawa with whom they'd play a two-game, total-goals series to get into the Cup finals. The Dukes' deal that brought in Rausse from the TCHA paid immediate dividends - Barrell repeated as the top goal scorer (his 27 goals tying him with Charlie Oliphant of Ottawa) while Rausse was fourth (20). The presence of Rausse made Barrell a better passer as well as he racked up 12 assists. "Jock" finished second to Oliphant 39 points to 40 (Rausse was 4th with 29). Ottawa led the league in scoring (90 goals) but Vert had a bit of an off-year and was topped by Henry Gemmill of Toronto for the best GAA in the league. Still Ottawa allowed the second fewest goals. Toronto bested Ottawa in goal differential +20 to +19. Montreal was a bit of a disappointment - for one thing, O'Donoghue was essentially done, scoring just one goal in 20 games, all off the bench. The Valiants did have a bright future - Ernest Bernier and Rene Mailloux were solid young players who would (it was thought) only get better. Quebec was terrible, winning just six games and though they scored 84 goals, they allowed a whopping 106.

In the TCHA, the big draw was war-and-Olympic hero Jack Blaney and boy, oh boy was he on fire in 1922-23. The Victoria star potted 37 goals in 24 games, added 15 assists and was by far the best player west of the Rockies. His 52-point effort gave him the scoring title by an 18 point margin over Vancouver's Malcolm Cummings who had a pretty good year himself for the repeat champions (24 goals, 10 assists). No other player in the TCHA topped 16 goals. The western loop was beginning to have some financial problems as the emergence of a second Eastern loop with much larger cities began to make it difficult for the TCHA to sign top-level amateurs. The Yeadons, good businessmen both, began to contemplate an end-game for their league while looking to maintain their own places in the sport. 

Vancouver posted a 17-7-0 mark to win the TCHA crown again. Victoria was 11-11-2 and Portland struggled to a 6-16-2 mark. 

The USHA took the ice for its second season looking to build on the success of the first. New York remained the 100-lb gorilla, again winning the title, though this time they got some suprise competition from Boston. What the Bigsbys brought in terms of cash, Frank Denny brought in pure hockey sense. The Boston owner had found himself a star in Frank Gerow, found a nice complementary scorer in Mickey Chenard and a sparkplug in defenseman Bill "Badger" Rigney. All of it added up to a surprisingly tough club that went 15-8-1 and finished just four points behind Bigsby's Shamrocks (17-6-1). Jack Connolly had rolled the dice on Gevis Murphy, and it paid off - sort of - with Buffalo finishing third thanks to a capable offense that was derailed by an incompetent defense. Buffalo scored 80 goals, with Murphy leading the way with a league-best 26, but they allowed 118, by far the most in the USHA. Last-place Philadelphia was the victim of an anemic offense that scored just 66 goals. The defense wasn't particularly good either, but 25 goals better than Buffalo's putrid total (93 to 118). 

The two game playoff in the NAHC pitted two very solid all-around clubs. Ottawa won the first game 3-0 and lost the second 3-1, giving them a one-goal edge in total tallies and sending them to the Challenge Cup finals for the first time since 1920. Facing them would be Vancouver, who easily defeated New York 3-0 and 4-1. The Athletics were on a roll however, with Vert at the top of his game, and easily handled the Pacifics in four games, winning games one and two by identical 3-1 scores, losing game three by a 2-1 margin and then winning the Cup on a 1-0 gem in game four.

NAHC TOP GOALIE

Henry Gemmill, TOR: 14-8-2, 2.66 GAA, 0 ShO

TCHA TOP GOALIE

Adam Scott, VAN: 17-3-0, 2.41 GAA, 0 ShO

TCHA TOP GOALIE

Fred Brown, NYS: 16-6-1, 3.08 GAA, 0 ShO