Historian reveals how Millionaires won Stanley Cup

1915 champions changed hockey's rules

The 1914-1915 Vancouver Millionaires, months before they won the Stanley Cup. Fred "Cyclone" Taylor (back row, second from right) led the PCHA in scoring, while Catholic Frank "Pembroke Peach" Nighbor, (front row, far right) gave opposing stars fits with his determined back-checking. Frank Patrick (front row, centre) was the player-coach.
(Special to The B.C. Catholic.)

Canucks fans can take solace from the fact that a Vancouver hockey team once hoisted Lord Stanley's Cup. Unfortunately, that was way back in 1915. Historian Craig Bowlsby explained at a Vancouver Public Library lecture how the Vancouver Millionaires fundamentally altered the game:

Catholic Frank the "Pembroke Peach" Nighbor, a Hockey Hall of Famer, was a rare on-ice sight: a player who combined tremendous skill and gentlemanly conduct. He won his first Stanley Cup as a Vancouver Millionaire in 1915. 

Long before the dreaded term "hockey-related revenue" entered the sports lexicon, Nighbor skated through a world of Edwardian era manliness; violence was as prized as a breakaway goal. 

How did the "Peach" and the Millionaires change hockey's rules and win the Stanley Cup? Historian Craig Bowlsby reveals the answers in his new book, Empire of Ice: The Rise and Fall of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). 

He began with brothers Frank and Lester Patrick founding the PCHA in 1911, when "the coolest game" was played quite differently.

Read the full article here.