Format best-of-three | Dates March 29–31 Start date March 29, 1923 | |
Coaches Ottawa: Pete GreenEdmonton: Ken McKenzine Similar 1920 Stanley Cup Finals, 1918 Stanley Cup Finals, 1917 Stanley Cup Finals, 1919 Stanley Cup Finals, 1927 Stanley Cup Finals | ||
The 1923 Stanley Cup Final was contested by the NHL champion Ottawa Senators and the WCHL champion Edmonton Eskimos. The previous WCHL-PCHA playoff format was abandoned, and the Ottawa Senators now had to play first the PCHA champion Vancouver Maroons, followed by the WCHL champion Edmonton Eskimos in the Final.
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This would be the last Final until the 1983 Final to be contested by a team from Edmonton. Both games were played in Vancouver, making this the last Final played entirely at a neutral site (the 1924 and 1925 Finals each featured one neutral site game).
Paths to the Final
In the NHL playoff, the Senators defeated the Montreal Canadiens in a 2 game total-goal series by a close 3–2 score in the series.
The playoff format of the previous year where the PCHA champion met the WCHL champion prior to playing the NHL champion was abandoned. Therefore, for this year, the PCHA champions were given the chance to play the NHL champion in a best-of-three series. The Senators then defeated Vancouver 3 games to 1 in the semi-finals.
The series
In the first game, Edmonton was leading 1–0, on a goal by Crutchy Morrison, before Lionel Hitchman scored in the third period to tie the game. Duke Keats of Edmonton was awarded a penalty shot during the game, but failed to score. Cy Denneny scored after two minutes of overtime to win the game for the Senators.
In the second game, the Senators got a first period goal from Harry Broadbent and made it stand to the end of the game, playing six-man defense. The shots were recorded; 21, 14 and 13 for a total of 48 by the Senators, and 25, 18, and 25 for a total of 68 by Edmonton. Several players could not play the whole game, including Eddie Gerard and Georges Boucher. Lionel Hitchman played the game with his broken nose in a plaster. Harry Helman played despite a cut to his face from Frank Nighbor's skates, incurred in practice. Cy Denneny had been cut in the leg by the skate of Vancouver's Smokey Harris. 'Super-sub' King Clancy took a turn in all positions, including goal for Clint Benedict in the third period for two minutes when Benedict was serving a penalty. At the time goalies had to serve their own penalties. This is only time that a player played all six positions in a Stanley Cup Final game.
Stanley Cup engraving
The Senators never did engrave their name on the Cup for their 1923 championship. It was not until the trophy was redesigned in 1948 that the words "1923 Ottawa Senators" was put onto its then-new collar.