Seattle Metropolitans


The Seattle Metropolitans were a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle, Washington, which played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1915 to 1924. During their nine seasons, the Mets were the PCHA's most successful franchise; their 112-96 overall record better than second place Vancouver's 109-97 record. The Mets won five PCHA Championships to Vancouver's four with Seattle finishing second on three other occasions.
The Metropolitans made seven postseason appearances in their nine seasons, playing for the Stanley Cup three times between 1916-17 and 1919-20. The Mets won the Stanley Cup in 1917, tied for the Cup in 1919 and lost in five games in 1920. The inspiring story of the Mets' 1917 championship, making Seattle the first American team to win the Cup, was chronicled in the 2019 book, When It Mattered Most. Seattle's Stanley Cup championship occurred 11 years before the New York Rangers became the National Hockey League's first American franchise to win the Cup in 1928.
The Metropolitans played their home games at the 2,500 seat Seattle Ice Arena located downtown at 5th and University.

History

The Metropolitans were formed in 1915 as an expansion team by Frank and Lester Patrick, the owners of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. The team's name was derived from the Metropolitan Building Company, the entity that built the Seattle Ice Arena on the University of Washington's Metropolitan Tract property.
A long simmering player war between the NHA and PCHA exploded once again in 1915 when the Patricks caught the Ottawa Senators trying to poach Vancouver's best player, Cyclone Taylor. In response, the Patricks raided the Toronto Blueshirts who were falling apart that offseason, signing Eddie Carpenter, Frank Foyston, Hap Holmes, Jack Walker and Cully Wilson for the Metropolitans. The Blueshirts had won the Stanley Cup in 1914 and this immediately provided Seattle with a competitive squad. To complete the roster, Pete Muldoon signed forward Bobby Rowe and offered a tryout to center Bernie Morris who had both been reserves the previous season in Victoria and cut by the team that summer. Muldoon immediately moved Rowe to defense where he thrived and Morris quickly made the team, scoring the game winning goal in the Mets' first game and eventually became a 5x PCHA All-Star. Roy Rickey was signed a few weeks into the inaugural season after he was released by Vancouver to complete the expansion roster and the final Mets' stalwart Jim Riley was signed just prior to the 1916-17 season when he too was cut by Victoria.
In an era of one-year contracts and rampant player movement, the Metropolitans roster remained remarkably stable. With a typical roster of nine skaters, the Mets had seven players spend seven or more seasons in Seattle. Foyston, Walker and Rowe played all nine campaigns while Morris, Holmes and Rickey spent eight years with the Mets and Jim Riley seven, missing 1918 while serving overseas in World War I.
The team's official scorer was legendary Seattle journalist Royal Brougham who covered the Metropolitans, Sonics, Seahawks and Mariners during his 68-year career at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

First U.S. Stanley Cup

Seattle won the 1917 championship by defeating the National Hockey Association's Montreal Canadiens three games to one by a combined score of 23–11. The heavily favored Canadiens trounced the Metropolitans in Game One despite only arriving in Seattle that morning. The Mets would storm back to win Games Two, Three, and Four, outscoring Montreal 19-3. Fourteen of Seattle's goals were scored by Bernie Morris. Games one and three were played under PCHA rules, i.e., seven players per side, forward passing in the neutral zone, and no substitution for penalized players. Games two and four were played under NHA rules, i.e., six players per side, no forward passing, substitutions allowed.

Later Years in PCHA

After winning the 1917 Stanley Cup the Metropolitans also played in the Stanley Cup finals in 1919 and 1920, when they lost to the Ottawa Senators.
The day the 1919 playoffs began, star center Bernie Morris was arrested and jailed at Fort Lewis for draft evasion, despite being a Canadian citizen. Without their best scorer, the Mets still annihilated the Vancouver Millionaires in the PCHA championship series and jumped out to a 2-1 lead through Game Three of the Stanley Cup Final, outscoring Montreal 16-6 as Seattle's best player, Frank Foyston, scored eight goals. Game Four of the 1919 Stanley Cup Final is regarded as perhaps the greatest game ever played, resulting in a scoreless tie after two overtime periods with players collapsing on the ice from exhaustion at the final whistle. The Mets' Cully Wilson netted the lone puck on the night only to have it waved off by referee Mickey Ion who decided time had expired a split second before the goal. The Mets jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third period of Game Five before exhaustion consumed the short-handed Mets. Montreal scored three goals in the final period to tie the game and force a second consecutive overtime match. With Frank Foyston injured in the period and Jack Walker out with a broken skate, Cully Wilson collapsed on the ice as the Canadiens scored the game winner to send the series to an unprecedented sixth game. The next morning, the Spanish flu pandemic ravishing the globe struck the two teams, ultimately killing Montreal's Joe Hall and hospitalizing four other Canadiens. Without the ability to field a team, Montreal offered to forfeit the Cup though the offer was declined by Frank Patrick and Pete Muldoon who felt championships should be won on the ice.
During the 1920 Stanley Cup finals, the Ottawa Senators would don solid white Jerseys to avoid confusion with Seattle's barber pole style of green, red and white. Game Four and Five of the series was subsequently relocated from Ottawa to Toronto's mutual artificial ice surface at Toronto's Mutual Street Arena due to poor ice conditions.
The PCHA consisted of four teams for the 1915-16 and 1916-17 seasons, while operating under only three teams from 1917-18 until its final season in 1923-1924. From 1922-23, games against the Western Canada Hockey League counted in the PCHA standings. This allowed Seattle to have a losing record yet still win the league regular season championship in 1924. After the season, the owners of the newly built Olympic Hotel told the University that they needed the Seattle Ice Arena as a parking garage. The UW bought out the final year on the team's lease, sending the franchise's leadership scrambling to secure funding to build a new arena. When it became apparent they would not succeed, the Metropolitans folded with the core of the team joining Victoria. Vancouver and Victoria joined the WCHL for the 1924-1925 season with the Portland franchise playing the final western season of 1925-26.

Tributes

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
PCHA seasonGPWLTPTSGFGAPIMLeague
Finish		Playoffs
1915–1618990186867--2ndN/A
1916–172416803212580--1stLeague champions
Won Stanley Cup over Montreal Canadiens 3-1
1917–18181170226765--1stLost PCHA final to Vancouver Millionaires 3-2
1918–19201190226646--2ndWon league championship over Vancouver Millionaires 7-5.
No decision in Stanley Cup final with Montreal Canadiens
1919–202212100245955--1stWon league championship over Vancouver Millionaires 6-3.
Lost Stanley Cup final to Ottawa Senators 3-2
1920–212412111257768--2ndLost PCHA final to Vancouver Millionaires 13-2
1921–222412111256564--1stLost PCHA final to Vancouver Millionaires 2-0
1922–23301515030100106--3rdDid not qualify
1923–243014160288499--1st'''Lost PCHA final to Vancouver Maroons 4-3

Metropolitans' Statistical Top-10s

SeasonPlayerGoalsYearCareerPlayerGoalsYears Played
1Bernie Morris371916-171Frank Foyston1741916-24
2Frank Foyston361916-172Bernie Morris1481916-23
3Frank Foyston261919-203Jim Riley901917-24
Frank Foyston261920-214Jack Walker821916-24
5Jim Riley231920-215Cully Wilson441916-19
Jim Riley231922-236Bobby Rowe421916-24
Bernie Morris231915-167Gordon Fraser231922-24
8Bernie Morris221918-198Roy Rickey211916-23
9Bernie Morris211922-239Doc Roberts201918
10Frank Foyston201922-2310Charlie Tobin141920-21
Bernie Morris201917-18----
Doc Roberts201917-18----

SeasonPlayerAssistsYearCareerPlayerAssistsYears Played
1Bernie Morris171916-171Bernie Morris731916-23
2Jack Walker151916-172Jack Walker571916-24
3Bernie Morris131920-213Frank Foyston531916-24
4Bernie Morris121917-184Bobby Rowe371916-24
Frank Foyston121916-175Jim Riley251917-24
6Bobby Rowe111916-176Cully Wilson231916-19
7Smokey Harris101923-247Roy Rickey191916-23
Bernie Morris101921-228Gordon Fraser111922-24
9Bernie Morris91915-169Smokey Harris101924
10Jack Walker81922-2310Lester Patrick81918
Frank Foyston81922-23----
Lester Patrick81917-18----
Jack Walker81918-19----

SeasonPlayerPointsYearCareerPlayerPointsYears Played
1Bernie Morris541916-171Frank Foyston2271916-24
2Frank Foyston361916-172Bernie Morris2211916-23
3Bernie Morris321917-183Jack Walker1391916-24
Bernie Morris321915-164Jim Riley1151917-24
5Frank Foyston311920-215Bobby Rowe791916-24
6Frank Foyston291919-206Cully Wilson671916-19
Bernie Morris291918-197Roy Rickey401916-23
8Frank Foyston281922-238Gordon Fraser341922-24
Jim Riley281920-219Doc Roberts231918
10Jim Riley271922-2310Smokey Harris181924
Charlie Tobin181920-21

Hall of Famers

Five honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame are recognized as part of the Seattle Metropolitans team.

  • Frank C. Foyston
  • Harry Holmes
  • Lester Patrick
  • John Phillip Walker
  • Gordon Roberts