1925 Stanley Cup Final

Path to the Finals

Main article: 1924–25 NHL season, 1924–25 WCHL season

Prior to the season, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) folded and two of its teams, the Cougars and the Vancouver Maroons joined the WCHL. Victoria finished the 1924–25 WCHL regular season in third place, but eventually upset the Calgary Tigers in the two-game total goals WCHL championship series by a combined score of 3–1.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens also finished the NHL regular season in third place. In the NHL playoffs, Montreal went on to beat the second place Toronto St. Patricks, 5–2, in a two-game total goals series. The winner of that series was to go on and play the first place Hamilton Tigers. However, the Tigers were suspended after Hamilton players staged a strike in an attempt to receive more compensation because the league extended the regular season from 24 to 30 games. As a result, the Canadiens were declared the 1924–25 NHL champions.

Game summaries

With the demise of the PCHA, the Stanley Cup playoffs reverted to a single best-of-five series to determine the champion. However, the Cup Finals still annually rotated between the east and the west, and thus all of the games in the 1925 Finals were played on the West Coast. Games one, three, and four were played at the 4,200 seat Patrick Arena in Victoria; game two was played at the Denman Arena in Vancouver. The decision to use the larger Denman Arena (10,500 seats) for game two was based on the huge demand for tickets. The Cougars jumped to a two games to none series lead with 5–2 and 3–1 victories, but the Canadiens won game three, 4–2. In game four, Gizzy Hart scored the game-winning goal in Victoria's 6–1 win to clinch the Cup.

Cougars goaltender Hap Holmes recorded a 2.00 goal-against average for the series. Jack Walker led Victoria in goals with four, while Frank Fredrickson scored three. Overall, eight different player combining for the Cougars' 16 goals.

|1-1-1 =3:50 - Jack Walker (1) 11:55 - Haldor Halderson (1) |1-1-2 =No scoring |1-2-1 =3:22 - Jack Walker (2) |1-2-2 =No scoring |1-3-1 =3:22 - Gord Fraser (1) 14:06 - Gord Fraser (2) |1-3-2 =Billy Coutu (1) - 13:38 Howie Morenz (4) - 19:06 |goalie1-1 =Hap Holmes |goalie1-2 =Georges Vezina

|2-1-1 =8:15 - Jack Walker (3) 15:40 - Frank Fredrickson (1) |2-1-2 =No scoring |2-2-1 =No scoring |2-2-2 =Aurele Joliat (1) - 1:18 |2-3-1 =8:52 - Jack Walker (4) |2-3-2 =No scoring |goalie2-1 =Hap Holmes |goalie2-2 =Georges Vezina

|3-1-1 =9:00 - Jocko Anderson (1) |3-1-2 =Howie Morenz (5) - 4:32 |3-2-1 =No scoring |3-2-2 =No scoring |3-3-1 =1:49 - Gizzy Hart (1) |3-3-2 =Aurele Joliat (2) - 5:50 Howie Morenz (6) - 7:30 Howie Morenz (7) - 18:52 |goalie3-1 =Hap Holmes |goalie3-2 =Georges Vezina

|4-1-1 =5:05 - Frank Fredrickson (2) |4-1-2 =No scoring |4-2-1 =1:35 - Gizzy Hart (2) 16:25 - Haldor Halderson (2) 00:00 - Frank Foyston (1) |4-2-2 =Billy Boucher (2) - 11:38 |4-3-1 =7:05 - Frank Fredrickson (3) 16:31 - Clem Loughlin (1) |4-3-2 =No scoring |goalie4-1 =Hap Holmes |goalie4-2 =Georges Vezina

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1925 Stanley Cup was presented to Cougars captain Clem Loughlin by the trophy's trustee William Foran, following the Cougars 6–1 win over the Canadiens in game four.

The following Cougars players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1924–25 Victoria Cougars goaltenders=*1 Harry Hap Holmes

• 9 Gord Fraser
• 11 "Slim" Haldor Halderson
• 4 Frank Foyston
• 6 Wally Elmer
• 5 Harold Gizzy Hart
• 8 Harry Meeking
• 7 Jack Walker |non-players=
• Lester Patrick (Owner-President/Manager-Coach)
• Larry Brunnell (Trainer)&

&-name is missing from the Stanley Cup. |engraving-notes=

• After the series win, a new angled ring with the words "Won/By/'Cougars' Victoria, B.C. 1925" was added between the original bowl of the Cup and the original first ring of the base. All players and the manager were included on the new ring, but trainer Larry Brunnell was left off.
• Victoria players Frank Fredrickson and Haldor Halderson became the first players to win both an Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup. Fredrickson and Halderson had been members of the Winnipeg Falcons who won gold at the 1920 Olympic Games.

References

;Notes

before = Montreal Canadiens 1924 | after = Montreal Maroons 1926 | title = Victoria Cougars Stanley Cup champions | years = 1925|

References

1. (March 19, 1925). "First Game Saturday". Montreal Gazette.
2. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081024202544/http://www.salmonkings.com/the-team/hockey-history/victoria.html "Colorful Canadiens"] Victoria Hockey History. Retrieved 2010-09-16
3. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Fr8DH2VBP9sC&dat=19250331&printsec=frontpage “Canadiens Leave Stanley Cup With Victoria Cougars”] The Montreal Gazette newspaper – March 31, 1925, page 14. Retrieved 2010-09-16