| Year: | 1917 |
| Format: | best-of-five |
| Team1: | Seattle Metropolitans (PCHA) |
| Team1 Short: | Seattle |
| Team1 1: | 4 |
| Team1 2: | 6 |
| Team1 3: | 4 |
| Team1 4: | 9 |
| Team1 Tot: | 3 |
| Team2: | Montreal Canadiens (NHA) |
| Team2 Short: | Montreal |
| Team2 1: | 8 |
| Team2 2: | 1 |
| Team2 3: | 1 |
| Team2 4: | 1 |
| Team2 Tot: | 1 |
| Table-Note: |
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| Team1 Coach: | Pete Muldoon |
| Team2 Coach: | George Kennedy |
| Dates: | March 17–26, 1917 |
| Location1: | Seattle |
| Series Winner: | Bernie Morris (7:55, first, G4) |
| Hofers: | Metropolitans: Frank Foyston (1958) Hap Holmes (1972) Jack Walker (1960) Canadiens: Newsy Lalonde (1950) Jack Laviolette (1963) Reg Noble (1962) Didier Pitre (1963) Tommy Smith (1973) Georges Vezina (1945) Coaches: Newsy Lalonde (1950, player) |
The 1917 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Seattle Metropolitans and the National Hockey Association (NHA) and Stanley Cup defending champion Montreal Canadiens. Seattle defeated Montreal three games to one in a best-of-five game series to become the first team from the United States to win the Cup. The series was also the first Stanley Cup Finals to be played in the United States,[1] and the last Stanley Cup Finals to not feature a National Hockey League team, as the NHA rebranded as the NHL in November 1917.
See main article: 1916–17 NHA season and 1916–17 PCHA season.
Seattle won the PCHA title after finishing the 1916–17 regular season in first place with a 16–8 record. Meanwhile, Montreal, who was the champion of the first half of the NHA season, advanced to the final series after narrowly defeating the Ottawa Senators, 7–6, in a two-game total-goals playoff series to end the 1916–17 NHA season.
The games of the Finals were played at the Seattle Ice Arena. Games one and three were played under PCHA seven-man rules; games two and four were played under NHA six-man rules. Bernie Morris scored 14 of Seattle's 23 total goals for the series, including six in their 9–1 victory in game four.[2] Future Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Hap Holmes recorded a 2.90 goals-against average for the Mets.
Montreal Canadiens NHA champion roster - George Vezina goalie, Bert Corbeau defence, Harry Mummery defence, Edouard "Newsy" Lalonde (Captain) Center-Rover Tommy Smith center, Didier Pitre right wing, Reginald "Reg" Noble left wing, Jack Laviolette left wing, Louis Berlinguette left wing, Wilfred "Billy" Coutu defence spares - Sarsfield "Steve" Malone center, George "Skinner" Poulin center, Jules Rochon - defence Harold "Hal" McNamara defence Dave Majors defence, Arthur Brooks defence, Joe Maltais right wing, U.P. Boulder (President), George "Kennedy" Kendall (Owner/Manager-Coach),
Seattle Metropolitans PCHA champion roster - Harry "Happy" Holmes goalie, Roy Rickey defence, Everard "Ed" Carpenter defence, Jack Walker rover-right wing, Bernie Morris center, Frank Foyston (Captain) left wings, Jim Riley left wing, Bobby "Stubby" Rowe defence, Carol "Cully" Wilson right wing, Pete Muldoon (Owner/Manager-Coach).
| Game-by-game | Winning team | Score | Losing team | Rules used | Location | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 17 | Montreal Canadiens | 8–4 | Seattle Metropolitans | PCHA | Seattle Ice Arena | |
| 2 | March 20 | Seattle Metropolitans | 6–1 | Montreal Canadiens | NHA | ||
| 3 | March 23 | Seattle Metropolitans | 4–1 | Montreal Canadiens | PCHA | ||
| 4 | March 26 | Seattle Metropolitans | 9–1 | Montreal Canadiens | NHA | ||
| Metropolitans win best-of-five series 3 games to 1 | |||||||
The 1917 Stanley Cup was presented by the trophy's trustee William Foran. The Metropolitans never did engrave their name on the Cup for their championship season.
It was not until the trophy was redesigned in 1948 that the words "1917 Seattle Metropolitans" was put onto its then-new collar.
The following Metropolitans players and staff were members of the Stanley Cup winning team.
1916–17 Seattle Metropolitans
The Seattle Kraken revealed and hung a banner in honor of their forerunners' achievement on October 27, 2021, the night they hosted the Canadiens for the first time; if one does not include a 1961 exhibition game against the Seattle Totems, the Canadiens had not played a game of professional hockey in Seattle in 102 years – since the 1919 Stanley Cup Finals that was never completed due to the Spanish flu pandemic.[7]