Eddie Livingstone - National Hockey Association

National Hockey Association

His success in amateur hockey prompted Livingstone to make the jump to the professional game by buying the struggling Toronto Ontarios of the National Hockey Association (NHA). During the 1914-15 season, the Ontarios traded in their orange sweaters for green and were renamed the Toronto Shamrocks. The team skated to a record of 7 wins and 13 losses, an improvement of three games over the 1913-14 campaign.

During the 1914-15 season, on February 3, 1915, Sammy Lichtenhein's Montreal Wanderers were awarded a game by forfeit over the Shamrocks. The Shamrocks had told the league that they couldn't put a full team on the ice without George McNamara and Howard McNamara, who were at the bedside of their ill father. Livingstone asked for a postponement, but Lichteinhein refused and the league ruled the game forfeited. In a gesture of sportsmanship, Lichtenhein then made an offer to reschedule the game and play the Shamrocks on March 6, 1915. Shortly after, with the Wanderers and Ottawa in a tight two-way race for the league championship, Livingstone demanded that Lichtenhein follow through on his offer to play the forfeited game. Lichteinhein was incensed and threatened to have Livingstone thrown out of the NHA. The Wanderers and Ottawa ended the season tied for first place. The NHA executive met on March 4 and decided to recognize the forfeit and not order the Wanderers to play the Shamrocks (the Wanderers were told to pay the Shamrocks $300—the amount they saved by not having to travel to Toronto in February). Instead, a two-game, total-goals series was scheduled between Montreal and Ottawa to determine the champion. The league also rejected Lichteinhein's request to have Livingstone expelled from the NHA. Livingstone and Lichtenhein would continue to feud for years. At one meeting during the 1916-17 campaign, Lichtenhein grew so infuriated that he offered Livingstone $3,000 to abandon his team. Livingstone countered with a $5,000 bid for Lichtenhein to shut down his Wanderers.

Before the 1915-16 season, Frank Robinson sold the Toronto Blueshirts — the NHA's other Toronto franchise — to Livingstone. The NHA didn't want one owner to have two clubs in the league, and Livingstone said that he would sell the Shamrocks. But Frank Patrick and Lester Patrick of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, who had accused the NHA of reneging on an agreement with their league, raided the Blueshirts and signed away most of the team's players. To fill the holes in his lineup, Livingstone transferred Shamrocks players to the Blueshirts, but that left him with little to sell in the Shamrocks. When he hadn't sold the team by the November 20, 1915 deadline set by the league, the NHA seized the franchise and kept it dormant for the season. Before the season began, Livingstone argued with the owners of Arena Gardens over the terms for the use of their facility and threatened to move his team to Boston. The NHA said that it would not allow the move.

The 1916-17 campaign was a stormy one for the NHA. Canada intensified its contribution to World War I, and a number of pro and amateur hockey players volunteered for military service. The 228th (Northern Fusiliers) Battalion, CEF of the Canadian infantry formed a team in the NHA, taking the place of the suspended Toronto Shamrocks franchise and sharing Arena Gardens with the Blueshirts. Meanwhile, Livingstone lost several of his Blueshirts to the war effort: Harry Cameron, George McNamara, Howard McNamara, and Percy LeSueur. Keats had also joined the 228th, and Livingstone protested to the league about the loss of his star player. The two clubs eventually reached an agreement where Keats was returned to the Blueshirts in exchange for the right to use LeSueur. Another of Livingstone's stars, Cy Denneny, had found full-time employment with the government in Ottawa and told the team that they could either trade him to Ottawa or he would sit out the season. Livingstone said that he wouldn't accept anyone but Frank Nighbor in a trade, or Ottawa could buy Denneny for $1,800—more than double the NHA record for a player sale. He then suspended Denneny in November for refusing to report. Livingstone also offered to take goaltender Clint Benedict for Denneny, but that offer was also rejected by Ottawa. Late in January 1917, it seemed that Livingstone had traded Denneny to the Montreal Wanderers for goaltender Billy Hague—Denneny even signed an agreement with Montreal—but Livingstone backed out of the deal with his nemesis Sammy Lichtenhein. Livingstone ultimately capitulated and sold Denneny to Ottawa, but not before raising the ire of Tommy Gorman in Ottawa and Lichteinhein in Montreal.