Vancouver Millionaires - History

History

In 1911, the Patrick brothers Frank and Lester, inaugurated their own professional ice hockey league on the west coast, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, giving birth to three teams, one of which was the Vancouver Millionaires. Frank aligned himself with Vancouver, playing for, coaching and managing the team. In order to earn credibility as a league, the PCHA lured players from the NHA, and in 1912, the Millionaires acquired the highly-touted Cyclone Taylor, who would play for and star in Vancouver for the following ten seasons — the remainder of his career. During his tenure in Vancouver, Taylor tallied 263 points in 131 games.

Upon the 1914-1915 season, the NHA and PCHA came to an agreement that each league's respective champion would play for the Stanley Cup; in the first year of this agreement, the Millionaires — led by Patrick and Taylor — emerged as league champion and defeated the Ottawa Senators to earn their first and only Stanley Cup championship. In a best-of-five series played at Denman Arena, the Millionaires swept Ottawa by scores of 6-2, 8-3, and 12-3; Taylor led the team with 6 goals. At the time, it was the furthest west the Cup had been awarded and is Vancouver's only Stanley Cup champion.

In 1918, Vancouver would once again compete for the Stanley Cup, defeating the Seattle Metropolitans in a two-game final for the PCHA title, but would be defeated by the Toronto Arenas of the NHL (evolved from the NHA) three games to two. Between 1918 and 1924, Vancouver would win the PCHA title in five of seven seasons. However, in 1919, due to a flu epidemic, a Stanley Cup match was not arranged, and in 1921 and 1922, they were defeated by the Ottawa Senators and Toronto St. Pats in back-to-back Cup Finals, respectively. In 1922, the team changed its name to the Vancouver Maroons and, although league champion in the PCHA's final two seasons, Vancouver would not compete for the Stanley Cup. As a result of the newly-founded Western Canada Hockey League, the PCHA champion would have to defeat the WCHL champion en route to a Cup series against the NHL champion; the Maroons would fall to the Edmonton Eskimos in 1923 and the Calgary Tigers in 1924.

Following the 1923-1924 season, the Maroons were absorbed by the WCHL upon the PCHA's demise, but would not achieve the same success of the previous years. In 1926, the WCHL suffered the same fate of the PCHA, and after fifteen years, the team subsequently folded, as well.

In 1999, local rock star and bodybuilder Jon Mikl Thor started VM Sports, a company to market a line of Millionaires apparel. Since there were no genuine Millionaires sweaters extant since a fire destroyed Denman Arena in 1936, Thor trademarked the Vancouver Millionaires name and the "Victory V" logo. On May 1, 2008, the BC Sports Hall Of Fame was donated one such Millionaires sweater from VM Sports, which is now featured in the Hall's Cyclone Taylor display. On October 1, 2010 the Vancouver Canucks parent company, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, acquired the Vancouver Millionaires trademark from Thor.

In honour of the Millionaires as the city's only Stanley Cup-winning team, the Vancouver Giants, a major junior Western Hockey League (WHL) team, wore Millionaires jerseys during their November 21, 2008 game against the Kamloops Blazers on the team's "Stanley Cup Legends Night". That same month, the Canucks unveiled their new third jerseys, including a new shoulder logo that pays tribute to the Millionaires by including a "V".