Stanley Cup 1920

Lore & Background

The 1919–20 season opened in an atmosphere of uncertainty. The NHL had just been born from the ashes of the NHA, and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association still held its own claim to the Stanley Cup. Four teams — Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Maroons, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto Blueshirts — entered the league's inaugural round-robin, and Ottawa immediately announced themselves as the standard-bearers. Their pace, physicality, and offensive firepower set them apart from the very first week.

Cy Denneny was the engine of that attack, a left winger whose quick hands and relentless forecheck made him the most feared player on the ice. Frank Fredrickson, the captain, anchored the line with a two-way game that balanced power with discipline. Together they formed a duo that opponents struggled to contain, and their chemistry carried Ottawa to the top of the standings and through the NHL semifinal.

The Cup final against the Seattle Metropolitans carried the weight of two leagues and two continents of hockey. Seattle, a PCHA power, had the speed and the depth to challenge anyone. But Ottawa's experience — they had already won six Stanley Cups in the pre-NHL era — showed in the poise of their performances. The series was won with the kind of controlled, hard-nosed excellence that defined the franchise, and the Senators carried the Cup back to Ottawa to a city that had never stopped believing in its hockey team.

In Their Own Story

The ice in Ottawa's arena was scarred and grooved from a full season of battles, the boards dented where skates had bitten deep. Cy Denneny laced his skates in the back corridor, the smell of cold rubber and canvas sharp in the April air. Frank Fredrickson clapped him on the shoulder — no speech, just a nod. The crowd beyond the glass was a low, sustained roar, the kind that vibrates in your sternum. They skated out under the gaslight glow, sticks dragging, and the first puck drop felt less like a game and more like a coronation. Ottawa had been waiting a hundred years to be the best, and tonight, in this first year of the new league, they finally were.

Reader's Guide

The 1920 Stanley Cup was Ottawa's first title under the NHL banner, won during the league's inaugural 1919–20 season. The Senators topped the four-team NHL round-robin standings, then advanced through the league's internal playoff to become the NHL champion.

The Cup final pitted Ottawa against the Seattle Metropolitans, champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. The series was contested in the spring of 1920, a best-of-three format typical of the era. Ottawa's depth, scoring, and championship experience — they had already claimed six Cups in the NHA and earlier amateur eras — proved decisive against Seattle's Pacific speed.

The significance of this Cup cannot be overstated in Ottawa's history. It validated the NHL's founding premise and gave the Senators a defining moment in the new league's infancy. Cy Denneny and Frank Fredrickson, the twin pillars of the attack, became the faces of that first NHL championship. For the city of Ottawa, the 1920 Cup was a reminder that the franchise's greatness was not a relic of the pre-war era but a living, ongoing tradition. It set the template for the 1927 and 1932 Cups that followed in the 1920s and 1930s, anchoring the Senators among the original dynasty clubs of the sport.

Did You Know?

• The 1920 Stanley Cup was the first ever awarded under the NHL banner, making the Senators the league's first NHL champions.
• Ottawa had already won six Stanley Cups in the pre-NHL era (1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1909, 1911), so the 1920 Cup was their seventh overall.
• The 1919 Stanley Cup was never played due to a tragic bus accident involving the Seattle Metropolitans and the influenza pandemic, making 1920 the first Cup awarded after that dark season.
• Cy Denneny, a key offensive force in the 1920 Cup run, later went on to have a Hall of Fame career and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.