From the shadowy first years of NHL hockey, the forgotten tale of Hamilton's short-lived NHL franchise, and the owner-player conflict that killed a team the town loved
Hamilton's Hockey Tigers is the colourful story of the only NHL team ever to go on strike. After four years in the NHL basement, the Hamilton Tigers -- scrappers from northern Ontario, most of them -- were top of the league and ready to fight for the 1925 Stanley Cup. But in an era when amateurs could make more than their professional brothers, the team's ten hard-slogging players took a stand over what they believed was an issue of just treatment and fair pay. They went on strike. Neither side backed down, the Tigers lost their chance at the Cup, and in the summer of 1925 the team was sold to a New York rumrunner and became the New York Americans. The game of hockey in Hamilton -- and the NHL -- was forever changed.
A ripping good story, set in the roaring twenties of the Ambitious City, the issues at its heart -- labour relations between management and players, expansion of the game south of the border, and rule changes involving goalies and lines on the ice -- are as current and relevant as today's sports headlines.
Contents
Foreword by Don Cherry
Introduction
Part I — The Beginnings
Chapter 1: December 22, 1920
Chapter 2: The Early NHL
Chapter 3: The Bulldogs (The Battle for Quebec)
Part II — Life in the Basement
Chapter 4: The First Season
Chapter 5: The Second Season
Chapter 6: Art Ross's Team
Part III — Hamilton Loses a Winner
Chapter 7: Arrival of the Greens
Chapter 8: The Final Season
Chapter 9: The Strike
Chapter 10: Life in New York City
Afterword: Hamilton Hockey since the Tigers
"A chunk of Hamilton history that has finally, and thankfully, found a home. ...This is a worthy addition to the libraries of Hamilton hockey nuts."
- Hamilton Spectator
