Toronto Arenas

The Toronto Arenas, also called the Torontos, were a professional men's ice hockey team that played in the first two seasons of the National Hockey League. The league was created in late 1917 after a dispute over the ownership of the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association, and the Toronto Arena Company, owner of the Arena Gardens, was given a temporary franchise and the Blueshirt players to keep a Toronto team in the league. In the first season the team had no official nickname and the press called it the Blue Shirts or the Torontos. It won the second half of the 1917-18 season, beat the Montreal Canadiens in the playoff and then won the Stanley Cup against the Vancouver Millionaires, though it did not engrave its name on the trophy. Afterwards the Arena Company received a permanent franchise and formed the Toronto Arena Hockey Club, which evolved into the Toronto Maple Leafs.