100 Years Of The NHL In New York: The First Americans Game At Old Madison Square Garden

Tex Rickard, the P.T. Barnum of the roaring twenties, sat at his mezzanine perch as the finishing touches were put on his new Madison Square Garden.

Sure, there had been a horseshow, a six-day bike race and a light heavyweight bout at the new-old Garden, but the paint wasn’t dry – the New York Americans posh new home arena had no locker rooms. Come what may, it was showtime, pro hockey’s debut at the third Madison Square Garden.

"Tex worried himself into a ghost of a man," remembered Buck McBeth. If pro hockey failed in New York, MSG would forever be Rickard's folly.

In an era of biplanes and skyscrapers, Rickard's ice palace was a marvel, the biggest arena in the world. The scene outside The Garden’s iconic Eighth Avenue rotunda was imbued with the pageantry of the Metropolitan Opera. The Garden’s $11.50 box seats, $180 today, were filled with Manhattan’s socialites and Canadian dignitaries, a veritable kaleidoscope of colorful ball gowns and monochrome dinner jackets.

Hamilton Spec columnist Walter McMullen quipped that it was the first time in NHL history the crowd was in evening dress, adding, “Perhaps it was because Hamilton fans were so informal that the players went on strike last March.” New York’s entire starting lineup was former Hams.

On the evening of Dec. 15, 1925, the signature haze of hovering cigar smoke at the brand-new, old Madison Square Garden had an exceedingly posh aroma for the NHL’s Broadway debut. Even skeptical Canadian press conceded hockey gave jaded New Yorkers a thrill. Ice hockey was undeniably "Barnumed" into New York.

There was so much pomp and circumstance that the game, set for 8:30 p.m., didn’t start until after 9 p.m. when New York mayor John Hylan shuffled onto the ice to drop the opening puck. It wasn’t a ceremonial drop. As Hylan scurried away, Yonkers native Billy Burch faced off with Montreal star Howie Morenz.

Adding to the cache, the winner would be presented with the newly minted Prince of Wales Trophy. It was a regular-season game with a playoff atmosphere. Hockey hegemony was a matter of Canadian pride.

The teams taking the ice were a sensual assault that prompted audible gasps: the Montreal Canadiens' iconic crimson sweaters and the New York Americans, clad in their patriotic star-strewn blue and red sweaters.

Lord Byng’s Foot Guards Regimental Band, in scarlet and gold with their signature bearskin miter hats, played The Maple Leaf Forever and God Save The King, followed by the West Point Army Band’s rendition of Star-Spangled Banner after Paul Whiteman’s orchestra serenaded the gallery with jazz.

Standing room was $1.50 (worth $27 nowadays), and most tickets were $5 ($90), but the Garden, more than twice the size of typical NHL arenas, smashed attendance records. The new Montreal Forum barely accommodated 10,000. Like Boston and Pittsburgh, Hamilton’s empty Barton Street Arena seated 5,000, then a bountiful NHL gate.

Canadian movers and shakers, such as Lord and Lady Caledon, Sen. Charles-Phillipe Beaubien and Napolean Belcourt, made the trip by rail with a contingent of more than 2,000 Canadians.

Most conspicuous was the contingent of Montreal Maroons, including the NHL’s first Jewish player, left winger Sam Rothschild. Maroons president James Strachan said he rewarded the club for beating Ottawa. Baron Walter Rothschild, no relation, Britain’s first Jewish peer, also attended. The arena was replete with New York’s 400.

“The crowd was notables like Harry Payne Whitney, Vincent Astor, Clarence Mackay, squadrons of debutantes,” quipped Henry Farrell, “and 100 or so persons who knew what hockey was.”

No one was surprised to see coach-owner Leo Dandurand and Canadiens president, Sen. Athanase David, at the Garden, no doubt pondering the unwieldy natural surface at the old, cold Mount Royal Arena, which didn't seem so bad by the middle of the first period.

Attempting to contrast the image of drafty Canadian auditoriums, Rickard inadvertently turned the arena into a smoke-filled sauna. Women discreetly removed their wraps while gentlemen sweated through their britches. Despite the balmy confines, few sat down during the first period. Grandees yelped and hollered alongside lowbrows.

“The 20,000 souls took professional hockey to their collective bosoms with streaks and screams of delight,” wrote Paul Gallico of the Daily News.

Those who couldn’t see the action heard Maj. Andrew White, the leading play-by-play man of the day, from the Garden on WJY Radio.

“Broadcasting hockey games has proved one of the most serious radio tests to date,” wrote Gilbert Swan. “So fast are the plays that only the speediest announcer can keep up.”

The Garden was fleetingly uproarious when Shorty Green rifled home Billy Burch’s pass from New York but was called offside. As connoisseurs informed novices, the chorus of hisses and boos raining down upon referee Cooper Smeaton grew louder.

Minutes later, tentative bliss turned into pandemonium when Green stickhandled coast-to-coast from behind to beat Herb Rheaume at the top of the rack. The crowd realized this time, it counted at 11:50 of the first period, giving New York a 1-0 lead, the first goal in Madison Square Garden history.

“Few thrills compare to daring skaters streaking down the ice as he weaves in and out of the rival team,” said the New York Times.

Along with the heat, the Americans stifled the Canadiens past the midpoint. Montreal finally broke through at 12:47 of the second. Albert Leduc banked Aurele Joliat’s rebound off Forbes' shoulder for his first NHL goal.

Four minutes later, Billy Boucher took advantage of the net-front scrum and tapped home a Morenz rebound to give Montreal a 2-1 lead.

Americans goaltender Jakie Forbes, by all accounts, was New York’s saving grace.

“(Forbes) stopped them with his stick, stopped them with his stomach…his hands…his head, and several times when his stick got away from him, he stopped them with any part of his body that happened to be nearest, often falling prone to kick or claw the rubber disc out of the danger zone.”

Stifling heat made for fast ice gassing both sides, especially the Americans who spent two weeks on the road. While figure skaters Norval Baptie and Gladys Lamb entertained the crowd, Duggan convinced Rickard’s engineers to lower the heat and cool the arena during the second intermission.

Events heated up on the ice. Shorty Green hit the post early in the third before throwing fists in the corner with Billy Boucher. Forbes kept the Americans close, but Herb Rheaume was equal to the task in his NHL debut.

This time last week, Rheaume was in goal for the senior amateur Quebec City Sons of Ireland before Dandurand signed him. He took over for emergency replacement Frenchy Lacroix, who gave up the game’s first five goals in New York's 6-2 win at Mount Royal Arena and won only one of five games as Georges Vezina's emergency replacement.

Montreal’s defense seemed to take away New York’s will. Eight minutes into the last period, Morenz went iceward, then tapped in a Joliat rebound to seal a 3-1 Canadiens win.

“I was a sucker to let two of those goals pass me,” said Forbes, who two writers compared to the Rock of Gibraltar. “It will never happen again. They'll not lick us again in 1,000 years.”

After the game, both bands returned to the ice as mayor-elect Jimmy Walker presented the Prince of Wales Trophy to Canadiens captain Billy Coutu, one of the few bright spots in a season of heartbreak. To celebrate the triumph, the entertainment committee, which included Eleanor Roosevelt, held a gala for the Canadian Club at the Biltmore Hotel, headlined by Whiteman, to benefit the Neurological Institute of New York, which received a portion of the gate.

“Manhattan society has gone in seriously for hockey this winter about the glassy expanse of Madison Square Garden's frozen floor,” said the syndicated column “Seen About NY.”

Hockey was here to stay.

“I am very pleased with the reception New Yorkers have given professional hockey,” said Rickard. “It looks as though there will simply have to be more of it.”

Rickard’s hockey venture was so successful that he established a second team, the New York Rangers.

Said the World: “To say that New York took the new sport into its arms and gave it a fond welcome is putting it mildly.”

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Related: NHL Nugget: NHL Awards New York a Second Team In May 1926