NHL Founded: Professional Hockey Takes Root

Five men sat in a Montreal hotel room on November 26, 1917, and founded a professional hockey league that would grow into one of North America's dominant sports institutions. The National Hockey League was born from the collapse of its predecessor, the National Hockey Association, and the desire of four team owners to exclude a fifth they despised. The NHL's origin story is less about sporting vision than it is about a business dispute. The NHA had operated since 1909 but was plagued by the disruptive behavior of Eddie Livingstone, owner of the Toronto Blueshirts. Livingstone's feuds with other owners were so poisonous that the remaining four teams decided the simplest solution was to create an entirely new league and not invite him. The founding teams were the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and Quebec Bulldogs, with the Toronto Arenas replacing Livingstone's franchise. Quebec could not ice a team for the first season and suspended operations. The league's first season was played during the harshest winter of World War I, with many potential players serving overseas. The Montreal Wanderers' arena burned down after just six games, and the team folded permanently. The NHL survived these early disasters through stubbornness and the absence of serious competition. When the Western Canada Hockey League collapsed in 1926, the NHL absorbed its best players and expanded into American cities, including Boston, New York, Chicago, and Detroit. The league that emerged from a petty ownership squabble now generates over five billion dollars in annual revenue. The Montreal Canadiens, one of the four founding franchises, have won 24 Stanley Cup championships, more than any other team in hockey history. Livingstone, the man the founders were so desperate to exclude, spent years in court trying to reclaim his stake. He never succeeded. The NHL was built on spite, and spite proved an excellent foundation.