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When It Mattered Most: The Forgotten Story of America’s First Stanley Cup Champions, and the War to End All Wars
This is the inspiring story of the first American team to win the Stanley Cup—a feat largely lost to history.
In the winter of 1917, as Europe spiraled rapidly out of control and pulled the U.S. into the greatest conflict the world had ever seen, a talented band of athletes in the Pacific Northwest fought to turn themselves into an elite team. That elite team would battle the looming war, their own insecurities, and fierce opponents on both coasts of Canada to captivate a community and journey toward hockey immortality.
When It Mattered Most breathes life into the humanity and times of a remarkable team during a monumental 18-month period of world history, inspiring readers with a never-before-seen look into the evolution of Hall of Fame players, a championship team, and a war largely overshadowed by its second incarnation. Author Kevin Ticen tells their tale with empathy through the lens of his own experiences as a high-level athlete and coach, rounding out portions of the story lost to history through a deep understanding of the people involved and the inner workings of championship teams.
In the winter of 1917, as Europe spiraled rapidly out of control and pulled the U.S. into the greatest conflict the world had ever seen, a talented band of athletes in the Pacific Northwest fought to turn themselves into an elite team. That elite team would battle the looming war, their own insecurities, and fierce opponents on both coasts of Canada to captivate a community and journey toward hockey immortality.
When It Mattered Most breathes life into the humanity and times of a remarkable team during a monumental 18-month period of world history, inspiring readers with a never-before-seen look into the evolution of Hall of Fame players, a championship team, and a war largely overshadowed by its second incarnation. Author Kevin Ticen tells their tale with empathy through the lens of his own experiences as a high-level athlete and coach, rounding out portions of the story lost to history through a deep understanding of the people involved and the inner workings of championship teams.
205 pages, Paperback
Published March 11, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 3, 2019
Before the NHL was established as the single professional hockey league in which the championship team would be awarded the Stanley Cup, the trophy was given to the team who won a series that matched the winner of the two different professional leagues in the early 20th century, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) and the National Hockey Association (NHA), consisting of teams from the East such as the Montreal Canadiens. That team faced the Seattle Metropolitans in the 1917 series to determine the Stanley Cup winner. This excellent book by Kevin Ticen
Because the “Mets”, as they were also known as, won this championship more than 100 years ago, Ticen relied heavily on newspaper accounts, league records, and other similar sources of information for the book. He does a wonderful job with these sources as the book reads like a great recap of the entire 1916-17 PCHA season with excellent information on not only the Metropolitans, but the other three teams in the league – the Portland Rosebuds, Spokane Canaries and Vancouver Millionaires. There are also brief snippets on other star players from that era of hockey such as Newsy Malone.
Detailed game accounts are common throughout the book and stories about the key players for Seattle, such as forward Bernie Morris and goaltender Hap Holmes are included as well. Again, keeping in mind that there were no direct interviews with any of these people makes the inclusion more impressive. The person who is mentioned most throughout the book, however, is the Seattle Coach, Pete Muldoon. Indeed, he became a very popular figure in Seattle after the Metropolitans won the Cup and his legendary status continued long after his death.
The book, like most other sports books that cover a particular time period, had much about World War I as the Metropolitans were enjoying their success on the ice while the United States was being pulled into the Great War. Large segments of text are included in the description of the Mets’ season as this was by far the most important issue on the minds of many Americans and Canadians.
With the NHL awarding Seattle an expansion team to begin play in 2021, this is a very timely book that hockey fans and historians should read to learn about the history of Seattle hockey and learn even more about the first American team to win the Stanley Cup.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
Because the “Mets”, as they were also known as, won this championship more than 100 years ago, Ticen relied heavily on newspaper accounts, league records, and other similar sources of information for the book. He does a wonderful job with these sources as the book reads like a great recap of the entire 1916-17 PCHA season with excellent information on not only the Metropolitans, but the other three teams in the league – the Portland Rosebuds, Spokane Canaries and Vancouver Millionaires. There are also brief snippets on other star players from that era of hockey such as Newsy Malone.
Detailed game accounts are common throughout the book and stories about the key players for Seattle, such as forward Bernie Morris and goaltender Hap Holmes are included as well. Again, keeping in mind that there were no direct interviews with any of these people makes the inclusion more impressive. The person who is mentioned most throughout the book, however, is the Seattle Coach, Pete Muldoon. Indeed, he became a very popular figure in Seattle after the Metropolitans won the Cup and his legendary status continued long after his death.
The book, like most other sports books that cover a particular time period, had much about World War I as the Metropolitans were enjoying their success on the ice while the United States was being pulled into the Great War. Large segments of text are included in the description of the Mets’ season as this was by far the most important issue on the minds of many Americans and Canadians.
With the NHL awarding Seattle an expansion team to begin play in 2021, this is a very timely book that hockey fans and historians should read to learn about the history of Seattle hockey and learn even more about the first American team to win the Stanley Cup.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
April 2, 2024
Great book telling the relatively unknown story of the first American Hockey team to become Stanely Cup champions before the original six NHL teams even took the ice. Quick transitions between game notes and what was unfolding in headlines during the Great War made for some unique reading - but overall the hockey & history lover in me rejoiced. I also felt pride as a present Seattleite hearing stories of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest when it was striving to become a recognizable city in the west. Working downtown I’ve walked over to where the stadium once stood, and seen the small plaque commemorating the Seattle Metropolitans, just the IBM building these days with people busy to get where they are going. But luckily I get to walk the streets in present, read the book that discusses what once stood from the past, and think about competing at a world class level while war lingered, kings fell, and women fought for the right to vote.
Is this a super niche book? Yes. Would I recommend it to everyone? No. But for my Seattle sports friends - it’s an awesome ride.
Is this a super niche book? Yes. Would I recommend it to everyone? No. But for my Seattle sports friends - it’s an awesome ride.
May 16, 2019
An account of the first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup in hockey during 1917. It is timely because Seattle is about to put its new NHL franchise on the ice in 2021 and the owners have secured the copyright to the name of the 1917 winners -- the Seattle Metropolitans.
The story is set against the backdrop of events leading up to World War I, including Woodrow Wilson's speeches leading up to the declaration of war. The war itself would draw many of the Metropolitans -- and their opponents on the Montreal Canadiens -- into uniform and into the war.
Ticen's account is an important part of Seattle history, one that's been largely forgotten here. But his over-reliance on newspaper accounts, a few factual errors about events in the years around the hockey championship, and the shortage of photographs don't make this a hard-hitting account. Still, for fans of Seattle sports, it should be on the bookshelf, if only because of examples of the writing of Royal Brougham, a dedicated Seattle sportswriter who would write for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for 68 years -- and die of a heart attack at a Seahawks football game in 1978.
The story is set against the backdrop of events leading up to World War I, including Woodrow Wilson's speeches leading up to the declaration of war. The war itself would draw many of the Metropolitans -- and their opponents on the Montreal Canadiens -- into uniform and into the war.
Ticen's account is an important part of Seattle history, one that's been largely forgotten here. But his over-reliance on newspaper accounts, a few factual errors about events in the years around the hockey championship, and the shortage of photographs don't make this a hard-hitting account. Still, for fans of Seattle sports, it should be on the bookshelf, if only because of examples of the writing of Royal Brougham, a dedicated Seattle sportswriter who would write for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for 68 years -- and die of a heart attack at a Seahawks football game in 1978.
July 3, 2019
I live in Seattle. I love history, especially 1890-1945 European and US history. I love sports. Seattle has been awarded a new NHL franchise to start in 2020, but few know that in 1917, Seattle was the home of the first American team to win the Stanley Cup, doing so over the Montreal Canadiens during the precise weeks that Woodrow Wilson was mustering support for declaring war on Germany in the wake of the Zimmerman Telegram and unrestricited German U Boat attacks. I enjoyed the imagery of 1917 Seattle, the regional competition with teams from Portland and Vancouver, understanding of the structure of pre NHL hockey that still vied for winning the Stanley Cup, the backdrop of global conflict. I think the particular play by play of the specific games became a little heavy and overly detailed, but not so much to avoid reading the book. Any hockey fan, Seattleite, Canadian, Pacific Northwesterner, and even coaches of teams will enjoy and benefit from reading this book. While proud of the team in this book and its heritage, I still, however, do not think that the new NHL Seattle team should be named the Metropolitans (I'd vote for The Seattle Kraken as the name)
February 15, 2023
This definitely was a forgotten story, at least for me. Where did the Stanley Cup even come from? At first it was just Canadian amateur players, and then in 1915, the format was changed to allow the "Eastern" NHA champion to face the "Western" PCHA champion for the Cup. Against this backdrop, the Seattle Metropolitans were the first American team to play for (and win) the Cup in their second PCHA season.
This book traces the history of the Mets' franchise and players, and weaves it together with a detailed accounting of the 1916-17 season and the political environment of the time; World War I was already raging, and the US was getting sucked in slowly despite President Wilson's hesitance.
The descriptions of the games were quite thorough and really brought the season and the Cup finals to life. Hockey was quite different - no line changes, no backup goalies, and the PCHA played with a "rover" in addition to their starting 6. As a fan of Seattle's new hockey team, it's cool to see what came before them, and now I'll be a little happier if they decided to wear Metropolitans jerseys for one of their throwbacks.
This book traces the history of the Mets' franchise and players, and weaves it together with a detailed accounting of the 1916-17 season and the political environment of the time; World War I was already raging, and the US was getting sucked in slowly despite President Wilson's hesitance.
The descriptions of the games were quite thorough and really brought the season and the Cup finals to life. Hockey was quite different - no line changes, no backup goalies, and the PCHA played with a "rover" in addition to their starting 6. As a fan of Seattle's new hockey team, it's cool to see what came before them, and now I'll be a little happier if they decided to wear Metropolitans jerseys for one of their throwbacks.
May 19, 2019
Great book !
This is a very well written book. It also has a lot of
History that a great deal of research was put into.
Really enjoyed it.
This is a very well written book. It also has a lot of
History that a great deal of research was put into.
Really enjoyed it.
October 7, 2019
Really interesting history for pre-NHL and pre WWI. well written! Amazing research job! Takes you right into the locker room. Highly recommend!
October 16, 2019
I am a junior hockey player playing out of Seattle. This book was incredible, and I can connect well with it as I play other junior teams from those cities.
December 22, 2020
A bit tedious but great research.
November 17, 2022
Great book chronicling the birth of the Seattle Metropolitans under the vackdrop of WWI..
April 5, 2019
I loved this book - another amazing, nonfiction sports read for those who enjoyed Seabiscuit, Boys in the Boat, Born Ron run, Moneyball. etc. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews